Sample records for activation coordinates multiple

  1. Dynamical modelling of coordinated multiple robot systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hayati, Samad

    1987-01-01

    The state of the art in the modeling of the dynamics of coordinated multiple robot manipulators is summarized and various problems related to this subject are discussed. It is recognized that dynamics modeling is a component used in the design of controllers for multiple cooperating robots. As such, the discussion addresses some problems related to the control of multiple robots. The techniques used to date in the modeling of closed kinematic chains are summarized. Various efforts made to date for the control of coordinated multiple manipulators is summarized.

  2. Coordinated neuronal activity enhances corticocortical communication

    PubMed Central

    Zandvakili, Amin; Kohn, Adam

    2015-01-01

    Summary Relaying neural signals between cortical areas is central to cognition and sensory processing. The temporal coordination of activity in a source population has been suggested to determine corticocortical signaling efficacy, but others have argued that coordination is functionally irrelevant. We reasoned that if coordination significantly influenced signaling, spiking in downstream networks should be preceded by transiently elevated coordination in a source population. We developed a metric to quantify network coordination in brief epochs, and applied it to simultaneous recordings of neuronal populations in cortical areas V1 and V2 of the macaque monkey. Spiking in the input layers of V2 was preceded by brief epochs of elevated V1 coordination, but this was not the case in other layers of V2. Our results indicate that V1 coordination influences its signaling to direct downstream targets, but that coordinated V1 epochs do not propagate through multiple downstream networks as in some corticocortical signaling schemes. PMID:26291164

  3. Coordinating Multiple Spacecraft Assets for Joint Science Campaigns

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Estlin, Tara; Chien, Steve; Castano, Rebecca; Gaines, Daniel; de Granville, Charles; Doubleday, Josh; Anderson, Robert C.; Knight, Russell; Bornstein, Benjamin; Rabideau, Gregg; hide

    2010-01-01

    This paper describes technology to support a new paradigm of space science campaigns. These campaigns enable opportunistic science observations to be autonomously coordinated between multiple spacecraft. Coordinated spacecraft can consist of multiple orbiters, landers, rovers, or other in-situ vehicles (such as an aerobot). In this paradigm, opportunistic science detections can be cued by any of these assets where additional spacecraft are requested to take further observations characterizing the identified event or surface feature. Such coordination will enable a number of science campaigns not possible with present spacecraft technology. Examples from Mars include enabling rapid data collection from multiple craft on dynamic events such as new Mars dark slope streaks, dust-devils or trace gases. Technology to support the identification of opportunistic science events and/or the re-tasking of a spacecraft to take new measurements of the event is already in place on several individual missions such as the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission and the Earth Observing One (EO1) Mission. This technology includes onboard data analysis techniques as well as capabilities for planning and scheduling. This paper describes how these techniques can be cue and coordinate multiple spacecraft in observing the same science event from their different vantage points.

  4. Lessons Learned from Coordinating Relay Activities at Mars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gladden, Roy E.; Hwang, Pauline; Waggoner, Bruce; McLaughlin, Bruce; Fieseler, Paul; Thomas, Reid; Bigwood, Maria; Herrera, Paul

    2005-01-01

    The Mission Management Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was tasked with coordinating the relay of data between multiple spacecraft at Mars in support of the Mars Exploration Rover Missions in early 2004. The confluence of three orbiters (Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Express), two rovers (Spirit and Opportunity), and one lander (Beagle 2) has provided a challenging operational scenario that required careful coordination between missions to provide the necessary support and to avoid potential interference during simultaneous relay sessions. As these coordination efforts progressed, several important lessons were learned that should be applied to future Mars relay activities.

  5. Argumentation for coordinating shared activities

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Clement, Bradley J.; Barrett, Anthony C.; Schaffer, Steven R.

    2004-01-01

    an increasing need for space missions to be able to collaboratively (and competitively) develop plans both within and across missions. In addition, interacting spacecraft that interleave onboard planning and execution must reach consensus on their commitments to each other prior to execution. In domains where missions have varying degrees of interaction and different constraints on communication and computation, the missions will require different coordination protocols in order to efficiently reach consensus with in their imposed deadlines. We describe a Shared Activity Coordination (SHAC) framework that provides a decentralized algorithm for negotiating the scheduling of shared activities over the lifetimes of multiple agents and a foundation for customizing protocols for negotiating planner interactions. We investigate variations of a few simple protocols based on argumentation and distributed constraints satisfaction techniques and evaluate their abilities to reach consistent solutions according to computation, time, and communication costs in an abstract domain where spacecraft propose joint measurements.

  6. Coordinating Multiple Representations in a Reform Calculus Textbook

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Briana L.; Cromley, Jennifer G.; Tran, Nhi

    2015-01-01

    Coordination of multiple representations (CMR) is widely recognized as a critical skill in mathematics and is frequently demanded in reform calculus textbooks. However, little is known about the prevalence of coordination tasks in such textbooks. We coded 707 instances of CMR in a widely used reform calculus textbook and analyzed the distributions…

  7. Coordinating Multiple Representations in a Reform Calculus Textbook

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chang, Briana L.; Cromley, Jennifer G.; Tran, Nhi

    2016-01-01

    Coordination of multiple representations (CMR) is widely recognized as a critical skill in mathematics and is frequently demanded in reform calculus textbooks. However, little is known about the prevalence of coordination tasks in such textbooks. We coded 707 instances of CMR in a widely used reform calculus textbook and analyzed the distributions…

  8. Vehicle coordinated transportation dispatching model base on multiple crisis locations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tian, Ran; Li, Shanwei; Yang, Guoying

    2018-05-01

    Many disastrous events are often caused after unconventional emergencies occur, and the requirements of disasters are often different. It is difficult for a single emergency resource center to satisfy such requirements at the same time. Therefore, how to coordinate the emergency resources stored by multiple emergency resource centers to various disaster sites requires the coordinated transportation of emergency vehicles. In this paper, according to the problem of emergency logistics coordination scheduling, based on the related constraints of emergency logistics transportation, an emergency resource scheduling model based on multiple disasters is established.

  9. Telerobotic management system: coordinating multiple human operators with multiple robots

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    King, Jamie W.; Pretty, Raymond; Brothers, Brendan; Gosine, Raymond G.

    2003-09-01

    This paper describes an application called the Tele-robotic management system (TMS) for coordinating multiple operators with multiple robots for applications such as underground mining. TMS utilizes several graphical interfaces to allow the user to define a partially ordered plan for multiple robots. This plan is then converted to a Petri net for execution and monitoring. TMS uses a distributed framework to allow robots and operators to easily integrate with the applications. This framework allows robots and operators to join the network and advertise their capabilities through services. TMS then decides whether tasks should be dispatched to a robot or a remote operator based on the services offered by the robots and operators.

  10. Flexible Coordination of Stationary and Mobile Conversations with Gaze: Resource Allocation among Multiple Joint Activities

    PubMed Central

    Mayor, Eric; Bangerter, Adrian

    2016-01-01

    Gaze is instrumental in coordinating face-to-face social interactions. But little is known about gaze use when social interactions co-occur with other joint activities. We investigated the case of walking while talking. We assessed how gaze gets allocated among various targets in mobile conversations, whether allocation of gaze to other targets affects conversational coordination, and whether reduced availability of gaze for conversational coordination affects conversational performance and content. In an experimental study, pairs were videotaped in four conditions of mobility (standing still, talking while walking along a straight-line itinerary, talking while walking along a complex itinerary, or walking along a complex itinerary with no conversational task). Gaze to partners was substantially reduced in mobile conversations, but gaze was still used to coordinate conversation via displays of mutual orientation, and conversational performance and content was not different between stationary and mobile conditions. Results expand the phenomena of multitasking to joint activities. PMID:27822189

  11. Multiple Sensory-Motor Pathways Lead to Coordinated Visual Attention

    PubMed Central

    Yu, Chen; Smith, Linda B.

    2016-01-01

    Joint attention has been extensively studied in the developmental literature because of overwhelming evidence that the ability to socially coordinate visual attention to an object is essential to healthy developmental outcomes, including language learning. The goal of the present study is to understand the complex system of sensory-motor behaviors that may underlie the establishment of joint attention between parents and toddlers. In an experimental task, parents and toddlers played together with multiple toys. We objectively measured joint attention – and the sensory-motor behaviors that underlie it – using a dual head-mounted eye-tracking system and frame-by-frame coding of manual actions. By tracking the momentary visual fixations and hand actions of each participant, we precisely determined just how often they fixated on the same object at the same time, the visual behaviors that preceded joint attention, and manual behaviors that preceded and co-occurred with joint attention. We found that multiple sequential sensory-motor patterns lead to joint attention. In addition, there are developmental changes in this multi-pathway system evidenced as variations in strength among multiple routes. We propose that coordinated visual attention between parents and toddlers is primarily a sensory-motor behavior. Skill in achieving coordinated visual attention in social settings – like skills in other sensory-motor domains – emerges from multiple pathways to the same functional end. PMID:27016038

  12. Multiple Sensory-Motor Pathways Lead to Coordinated Visual Attention.

    PubMed

    Yu, Chen; Smith, Linda B

    2017-02-01

    Joint attention has been extensively studied in the developmental literature because of overwhelming evidence that the ability to socially coordinate visual attention to an object is essential to healthy developmental outcomes, including language learning. The goal of this study was to understand the complex system of sensory-motor behaviors that may underlie the establishment of joint attention between parents and toddlers. In an experimental task, parents and toddlers played together with multiple toys. We objectively measured joint attention-and the sensory-motor behaviors that underlie it-using a dual head-mounted eye-tracking system and frame-by-frame coding of manual actions. By tracking the momentary visual fixations and hand actions of each participant, we precisely determined just how often they fixated on the same object at the same time, the visual behaviors that preceded joint attention and manual behaviors that preceded and co-occurred with joint attention. We found that multiple sequential sensory-motor patterns lead to joint attention. In addition, there are developmental changes in this multi-pathway system evidenced as variations in strength among multiple routes. We propose that coordinated visual attention between parents and toddlers is primarily a sensory-motor behavior. Skill in achieving coordinated visual attention in social settings-like skills in other sensory-motor domains-emerges from multiple pathways to the same functional end. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  13. Optimizing plasmonic nanoantennas via coordinated multiple coupling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Linhan; Zheng, Yuebing

    2015-10-01

    Plasmonic nanoantennas, which can efficiently convert light from free space into sub-wavelength scale with the local field enhancement, are fundamental building blocks for nanophotonic systems. Predominant design methods, which exploit a single type of near- or far-field coupling in pairs or arrays of plasmonic nanostructures, have limited the tunability of spectral response and the local field enhancement. To overcome this limit, we are developing a general strategy towards exploiting the coordinated effects of multiple coupling. Using Au bowtie nanoantenna arrays with metal-insulator-metal configuration as examples, we numerically demonstrate that coordinated design and implementation of various optical coupling effects leads to both the increased tunability in the spectral response and the significantly enhanced electromagnetic field. Furthermore, we design and analyze a refractive index sensor with an ultra-high figure-of-merit (254), a high signal-to-noise ratio and a wide working range of refractive indices, and a narrow-band near-infrared plasmonic absorber with 100% absorption efficiency, high quality factor of up to 114 and a wide range of tunable wavelength from 800 nm to 1,500 nm. The plasmonic nanoantennas that exploit coordinated multiple coupling will benefit a broad range of applications, including label-free bio-chemical detection, reflective filter, optical trapping, hot-electron generation, and heat-assisted magnetic recording.

  14. Physical Activity Predicts Performance in an Unpracticed Bimanual Coordination Task.

    PubMed

    Boisgontier, Matthieu P; Serbruyns, Leen; Swinnen, Stephan P

    2017-01-01

    Practice of a given physical activity is known to improve the motor skills related to this activity. However, whether unrelated skills are also improved is still unclear. To test the impact of physical activity on an unpracticed motor task, 26 young adults completed the international physical activity questionnaire and performed a bimanual coordination task they had never practiced before. Results showed that higher total physical activity predicted higher performance in the bimanual task, controlling for multiple factors such as age, physical inactivity, music practice, and computer games practice. Linear mixed models allowed this effect of physical activity to be generalized to a large population of bimanual coordination conditions. This finding runs counter to the notion that generalized motor abilities do not exist and supports the existence of a "learning to learn" skill that could be improved through physical activity and that impacts performance in tasks that are not necessarily related to the practiced activity.

  15. Coordination of multiple robot arms

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Barker, L. K.; Soloway, D.

    1987-01-01

    Kinematic resolved-rate control from one robot arm is extended to the coordinated control of multiple robot arms in the movement of an object. The structure supports the general movement of one axis system (moving reference frame) with respect to another axis system (control reference frame) by one or more robot arms. The grippers of the robot arms do not have to be parallel or at any pre-disposed positions on the object. For multiarm control, the operator chooses the same moving and control reference frames for each of the robot arms. Consequently, each arm then moves as though it were carrying out the commanded motions by itself.

  16. Coordinated platooning with multiple speeds

    DOE PAGES

    Luo, Fengqiao; Larson, Jeffrey; Munson, Todd

    2018-03-22

    In a platoon, vehicles travel one after another with small intervehicle distances; trailing vehicles in a platoon save fuel because they experience less aerodynamic drag. This work presents a coordinated platooning model with multiple speed options that integrates scheduling, routing, speed selection, and platoon formation/dissolution in a mixed-integer linear program that minimizes the total fuel consumed by a set of vehicles while traveling between their respective origins and destinations. The performance of this model is numerically tested on a grid network and the Chicago-area highway network. We find that the fuel-savings factor of a multivehicle system significantly depends on themore » time each vehicle is allowed to stay in the network; this time affects vehicles’ available speed choices, possible routes, and the amount of time for coordinating platoon formation. For problem instances with a large number of vehicles, we propose and test a heuristic decomposed approach that applies a clustering algorithm to partition the set of vehicles and then routes each group separately. When the set of vehicles is large and the available computational time is small, the decomposed approach finds significantly better solutions than does the full model.« less

  17. Coordinated platooning with multiple speeds

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Luo, Fengqiao; Larson, Jeffrey; Munson, Todd

    In a platoon, vehicles travel one after another with small intervehicle distances; trailing vehicles in a platoon save fuel because they experience less aerodynamic drag. This work presents a coordinated platooning model with multiple speed options that integrates scheduling, routing, speed selection, and platoon formation/dissolution in a mixed-integer linear program that minimizes the total fuel consumed by a set of vehicles while traveling between their respective origins and destinations. The performance of this model is numerically tested on a grid network and the Chicago-area highway network. We find that the fuel-savings factor of a multivehicle system significantly depends on themore » time each vehicle is allowed to stay in the network; this time affects vehicles’ available speed choices, possible routes, and the amount of time for coordinating platoon formation. For problem instances with a large number of vehicles, we propose and test a heuristic decomposed approach that applies a clustering algorithm to partition the set of vehicles and then routes each group separately. When the set of vehicles is large and the available computational time is small, the decomposed approach finds significantly better solutions than does the full model.« less

  18. Feature integration in visual working memory: parietal gamma activity is related to cognitive coordination

    PubMed Central

    Muthukumaraswamy, Suresh D.; Hibbs, Carina S.; Shapiro, Kimron L.; Bracewell, R. Martyn; Singh, Krish D.; Linden, David E. J.

    2011-01-01

    The mechanism by which distinct subprocesses in the brain are coordinated is a central conundrum of systems neuroscience. The parietal lobe is thought to play a key role in visual feature integration, and oscillatory activity in the gamma frequency range has been associated with perception of coherent objects and other tasks requiring neural coordination. Here, we examined the neural correlates of integrating mental representations in working memory and hypothesized that parietal gamma activity would be related to the success of cognitive coordination. Working memory is a classic example of a cognitive operation that requires the coordinated processing of different types of information and the contribution of multiple cognitive domains. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we report parietal activity in the high gamma (80–100 Hz) range during manipulation of visual and spatial information (colors and angles) in working memory. This parietal gamma activity was significantly higher during manipulation of visual-spatial conjunctions compared with single features. Furthermore, gamma activity correlated with successful performance during the conjunction task but not during the component tasks. Cortical gamma activity in parietal cortex may therefore play a role in cognitive coordination. PMID:21940605

  19. Shared Activity Coordination

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Clement, Bradley J.; Barrett, Anthony C.

    2003-01-01

    Interacting agents that interleave planning and execution must reach consensus on their commitments to each other. In domains where agents have varying degrees of interaction and different constraints on communication and computation, agents will require different coordination protocols in order to efficiently reach consensus in real time. We briefly describe a largely unexplored class of real-time, distributed planning problems (inspired by interacting spacecraft missions), new challenges they pose, and a general approach to solving the problems. These problems involve self-interested agents that have infrequent communication but collaborate on joint activities. We describe a Shared Activity Coordination (SHAC) framework that provides a decentralized algorithm for negotiating the scheduling of shared activities in a dynamic environment, a soft, real-time approach to reaching consensus during execution with limited communication, and a foundation for customizing protocols for negotiating planner interactions. We apply SHAC to a realistic simulation of interacting Mars missions and illustrate the simplicity of protocol development.

  20. Multiple regulatory systems coordinate DNA replication with cell growth in Bacillus subtilis.

    PubMed

    Murray, Heath; Koh, Alan

    2014-10-01

    In many bacteria the rate of DNA replication is linked with cellular physiology to ensure that genome duplication is coordinated with growth. Nutrient-mediated growth rate control of DNA replication initiation has been appreciated for decades, however the mechanism(s) that connects these cell cycle activities has eluded understanding. In order to help address this fundamental question we have investigated regulation of DNA replication in the model organism Bacillus subtilis. Contrary to the prevailing view we find that changes in DnaA protein level are not sufficient to account for nutrient-mediated growth rate control of DNA replication initiation, although this regulation does require both DnaA and the endogenous replication origin. We go on to report connections between DNA replication and several essential cellular activities required for rapid bacterial growth, including respiration, central carbon metabolism, fatty acid synthesis, phospholipid synthesis, and protein synthesis. Unexpectedly, the results indicate that multiple regulatory systems are involved in coordinating DNA replication with cell physiology, with some of the regulatory systems targeting oriC while others act in a oriC-independent manner. We propose that distinct regulatory systems are utilized to control DNA replication in response to diverse physiological and chemical changes.

  1. Coordinated Multiple Cadaver Use for Minimally Invasive Surgical Training

    PubMed Central

    Blaschko, Sarah D.; Brooks, H. Mark; Dhuy, S. Michael; Charest-Shell, Cynthia; Clayman, Ralph V.

    2007-01-01

    Background: The human cadaver remains the gold standard for anatomic training and is highly useful when incorporated into minimally invasive surgical training programs. However, this valuable resource is often not used to its full potential due to a lack of multidisciplinary cooperation. Herein, we propose the coordinated multiple use of individual cadavers to better utilize anatomical resources and potentiate the availability of cadaver training. Methods: Twenty-two postgraduate surgeons participated in a robot-assisted surgical training course that utilized shared cadavers. All participants completed a Likert 4-scale satisfaction questionnaire after their training session. Cadaveric tissue quality and the quality of the training session related to this material were assessed. Results: Nine participants rated the quality of the cadaveric tissue as excellent, 7 as good, 5 as unsatisfactory, and 1 as poor. Overall, 72% of participants who operated on a previously used cadaver were satisfied with their training experience and did not perceive the previous use deleterious to their training. Conclusion: The coordinated use of cadavers, which allows for multiple cadaver use for different teaching sessions, is an excellent training method that increases availability of human anatomical material for minimally invasive surgical training. PMID:18237501

  2. Multiple Regulatory Systems Coordinate DNA Replication with Cell Growth in Bacillus subtilis

    PubMed Central

    Murray, Heath; Koh, Alan

    2014-01-01

    In many bacteria the rate of DNA replication is linked with cellular physiology to ensure that genome duplication is coordinated with growth. Nutrient-mediated growth rate control of DNA replication initiation has been appreciated for decades, however the mechanism(s) that connects these cell cycle activities has eluded understanding. In order to help address this fundamental question we have investigated regulation of DNA replication in the model organism Bacillus subtilis. Contrary to the prevailing view we find that changes in DnaA protein level are not sufficient to account for nutrient-mediated growth rate control of DNA replication initiation, although this regulation does require both DnaA and the endogenous replication origin. We go on to report connections between DNA replication and several essential cellular activities required for rapid bacterial growth, including respiration, central carbon metabolism, fatty acid synthesis, phospholipid synthesis, and protein synthesis. Unexpectedly, the results indicate that multiple regulatory systems are involved in coordinating DNA replication with cell physiology, with some of the regulatory systems targeting oriC while others act in a oriC-independent manner. We propose that distinct regulatory systems are utilized to control DNA replication in response to diverse physiological and chemical changes. PMID:25340815

  3. Co-immobilization of multiple enzymes by metal coordinated nucleotide hydrogel nanofibers: improved stability and an enzyme cascade for glucose detection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liang, Hao; Jiang, Shuhui; Yuan, Qipeng; Li, Guofeng; Wang, Feng; Zhang, Zijie; Liu, Juewen

    2016-03-01

    Preserving enzyme activity and promoting synergistic activity via co-localization of multiple enzymes are key topics in bionanotechnology, materials science, and analytical chemistry. This study reports a facile method for co-immobilizing multiple enzymes in metal coordinated hydrogel nanofibers. Specifically, four types of protein enzymes, including glucose oxidase, Candida rugosa lipase, α-amylase, and horseradish peroxidase, were respectively encapsulated in a gel nanofiber made of Zn2+ and adenosine monophosphate (AMP) with a simple mixing step. Most enzymes achieved quantitative loading and retained full activity. At the same time, the entrapped enzymes were more stable against temperature variation (by 7.5 °C), protease attack, extreme pH (by 2-fold), and organic solvents. After storing for 15 days, the entrapped enzyme still retained 70% activity while the free enzyme nearly completely lost its activity. Compared to nanoparticles formed with AMP and lanthanide ions, the nanofiber gels allowed much higher enzyme activity. Finally, a highly sensitive and selective biosensor for glucose was prepared using the gel nanofiber to co-immobilize glucose oxidase and horseradish peroxidase for an enzyme cascade system. A detection limit of 0.3 μM glucose with excellent selectivity was achieved. This work indicates that metal coordinated materials using nucleotides are highly useful for interfacing with biomolecules.Preserving enzyme activity and promoting synergistic activity via co-localization of multiple enzymes are key topics in bionanotechnology, materials science, and analytical chemistry. This study reports a facile method for co-immobilizing multiple enzymes in metal coordinated hydrogel nanofibers. Specifically, four types of protein enzymes, including glucose oxidase, Candida rugosa lipase, α-amylase, and horseradish peroxidase, were respectively encapsulated in a gel nanofiber made of Zn2+ and adenosine monophosphate (AMP) with a simple mixing step. Most

  4. Coordination of receptor signaling in multiple hematopoietic cell lineages by the adaptor protein SLP-76.

    PubMed

    Jordan, Martha S; Koretzky, Gary A

    2010-04-01

    The adaptor protein SLP-76 is expressed in multiple hematopoietic lineages including T cells, platelets, and neutrophils. SLP-76 mediated signaling is dependent on its multiple protein interaction domains, as it creates a scaffold on which key signaling complexes are built. SLP-76 is critical for supporting signaling downstream of both immunoreceptors and integrins. The signaling molecules used both upstream and downstream of SLP-76 are similar among these receptors and across cell types; however, important differences exist. Appreciating how SLP-76 coordinates signal transduction across different cell and receptor types provides insights into the complex interplay of pathways critical for activation of cells of the immune system that are essential for host defense.

  5. A practical approach for active camera coordination based on a fusion-driven multi-agent system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bustamante, Alvaro Luis; Molina, José M.; Patricio, Miguel A.

    2014-04-01

    In this paper, we propose a multi-agent system architecture to manage spatially distributed active (or pan-tilt-zoom) cameras. Traditional video surveillance algorithms are of no use for active cameras, and we have to look at different approaches. Such multi-sensor surveillance systems have to be designed to solve two related problems: data fusion and coordinated sensor-task management. Generally, architectures proposed for the coordinated operation of multiple cameras are based on the centralisation of management decisions at the fusion centre. However, the existence of intelligent sensors capable of decision making brings with it the possibility of conceiving alternative decentralised architectures. This problem is approached by means of a MAS, integrating data fusion as an integral part of the architecture for distributed coordination purposes. This paper presents the MAS architecture and system agents.

  6. Co-immobilization of multiple enzymes by metal coordinated nucleotide hydrogel nanofibers: improved stability and an enzyme cascade for glucose detection.

    PubMed

    Liang, Hao; Jiang, Shuhui; Yuan, Qipeng; Li, Guofeng; Wang, Feng; Zhang, Zijie; Liu, Juewen

    2016-03-21

    Preserving enzyme activity and promoting synergistic activity via co-localization of multiple enzymes are key topics in bionanotechnology, materials science, and analytical chemistry. This study reports a facile method for co-immobilizing multiple enzymes in metal coordinated hydrogel nanofibers. Specifically, four types of protein enzymes, including glucose oxidase, Candida rugosa lipase, α-amylase, and horseradish peroxidase, were respectively encapsulated in a gel nanofiber made of Zn(2+) and adenosine monophosphate (AMP) with a simple mixing step. Most enzymes achieved quantitative loading and retained full activity. At the same time, the entrapped enzymes were more stable against temperature variation (by 7.5 °C), protease attack, extreme pH (by 2-fold), and organic solvents. After storing for 15 days, the entrapped enzyme still retained 70% activity while the free enzyme nearly completely lost its activity. Compared to nanoparticles formed with AMP and lanthanide ions, the nanofiber gels allowed much higher enzyme activity. Finally, a highly sensitive and selective biosensor for glucose was prepared using the gel nanofiber to co-immobilize glucose oxidase and horseradish peroxidase for an enzyme cascade system. A detection limit of 0.3 μM glucose with excellent selectivity was achieved. This work indicates that metal coordinated materials using nucleotides are highly useful for interfacing with biomolecules.

  7. Setting standards at the forefront of delivery system reform: aligning care coordination quality measures for multiple chronic conditions.

    PubMed

    DuGoff, Eva H; Dy, Sydney; Giovannetti, Erin R; Leff, Bruce; Boyd, Cynthia M

    2013-01-01

    The primary study objective is to assess how three major health reform care coordination initiatives (Accountable Care Organizations, Independence at Home, and Community-Based Care Transitions) measure concepts critical to care coordination for people with multiple chronic conditions. We find that there are major differences in quality measurement across these three large and politically important programs. Quality measures currently used or proposed for these new health reform-related programs addressing care coordination primarily capture continuity of care. Other key areas of care coordination, such as care transitions, patient-centeredness, and cross-cutting care across multiple conditions are infrequently addressed. The lack of a comprehensive and consistent measure set for care coordination will pose challenges for healthcare providers and policy makers who seek, respectively, to provide and reward well-coordinated care. In addition, this heterogeneity in measuring care coordination quality will generate new information, but will inhibit comparisons between these care coordination programs. © 2013 National Association for Healthcare Quality.

  8. Setting Standards at the Forefront of Delivery System Reform: Aligning Care Coordination Quality Measures for Multiple Chronic Conditions

    PubMed Central

    DuGoff, Eva H.; Dy, Sydney; Giovannetti, Erin R.; Leff, Bruce; Boyd, Cynthia M.

    2015-01-01

    The primary study objective is to assess how three major health reform care coordination initiatives (Accountable Care Organizations, Independence at Home, and Community-based Care Transitions) measure concepts critical to care coordination for people with multiple chronic conditions. We find that there are major differences in quality measurement across these three large and politically important programs. Quality measures currently used or proposed for these new health reform-related programs addressing care coordination primarily capture continuity of care. Other key areas of care coordination, such as care transitions, patient-centeredness, and cross-cutting care across multiple conditions are infrequently addressed. The lack of a comprehensive and consistent measure set for care coordination will pose challenges for health care providers and policymakers who seek, respectively, to provide and reward well-coordinated care. In addition, this heterogeneity in measuring care coordination quality will generate new information, but will inhibit comparisons between these care coordination programs. PMID:24004040

  9. Continual coordination through shared activities

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Clement, Bradley J.; Barrett, Anthony C.

    2003-01-01

    Interacting agents that interleave planning and execution must reach consensus on their commitments to each other. In domains where agents have varying degrees of interaction and different constraints on communication and computation, agents will require different coordination protocols in order to efficiently reach consensus in real time. We briefly describe a largely unexplored class of realtime, distributed planning problems (inspired by interacting spacecraft missions), new challenges they pose, and a general approach to solving the problems. These problems involve self-interested agents that have infrequent communication but collaborate on joint activities. We describe a Shared Activity Coordination (SHAC) framework that provides a decentralized algorithm for negotiating the scheduling of shared activities over the lifetimes of separate missions, a soft, real-time approach to reaching consensus during execution with limited communication, and a foundation for customizing protocols for negotiating planner interactions. We apply SHAC to a realistic simulation of interacting Mars missions and illustrate the simplicity of protocol development.

  10. Self-Healing Gelatin Hydrogels Cross-Linked by Combining Multiple Hydrogen Bonding and Ionic Coordination.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Guangzhao; Lv, Lei; Deng, Yonghong; Wang, Chaoyang

    2017-06-01

    Self-healing hydrogels have been studied by many researchers via multiple cross-linking approaches including physical and chemical interactions. It is an interesting project in multifunctional hydrogel exploration that a water soluble polymer matrix is cross-linked by combining the ionic coordination and the multiple hydrogen bonds to fabricate self-healing hydrogels with injectable property. This study introduces a general procedure of preparing the hydrogels (termed gelatin-UPy-Fe) cross-linked by both ionic coordination of Fe 3+ and carboxyl group from the gelatin and the quadruple hydrogen bonding interaction from the ureido-pyrimidinone (UPy) dimers. The gelatin-UPy-Fe hydrogels possess an excellent self-healing property. The effects of the ionic coordination of Fe 3+ and quadruple hydrogen bonding of UPy on the formation and mechanical behavior of the prepared hydrogels are investigated. In vitro drug release of the gelatin-UPy-Fe hydrogels is also observed, giving an intriguing glimpse into possible biological applications. © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  11. 34 CFR 75.580 - Coordination with other activities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... 34 Education 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Coordination with other activities. 75.580 Section 75... Must Be Met by a Grantee? Indirect Cost Rates § 75.580 Coordination with other activities. A grantee.... 1221e-3, 2890, and 3474) [45 FR 22497, Apr. 3, 1980. Redesignated at 45 FR 77368, Nov. 21, 1980, as...

  12. Abstract-Reasoning Software for Coordinating Multiple Agents

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Clement, Bradley; Barrett, Anthony; Rabideau, Gregg; Knight, Russell

    2003-01-01

    A computer program for scheduling the activities of multiple agents that share limited resources has been incorporated into the Automated Scheduling and Planning Environment (ASPEN) software system, aspects of which have been reported in several previous NASA Tech Briefs articles. In the original intended application, the agents would be multiple spacecraft and/or robotic vehicles engaged in scientific exploration of distant planets. The program could also be used on Earth in such diverse settings as production lines and military maneuvers. This program includes a planning/scheduling subprogram of the iterative repair type that reasons about the activities of multiple agents at abstract levels in order to greatly improve the scheduling of their use of shared resources. The program summarizes the information about the constraints on, and resource requirements of, abstract activities on the basis of the constraints and requirements that pertain to their potential refinements (decomposition into less-abstract and ultimately to primitive activities). The advantage of reasoning about summary information is that time needed to find consistent schedules is exponentially smaller than the time that would be needed for reasoning about the same tasks at the primitive level.

  13. An Architecture for Controlling Multiple Robots

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Aghazarian, Hrand; Pirjanian, Paolo; Schenker, Paul; Huntsberger, Terrance

    2004-01-01

    The Control Architecture for Multirobot Outpost (CAMPOUT) is a distributed-control architecture for coordinating the activities of multiple robots. In the CAMPOUT, multiple-agent activities and sensor-based controls are derived as group compositions and involve coordination of more basic controllers denoted, for present purposes, as behaviors. The CAMPOUT provides basic mechanistic concepts for representation and execution of distributed group activities. One considers a network of nodes that comprise behaviors (self-contained controllers) augmented with hyper-links, which are used to exchange information between the nodes to achieve coordinated activities. Group behavior is guided by a scripted plan, which encodes a conditional sequence of single-agent activities. Thus, higher-level functionality is composed by coordination of more basic behaviors under the downward task decomposition of a multi-agent planner

  14. Estimating Accurate Target Coordinates with Magnetic Resonance Images by Using Multiple Phase-Encoding Directions during Acquisition.

    PubMed

    Kim, Minsoo; Jung, Na Young; Park, Chang Kyu; Chang, Won Seok; Jung, Hyun Ho; Chang, Jin Woo

    2018-06-01

    Stereotactic procedures are image guided, often using magnetic resonance (MR) images limited by image distortion, which may influence targets for stereotactic procedures. The aim of this work was to assess methods of identifying target coordinates for stereotactic procedures with MR in multiple phase-encoding directions. In 30 patients undergoing deep brain stimulation, we acquired 5 image sets: stereotactic brain computed tomography (CT), T2-weighted images (T2WI), and T1WI in both right-to-left (RL) and anterior-to-posterior (AP) phase-encoding directions. Using CT coordinates as a reference, we analyzed anterior commissure and posterior commissure coordinates to identify any distortion relating to phase-encoding direction. Compared with CT coordinates, RL-directed images had more positive x-axis values (0.51 mm in T1WI, 0.58 mm in T2WI). AP-directed images had more negative y-axis values (0.44 mm in T1WI, 0.59 mm in T2WI). We adopted 2 methods to predict CT coordinates with MR image sets: parallel translation and selective choice of axes according to phase-encoding direction. Both were equally effective at predicting CT coordinates using only MR; however, the latter may be easier to use in clinical settings. Acquiring MR in multiple phase-encoding directions and selecting axes according to the phase-encoding direction allows identification of more accurate coordinates for stereotactic procedures. © 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  15. Euro-VO-Coordination of virtual observatory activities in Europe

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Genova, Françoise; Allen, Mark G.; Arviset, Christophe; Lawrence, Andy; Pasian, Fabio; Solano, Enrique; Wambsganss, Joachim

    2015-06-01

    The European Virtual Observatory Euro-VO has been coordinating European VO activities through a series of projects co-funded by the European Commission over the last 15 years. The bulk of VO work in Europe is ensured by the national VO initiatives and those of intergovernmental agencies. VO activities at the European level coordinate the work in support of the three "pillars" of the Virtual Observatory: support to the scientific community, take-up by the data providers, and technological activities. Several Euro-VO projects have also provided direct support to selected developments and prototyping. This paper explains the methodology used by Euro-VO over the years. It summarises the activities which were performed and their evolutions at different stages of the development of the VO, explains the Euro-VO role with respect to the international and national levels of VO activities, details the lessons learnt for best practices for the coordination of the VO building blocks, and the liaison with other European initiatives, documenting the added-value of European coordination. Finally, the current status and next steps of Euro-VO are briefly addressed.

  16. 42 CFR 476.104 - Coordination of activities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... (CONTINUED) QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS UTILIZATION AND QUALITY CONTROL REVIEW Review Responsibilities of Utilization and Quality Control Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) Qio Review Functions... coordinate its activities (including information exchanges) with the activities of— (a) Medicare...

  17. 42 CFR 476.104 - Coordination of activities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... (CONTINUED) QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS UTILIZATION AND QUALITY CONTROL REVIEW Review Responsibilities of Utilization and Quality Control Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) Qio Review Functions... coordinate its activities (including information exchanges) with the activities of— (a) Medicare fiscal...

  18. 42 CFR 476.104 - Coordination of activities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... (CONTINUED) QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ORGANIZATION REVIEW Review Responsibilities of Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) Qio Review Functions § 476.104 Coordination of activities... information exchanges) with the activities of— (a) Medicare administrative contractors, fiscal intermediaries...

  19. 42 CFR 476.104 - Coordination of activities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... (CONTINUED) QUALITY IMPROVEMENT ORGANIZATIONS UTILIZATION AND QUALITY CONTROL REVIEW Review Responsibilities of Utilization and Quality Control Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) Qio Review Functions... coordinate its activities (including information exchanges) with the activities of— (a) Medicare fiscal...

  20. Improving care coordination in primary care.

    PubMed

    Wagner, Edward H; Sandhu, Nirmala; Coleman, Katie; Phillips, Kathryn E; Sugarman, Jonathan R

    2014-11-01

    Although coordinating care is a defining characteristic of primary care, evidence suggests that both patients and providers perceive failures in communication and care when care is received from multiple sources. To examine the utility of a newly developed Care Coordination Model in improving care coordination among participating practices in the Safety Net Medical Home Initiative (SNMHI). In this paper, we used correlation analysis to evaluate whether application of the elements of the Care Coordination Model by SNMHI sites, as measured by the Key Activities Checklist (KAC), was associated with more effective care coordination as measured by another instrument, the PCMH-A. SNMHI measures are practice self-assessments based on the 8 change concepts that define a PCMH, one of which is Care Coordination. For this study, we correlated 12 KAC items that describe activities felt to improve coordination of care with 5 PCMH-A items that indicate the extent to which a practice has developed the capability to effectively coordinate care. Practice staff indicated whether any of the KAC activities were being test, implemented, sustained, or not on 4 occasions. The Care Coordination Model elements-assume accountability, build relationships with care partners, support patients through the referral or transition process, and create connections to support information exchange-were positively correlated with some PCMH-A care coordination items but not others. Activities related to the model were most strongly correlated with following up patients seen in the Emergency Department or discharged from hospital. The analysis provides suggestive evidence that activities consistent with the 4 elements of the Care Coordination Model may enable safety net primary care to better coordinate care for its patients, but further study is clearly needed.

  1. Multiple Coordination Patterns in Infant and Adult Vocalizations

    PubMed Central

    Abney, Drew H.; Warlaumont, Anne S.; Oller, D. Kimbrough; Wallot, Sebastian; Kello, Christopher T.

    2017-01-01

    The study of vocal coordination between infants and adults has led to important insights into the development of social, cognitive, emotional and linguistic abilities. We used an automatic system to identify vocalizations produced by infants and adults over the course of the day for fifteen infants studied longitudinally during the first two years of life. We measured three different types of vocal coordination: coincidence-based, rate-based, and cluster-based. Coincidence-based and rate-based coordination are established measures in the developmental literature. Cluster-based coordination is new and measures the strength of matching in the degree to which vocalization events occur in hierarchically nested clusters. We investigated whether various coordination patterns differ as a function of vocalization type, whether different coordination patterns provide unique information about the dynamics of vocal interaction, and how the various coordination patterns each relate to infant age. All vocal coordination patterns displayed greater coordination for infant speech-related vocalizations, adults adapted the hierarchical clustering of their vocalizations to match that of infants, and each of the three coordination patterns had unique associations with infant age. Altogether, our results indicate that vocal coordination between infants and adults is multifaceted, suggesting a complex relationship between vocal coordination and the development of vocal communication. PMID:29375276

  2. Kinematically redundant arm formulations for coordinated multiple arm implementations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bailey, Robert W.; Quiocho, Leslie J.; Cleghorn, Timothy F.

    1990-01-01

    Although control laws for kinematically redundant robotic arms were presented as early as 1969, redundant arms have only recently become recognized as viable solutions to limitations inherent to kinematically sufficient arms. The advantages of run-time control optimization and arm reconfiguration are becoming increasingly attractive as the complexity and criticality of robotic systems continues to progress. A generalized control law for a spatial arm with 7 or more degrees of freedom (DOF) based on Whitney's resolved rate formulation is given. Results from a simulation implementation utilizing this control law are presented. Furthermore, results from a two arm simulation are presented to demonstrate the coordinated control of multiple arms using this formulation.

  3. Multiple spacecraft configuration designs for coordinated flight missions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fumenti, Federico; Theil, Stephan

    2018-06-01

    Coordinated flight allows the replacement of a single monolithic spacecraft with multiple smaller ones, based on the principle of distributed systems. According to the mission objectives and to ensure a safe relative motion, constraints on the relative distances need to be satisfied. Initially, differential perturbations are limited by proper orbit design. Then, the induced differential drifts can be properly handled through corrective maneuvers. In this work, several designs are surveyed, defining the initial configuration of a group of spacecraft while counteracting the differential perturbations. For each of the investigated designs, focus is placed upon the number of deployable spacecraft and on the possibility to ensure safe relative motion through station keeping of the initial configuration, with particular attention to the required Δ V budget and the constraints violations.

  4. A novel method for improving the accuracy of coordinate transformation in multiple measurement systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, W. L.; Li, Y. W.

    2017-09-01

    Large-scale dimensional metrology usually requires a combination of multiple measurement systems, such as laser tracking, total station, laser scanning, coordinate measuring arm and video photogrammetry, etc. Often, the results from different measurement systems must be combined to provide useful results. The coordinate transformation is used to unify coordinate frames in combination; however, coordinate transformation uncertainties directly affect the accuracy of the final measurement results. In this paper, a novel method is proposed for improving the accuracy of coordinate transformation, combining the advantages of the best-fit least-square and radial basis function (RBF) neural networks. First of all, the configuration of coordinate transformation is introduced and a transformation matrix containing seven variables is obtained. Second, the 3D uncertainty of the transformation model and the residual error variable vector are established based on the best-fit least-square. Finally, in order to optimize the uncertainty of the developed seven-variable transformation model, we used the RBF neural network to identify the uncertainty of the dynamic, and unstructured, owing to its great ability to approximate any nonlinear function to the designed accuracy. Intensive experimental studies were conducted to check the validity of the theoretical results. The results show that the mean error of coordinate transformation decreased from 0.078 mm to 0.054 mm after using this method in contrast with the GUM method.

  5. Multiple Sensor Platform Coordination Using Stigmergy

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1998-03-01

    French biologist P.P. Grass`e in 1959 while studying nest building of termites . He observed that indirect coordination among termites was accomplished...through sensing and modification of their environment. The chemicals secreted by each termite during nest building affected the building actions of...neighboring termites , resulting in a coordinated building strategy. Stigmergy is not limited to termites . Some species of ants use stigmergy for trail

  6. Selection of head and whisker coordination strategies during goal-oriented active touch.

    PubMed

    Schroeder, Joseph B; Ritt, Jason T

    2016-04-01

    In the rodent whisker system, a key model for neural processing and behavioral choices during active sensing, whisker motion is increasingly recognized as only part of a broader motor repertoire employed by rodents during active touch. In particular, recent studies suggest whisker and head motions are tightly coordinated. However, conditions governing the selection and temporal organization of such coordinated sensing strategies remain poorly understood. We videographically reconstructed head and whisker motions of freely moving mice searching for a randomly located rewarded aperture, focusing on trials in which animals appeared to rapidly "correct" their trajectory under tactile guidance. Mice orienting after unilateral contact repositioned their whiskers similarly to previously reported head-turning asymmetry. However, whisker repositioning preceded head turn onsets and was not bilaterally symmetric. Moreover, mice selectively employed a strategy we term contact maintenance, with whisking modulated to counteract head motion and facilitate repeated contacts on subsequent whisks. Significantly, contact maintenance was not observed following initial contact with an aperture boundary, when the mouse needed to make a large corrective head motion to the front of the aperture, but only following contact by the same whisker field with the opposite aperture boundary, when the mouse needed to precisely align its head with the reward spout. Together these results suggest that mice can select from a diverse range of sensing strategies incorporating both knowledge of the task and whisk-by-whisk sensory information and, moreover, suggest the existence of high level control (not solely reflexive) of sensing motions coordinated between multiple body parts. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

  7. Selection of head and whisker coordination strategies during goal-oriented active touch

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    In the rodent whisker system, a key model for neural processing and behavioral choices during active sensing, whisker motion is increasingly recognized as only part of a broader motor repertoire employed by rodents during active touch. In particular, recent studies suggest whisker and head motions are tightly coordinated. However, conditions governing the selection and temporal organization of such coordinated sensing strategies remain poorly understood. We videographically reconstructed head and whisker motions of freely moving mice searching for a randomly located rewarded aperture, focusing on trials in which animals appeared to rapidly “correct” their trajectory under tactile guidance. Mice orienting after unilateral contact repositioned their whiskers similarly to previously reported head-turning asymmetry. However, whisker repositioning preceded head turn onsets and was not bilaterally symmetric. Moreover, mice selectively employed a strategy we term contact maintenance, with whisking modulated to counteract head motion and facilitate repeated contacts on subsequent whisks. Significantly, contact maintenance was not observed following initial contact with an aperture boundary, when the mouse needed to make a large corrective head motion to the front of the aperture, but only following contact by the same whisker field with the opposite aperture boundary, when the mouse needed to precisely align its head with the reward spout. Together these results suggest that mice can select from a diverse range of sensing strategies incorporating both knowledge of the task and whisk-by-whisk sensory information and, moreover, suggest the existence of high level control (not solely reflexive) of sensing motions coordinated between multiple body parts. PMID:26792880

  8. Neural-adaptive control of single-master-multiple-slaves teleoperation for coordinated multiple mobile manipulators with time-varying communication delays and input uncertainties.

    PubMed

    Li, Zhijun; Su, Chun-Yi

    2013-09-01

    In this paper, adaptive neural network control is investigated for single-master-multiple-slaves teleoperation in consideration of time delays and input dead-zone uncertainties for multiple mobile manipulators carrying a common object in a cooperative manner. Firstly, concise dynamics of teleoperation systems consisting of a single master robot, multiple coordinated slave robots, and the object are developed in the task space. To handle asymmetric time-varying delays in communication channels and unknown asymmetric input dead zones, the nonlinear dynamics of the teleoperation system are transformed into two subsystems through feedback linearization: local master or slave dynamics including the unknown input dead zones and delayed dynamics for the purpose of synchronization. Then, a model reference neural network control strategy based on linear matrix inequalities (LMI) and adaptive techniques is proposed. The developed control approach ensures that the defined tracking errors converge to zero whereas the coordination internal force errors remain bounded and can be made arbitrarily small. Throughout this paper, stability analysis is performed via explicit Lyapunov techniques under specific LMI conditions. The proposed adaptive neural network control scheme is robust against motion disturbances, parametric uncertainties, time-varying delays, and input dead zones, which is validated by simulation studies.

  9. Coordinating Known and Unknown Quantities in a Multiplicative Context: Problem Conceptualization, Affordances and Constraints

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ramful, Ajay

    2012-01-01

    In line with continuing efforts to explain the demanding nature of multiplicative reasoning among middle-school students, this study explores the fine-grained knowledge elements that two pairs of 7th and 8th graders deployed in their attempt to coordinate the known and unknown quantities in the gear-wheel problem. Failure to conceptualize the…

  10. 25 CFR 170.105 - Are funds available for consultation, collaboration, and coordination activities?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Are funds available for consultation, collaboration, and... Consultation, Collaboration, Coordination § 170.105 Are funds available for consultation, collaboration, and coordination activities? To fund consultation, collaboration, and coordination of IRR Program activities...

  11. 25 CFR 170.105 - Are funds available for consultation, collaboration, and coordination activities?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Are funds available for consultation, collaboration, and... Consultation, Collaboration, Coordination § 170.105 Are funds available for consultation, collaboration, and coordination activities? To fund consultation, collaboration, and coordination of IRR Program activities...

  12. Care Coordination for the Chronically Ill: Understanding the Patient's Perspective

    PubMed Central

    Maeng, Daniel D; Martsolf, Grant R; Scanlon, Dennis P; Christianson, Jon B

    2012-01-01

    Objective To identify factors associated with perception of care coordination problems among chronically ill patients. Methods Patient-level data were obtained from a random-digit dial telephone survey of adults with chronic conditions. The survey measured respondents' self-report of care coordination problems and level of patient activation, using the Patient Activation Measure (PAM-13). Logistic regression was used to assess association between respondents' self-report of care coordination problems and a set of patient characteristics. Results Respondents in the highest activation stage had roughly 30–40 percent lower odds of reporting care coordination problems compared to those in the lowest stage (p < .01). Respondents with multiple chronic conditions were significantly more likely to report coordination problems than those with hypertension only. Respondents' race/ethnicity, employment, insurance status, income, and length of illness were not significantly associated with self-reported care coordination problems. Conclusion We conclude that patient activation and complexity of chronic illness are strongly associated with patients' self-report of care coordination problems. Developing targeted strategies to improve care coordination around these patient characteristics may be an effective way to address the issue. PMID:22985032

  13. Photocatalytic activity of PANI loaded coordination polymer composite materials: Photoresponse region extension and quantum yields enhancement via the loading of PANI nanofibers on surface of coordination polymer

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cui, Zhongping; Qi, Ji; Xu, Xinxin, E-mail: xuxx@mail.neu.edu.cn

    2013-09-15

    To enhance photocatalytic property of coordination polymer in visible light region, polyaniline (PANI) loaded coordination polymer photocatalyst was synthesized through in-situ chemical oxidation of aniline on the surface of coordination polymer. The photocatalytic activity of PANI loaded coordination polymer composite material for degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB) was investigated. Compared with pure coordination polymer photocatalyst, which can decompose RhB merely under UV light irradiation, PANI loaded coordination polymer photocatalyst displays more excellent photocatalytic activity in visible light region. Furthermore, PANI loaded coordination polymer photocatalyst exhibits outstanding stability during the degradation of RhB. - Graphical abstract: PANI loaded coordination polymer compositemore » material, which displays excellent photocatalytic activity under visible light was firstly synthesized through in-situ chemical oxidation of aniline on surface of coordination polymer. Display Omitted - Highlights: • This PANI loaded coordination polymer composite material represents the first conductive polymer loaded coordination polymer composite material. • PANI/coordination polymer composite material displays more excellent photocatalytic activity for the degradation of MO in visible light region. • The “combination” of coordination polymer and PANI will enable us to design high-activity, high-stability and visible light driven photocatalyst in the future.« less

  14. The active site structure of tetanus neurotoxin resolved by multiple scattering analysis in X-Ray absorption spectroscopy.

    PubMed Central

    Meneghini, C; Morante, S

    1998-01-01

    A detailed study of the x-ray absorption spectrum of tetanus neurotoxin in the K-edge EXAFS region of the zinc absorber is presented that allows the complete identification of the amino acid residues coordinated to the zinc active site. A very satisfactory interpretation of the experimental data can be given if multiple scattering contributions are included in the analysis. Comparing the absorption spectrum of tetanus neurotoxin to that of two other structurally similar zinc-endopeptidases, thermolysin and astacin, in which the zinc coordination mode is known from crystallographic data, we conclude that in tetanus neurotoxin, besides a water molecule, zinc is coordinated to two histidines and a tyrosine. PMID:9746536

  15. Functional connectivity in the neuromuscular system underlying bimanual coordination

    PubMed Central

    de Vries, Ingmar E. J.; Daffertshofer, Andreas; Stegeman, Dick F.

    2016-01-01

    Neural synchrony has been suggested as a mechanism for integrating distributed sensorimotor systems involved in coordinated movement. To test the role of corticomuscular and intermuscular coherence in bimanual coordination, we experimentally manipulated the degree of coordination between hand muscles by varying the sensitivity of the visual feedback to differences in bilateral force. In 16 healthy participants, cortical activity was measured using EEG and muscle activity of the flexor pollicis brevis of both hands using high-density electromyography (HDsEMG). Using the uncontrolled manifold framework, coordination between bilateral forces was quantified by the synergy index RV in the time and frequency domain. Functional connectivity was assessed using corticomuscular coherence between muscle activity and cortical source activity and intermuscular coherence between bilateral EMG activity. The synergy index increased in the high coordination condition. RV was higher in the high coordination condition in frequencies between 0 and 0.5 Hz; for the 0.5- to 2-Hz frequency band, this pattern was inverted. Corticomuscular coherence in the beta band (16–30 Hz) was maximal in the contralateral motor cortex and was reduced in the high coordination condition. In contrast, intermuscular coherence was observed at 5–12 Hz and increased with bimanual coordination. Within-subject comparisons revealed a negative correlation between RV and corticomuscular coherence and a positive correlation between RV and intermuscular coherence. Our findings suggest two distinct neural pathways: 1) corticomuscular coherence reflects direct corticospinal projections involved in controlling individual muscles; and 2) intermuscular coherence reflects diverging pathways involved in the coordination of multiple muscles. PMID:27628205

  16. Brg1 coordinates multiple processes during retinogenesis and is a tumor suppressor in retinoblastoma

    DOE PAGES

    Aldiri, Issam; Ajioka, Itsuki; Xu, Beisi; ...

    2015-12-01

    Retinal development requires precise temporal and spatial coordination of cell cycle exit, cell fate specification, cell migration and differentiation. When this process is disrupted, retinoblastoma, a developmental tumor of the retina, can form. Epigenetic modulators are central to precisely coordinating developmental events, and many epigenetic processes have been implicated in cancer. Studying epigenetic mechanisms in development is challenging because they often regulate multiple cellular processes; therefore, elucidating the primary molecular mechanisms involved can be difficult. Here we explore the role of Brg1 (Smarca4) in retinal development and retinoblastoma in mice using molecular and cellular approaches. Brg1 was found to regulatemore » retinal size by controlling cell cycle length, cell cycle exit and cell survival during development. Brg1 was not required for cell fate specification but was required for photoreceptor differentiation and cell adhesion/polarity programs that contribute to proper retinal lamination during development. The combination of defective cell differentiation and lamination led to retinal degeneration in Brg1-deficient retinae. Despite the hypocellularity, premature cell cycle exit, increased cell death and extended cell cycle length, retinal progenitor cells persisted in Brg1-deficient retinae, making them more susceptible to retinoblastoma. In conclusion, ChIP-Seq analysis suggests that Brg1 might regulate gene expression through multiple mechanisms.« less

  17. Brg1 coordinates multiple processes during retinogenesis and is a tumor suppressor in retinoblastoma

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Aldiri, Issam; Ajioka, Itsuki; Xu, Beisi

    Retinal development requires precise temporal and spatial coordination of cell cycle exit, cell fate specification, cell migration and differentiation. When this process is disrupted, retinoblastoma, a developmental tumor of the retina, can form. Epigenetic modulators are central to precisely coordinating developmental events, and many epigenetic processes have been implicated in cancer. Studying epigenetic mechanisms in development is challenging because they often regulate multiple cellular processes; therefore, elucidating the primary molecular mechanisms involved can be difficult. Here we explore the role of Brg1 (Smarca4) in retinal development and retinoblastoma in mice using molecular and cellular approaches. Brg1 was found to regulatemore » retinal size by controlling cell cycle length, cell cycle exit and cell survival during development. Brg1 was not required for cell fate specification but was required for photoreceptor differentiation and cell adhesion/polarity programs that contribute to proper retinal lamination during development. The combination of defective cell differentiation and lamination led to retinal degeneration in Brg1-deficient retinae. Despite the hypocellularity, premature cell cycle exit, increased cell death and extended cell cycle length, retinal progenitor cells persisted in Brg1-deficient retinae, making them more susceptible to retinoblastoma. In conclusion, ChIP-Seq analysis suggests that Brg1 might regulate gene expression through multiple mechanisms.« less

  18. An Expanded Theoretical Framework of Care Coordination Across Transitions in Care Settings.

    PubMed

    Radwin, Laurel E; Castonguay, Denise; Keenan, Carolyn B; Hermann, Cherice

    2016-01-01

    For many patients, high-quality, patient-centered, and cost-effective health care requires coordination among multiple clinicians and settings. Ensuring optimal care coordination requires a clear understanding of how clinician activities and continuity during transitions affect patient-centeredness and quality outcomes. This article describes an expanded theoretical framework to better understand care coordination. The framework provides clear articulation of concepts. Examples are provided of ways to measure the concepts.

  19. Age-related differences in brain network activation and co-activation during multiple object tracking.

    PubMed

    Dørum, Erlend S; Alnæs, Dag; Kaufmann, Tobias; Richard, Geneviève; Lund, Martina J; Tønnesen, Siren; Sneve, Markus H; Mathiesen, Nina C; Rustan, Øyvind G; Gjertsen, Øivind; Vatn, Sigurd; Fure, Brynjar; Andreassen, Ole A; Nordvik, Jan Egil; Westlye, Lars T

    2016-11-01

    Multiple object tracking (MOT) is a powerful paradigm for measuring sustained attention. Although previous fMRI studies have delineated the brain activation patterns associated with tracking and documented reduced tracking performance in aging, age-related effects on brain activation during MOT have not been characterized. In particular, it is unclear if the task-related activation of different brain networks is correlated, and also if this coordination between activations within brain networks shows differential effects of age. We obtained fMRI data during MOT at two load conditions from a group of younger ( n  = 25, mean age = 24.4 ± 5.1 years) and older ( n  = 21, mean age = 64.7 ± 7.4 years) healthy adults. Using a combination of voxel-wise and independent component analysis, we investigated age-related differences in the brain network activation. In order to explore to which degree activation of the various brain networks reflect unique and common mechanisms, we assessed the correlations between the brain networks' activations. Behavioral performance revealed an age-related reduction in MOT accuracy. Voxel and brain network level analyses converged on decreased load-dependent activations of the dorsal attention network (DAN) and decreased load-dependent deactivations of the default mode networks (DMN) in the old group. Lastly, we found stronger correlations in the task-related activations within DAN and within DMN components for younger adults, and stronger correlations between DAN and DMN components for older adults. Using MOT as means for measuring attentional performance, we have demonstrated an age-related attentional decline. Network-level analysis revealed age-related alterations in network recruitment consisting of diminished activations of DAN and diminished deactivations of DMN in older relative to younger adults. We found stronger correlations within DMN and within DAN components for younger adults and stronger correlations between

  20. Keep meaning in conversational coordination

    PubMed Central

    Cuffari, Elena C.

    2014-01-01

    Coordination is a widely employed term across recent quantitative and qualitative approaches to intersubjectivity, particularly approaches that give embodiment and enaction central explanatory roles. With a focus on linguistic and bodily coordination in conversational contexts, I review the operational meaning of coordination in recent empirical research and related theorizing of embodied intersubjectivity. This discussion articulates what must be involved in treating linguistic meaning as dynamic processes of coordination. The coordination approach presents languaging as a set of dynamic self-organizing processes and actions on multiple timescales and across multiple modalities that come about and work in certain domains (those jointly constructed in social, interactive, high-order sense-making). These processes go beyond meaning at the level that is available to first-person experience. I take one crucial consequence of this to be the ubiquitously moral nature of languaging with others. Languaging coordinates experience, among other levels of behavior and event. Ethical effort is called for by the automatic autonomy-influencing forces of languaging as coordination. PMID:25520693

  1. Coordinating complex decision support activities across distributed applications

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Adler, Richard M.

    1994-01-01

    Knowledge-based technologies have been applied successfully to automate planning and scheduling in many problem domains. Automation of decision support can be increased further by integrating task-specific applications with supporting database systems, and by coordinating interactions between such tools to facilitate collaborative activities. Unfortunately, the technical obstacles that must be overcome to achieve this vision of transparent, cooperative problem-solving are daunting. Intelligent decision support tools are typically developed for standalone use, rely on incompatible, task-specific representational models and application programming interfaces (API's), and run on heterogeneous computing platforms. Getting such applications to interact freely calls for platform independent capabilities for distributed communication, as well as tools for mapping information across disparate representations. Symbiotics is developing a layered set of software tools (called NetWorks! for integrating and coordinating heterogeneous distributed applications. he top layer of tools consists of an extensible set of generic, programmable coordination services. Developers access these services via high-level API's to implement the desired interactions between distributed applications.

  2. 'Unconventional' coordination chemistry by metal chelating fragments in a metalloprotein active site.

    PubMed

    Martin, David P; Blachly, Patrick G; Marts, Amy R; Woodruff, Tessa M; de Oliveira, César A F; McCammon, J Andrew; Tierney, David L; Cohen, Seth M

    2014-04-09

    The binding of three closely related chelators: 5-hydroxy-2-methyl-4H-pyran-4-thione (allothiomaltol, ATM), 3-hydroxy-2-methyl-4H-pyran-4-thione (thiomaltol, TM), and 3-hydroxy-4H-pyran-4-thione (thiopyromeconic acid, TPMA) to the active site of human carbonic anhydrase II (hCAII) has been investigated. Two of these ligands display a monodentate mode of coordination to the active site Zn(2+) ion in hCAII that is not recapitulated in model complexes of the enzyme active site. This unprecedented binding mode in the hCAII-thiomaltol complex has been characterized by both X-ray crystallography and X-ray spectroscopy. In addition, the steric restrictions of the active site force the ligands into a 'flattened' mode of coordination compared with inorganic model complexes. This change in geometry has been shown by density functional computations to significantly decrease the strength of the metal-ligand binding. Collectively, these data demonstrate that the mode of binding by small metal-binding groups can be significantly influenced by the protein active site. Diminishing the strength of the metal-ligand bond results in unconventional modes of metal coordination not found in typical coordination compounds or even carefully engineered active site models, and understanding these effects is critical to the rational design of inhibitors that target clinically relevant metalloproteins.

  3. Active Joint Mechanism Driven by Multiple Actuators Made of Flexible Bags: A Proposal of Dual Structural Actuator

    PubMed Central

    Inou, Norio

    2013-01-01

    An actuator is required to change its speed and force depending on the situation. Using multiple actuators for one driving axis is one of the possible solutions; however, there is an associated problem of output power matching. This study proposes a new active joint mechanism using multiple actuators. Because the actuator is made of a flexible bag, it does not interfere with other actuators when it is depressurized. The proposed joint achieved coordinated motion of multiple actuators. This report also discusses a new actuator which has dual cylindrical structure. The cylinders are composed of flexible bags with different diameters. The joint torque is estimated based on the following factors: empirical formula for the flexible actuator torque, geometric relationship between the joint and the actuator, and the principle of virtual work. The prototype joint mechanism achieves coordinated motion of multiple actuators for one axis. With this motion, small inner actuator contributes high speed motion, whereas large outer actuator generates high torque. The performance of the prototype joint is examined by speed and torque measurements. The joint showed about 30% efficiency at 2.0 Nm load torque under 0.15 MPa air input. PMID:24385868

  4. Active joint mechanism driven by multiple actuators made of flexible bags: a proposal of dual structural actuator.

    PubMed

    Kimura, Hitoshi; Matsuzaki, Takuya; Kataoka, Mokutaro; Inou, Norio

    2013-01-01

    An actuator is required to change its speed and force depending on the situation. Using multiple actuators for one driving axis is one of the possible solutions; however, there is an associated problem of output power matching. This study proposes a new active joint mechanism using multiple actuators. Because the actuator is made of a flexible bag, it does not interfere with other actuators when it is depressurized. The proposed joint achieved coordinated motion of multiple actuators. This report also discusses a new actuator which has dual cylindrical structure. The cylinders are composed of flexible bags with different diameters. The joint torque is estimated based on the following factors: empirical formula for the flexible actuator torque, geometric relationship between the joint and the actuator, and the principle of virtual work. The prototype joint mechanism achieves coordinated motion of multiple actuators for one axis. With this motion, small inner actuator contributes high speed motion, whereas large outer actuator generates high torque. The performance of the prototype joint is examined by speed and torque measurements. The joint showed about 30% efficiency at 2.0 Nm load torque under 0.15 MPa air input.

  5. Coordinating activities between NOAA and other agencies.

    PubMed

    Fritz, A T; Buchman, M F

    1997-11-01

    The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) mandate protection of public health, welfare, and the environment at Superfund hazardous waste sites. The NCP requires lead response agenciesto integrate baseline risk assessments into the remedial process that "assess threats to the environment." EPA policy statements direct regional offices to perform thorough, consistent ecological risk assessments, and stress the importance of coordination and technical consultation with the natural resource trustees. As a Federal natural trustee, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) role and responsibilities within the CERCLA process also are defined and mandated by Federal law. NOAA is responsible for identifying sites in the coastal zone that may affect natural resources, evaluating injury to trust resources, and providing technical advice on assessments and remedial and restoration alternatives. Statutes require lead cleanup agencies and trustee agencies to notify and coordinate with each other during CERCLA response. Over the past ten years, NOAA has gained valuable experience and technical expertise in environmental assessments and in evaluating contaminated aquatic environments. NOAA fulfills its responsibilities through an effective network of Coastal Resource Coordinators (CRCs) who can rapidly respond to local technical requirements and priorities, and coordinate effectively with technical and trustee representatives. In addition to CRCs, an interdisciplinary support group provides technical expertise in the scientific disciplines required to respond to the needs of regional activities. NOAA provides CRCs to coastal EPA regional offices for technical support, and to act as liaisons with Federal and state natural resource trustee agencies. The CRCs help EPA and other lead response agencies identify and assess risks to coastal resources

  6. PAK1 is a breast cancer oncogene that coordinately activates MAPK and MET signaling

    PubMed Central

    Shrestha, Yashaswi; Schafer, Eric J.; Boehm, Jesse S.; Thomas, Sapana R.; He, Frank; Du, Jinyan; Wang, Shumei; Barretina, Jordi; Weir, Barbara A.; Zhao, Jean J.; Polyak, Kornelia; Golub, Todd R.; Beroukhim, Rameen; Hahn, William C.

    2011-01-01

    Activating mutations in the RAS family or BRAF frequently occur in many types of human cancers but are rarely detected in breast tumors. However, activation of the RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) pathway is commonly observed in human breast cancers, suggesting that other genetic alterations lead to activation of this signaling pathway. To identify breast cancer oncogenes that activate the MAPK pathway, we screened a library of human kinases for their ability to induce anchorage-independent growth in a derivative of immortalized human mammary epithelial cells (HMLE). We identified PAK1 as a kinase that permitted HMLE cells to form anchorage-independent colonies. PAK1 is amplified in several human cancer types, including 33% of breast tumor samples and cancer cell lines. The kinase activity of PAK1 is necessary for PAK1-induced transformation. Moreover, we show that PAK1 simultaneously activates MAPK and MET signaling; the latter via inhibition of Merlin. Disruption of these activities inhibits PAK1-driven anchorage-independent growth. These observations establish PAK1 amplification as an alternative mechanism for MAPK activation in human breast cancer and credential PAK1 as a breast cancer oncogene that coordinately regulates multiple signaling pathways, the cooperation of which leads to malignant transformation. PMID:22105362

  7. PAK1 is a breast cancer oncogene that coordinately activates MAPK and MET signaling.

    PubMed

    Shrestha, Y; Schafer, E J; Boehm, J S; Thomas, S R; He, F; Du, J; Wang, S; Barretina, J; Weir, B A; Zhao, J J; Polyak, K; Golub, T R; Beroukhim, R; Hahn, W C

    2012-07-19

    Activating mutations in the RAS family or BRAF frequently occur in many types of human cancers but are rarely detected in breast tumors. However, activation of the RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK MAPK pathway is commonly observed in human breast cancers, suggesting that other genetic alterations lead to activation of this signaling pathway. To identify breast cancer oncogenes that activate the MAPK pathway, we screened a library of human kinases for their ability to induce anchorage-independent growth in a derivative of immortalized human mammary epithelial cells (HMLE). We identified p21-activated kinase 1 (PAK1) as a kinase that permitted HMLE cells to form anchorage-independent colonies. PAK1 is amplified in several human cancer types, including 30--33% of breast tumor samples and cancer cell lines. The kinase activity of PAK1 is necessary for PAK1-induced transformation. Moreover, we show that PAK1 simultaneously activates MAPK and MET signaling; the latter via inhibition of merlin. Disruption of these activities inhibits PAK1-driven anchorage-independent growth. These observations establish PAK1 amplification as an alternative mechanism for MAPK activation in human breast cancer and credential PAK1 as a breast cancer oncogene that coordinately regulates multiple signaling pathways, the cooperation of which leads to malignant transformation.

  8. Multiple Active Contours Guided by Differential Evolution for Medical Image Segmentation

    PubMed Central

    Cruz-Aceves, I.; Avina-Cervantes, J. G.; Lopez-Hernandez, J. M.; Rostro-Gonzalez, H.; Garcia-Capulin, C. H.; Torres-Cisneros, M.; Guzman-Cabrera, R.

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents a new image segmentation method based on multiple active contours guided by differential evolution, called MACDE. The segmentation method uses differential evolution over a polar coordinate system to increase the exploration and exploitation capabilities regarding the classical active contour model. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, a set of synthetic images with complex objects, Gaussian noise, and deep concavities is introduced. Subsequently, MACDE is applied on datasets of sequential computed tomography and magnetic resonance images which contain the human heart and the human left ventricle, respectively. Finally, to obtain a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the medical image segmentations compared to regions outlined by experts, a set of distance and similarity metrics has been adopted. According to the experimental results, MACDE outperforms the classical active contour model and the interactive Tseng method in terms of efficiency and robustness for obtaining the optimal control points and attains a high accuracy segmentation. PMID:23983809

  9. Solution Concepts for Distributed Decision-Making without Coordination

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Beling, Peter A.; Patek, Stephen D.

    2005-01-01

    Consider a single-stage problem in which we have a group N agents who are attempting to minimize the expected cost of their joint actions, without the benefit of communication or a pre-established protocol but with complete knowledge of the expected cost of any joint set of actions for the group. We call this situation a static coordination problem. The central issue in defining an appropriate solution concept for static coordination problems is considering how to deal with the fact that if the agents axe faced with a set of multiple (mixed) strategies that are equally attractive in terms of cost, a failure of coordination may lead to an expected cost value that is worse than that of any of the strategies in the set. In this proposal, we describe the notion of a general coordination problem, describe initial efforts at developing a solution concept for static coordination problems, and then outline a research agenda that centers on activities that will be basis for obtaining a complete understanding of solutions to static coordination problems.

  10. Drawing from Memory: Hand-Eye Coordination at Multiple Scales

    PubMed Central

    Spivey, Michael J.

    2013-01-01

    Eyes move to gather visual information for the purpose of guiding behavior. This guidance takes the form of perceptual-motor interactions on short timescales for behaviors like locomotion and hand-eye coordination. More complex behaviors require perceptual-motor interactions on longer timescales mediated by memory, such as navigation, or designing and building artifacts. In the present study, the task of sketching images of natural scenes from memory was used to examine and compare perceptual-motor interactions on shorter and longer timescales. Eye and pen trajectories were found to be coordinated in time on shorter timescales during drawing, and also on longer timescales spanning study and drawing periods. The latter type of coordination was found by developing a purely spatial analysis that yielded measures of similarity between images, eye trajectories, and pen trajectories. These results challenge the notion that coordination only unfolds on short timescales. Rather, the task of drawing from memory evokes perceptual-motor encodings of visual images that preserve coarse-grained spatial information over relatively long timescales as well. PMID:23554894

  11. A new redox-active coordination polymer with cobalticinium dicarboxylate.

    PubMed

    Kondo, Mitsuru; Hayakawa, Yuri; Miyazawa, Makoto; Oyama, Aiko; Unoura, Kei; Kawaguchi, Hiroyuki; Naito, Tetsuyoshi; Maeda, Kenji; Uchida, Fumio

    2004-09-20

    A new two-dimensional coordination polymer with cobalticinium 1,1'-dicarboxylate (ccdc) incorporated in the framework has been prepared, the ccdc functioning as unique monoanionic dicarboxylate ligands. The compound shows a high redox activity based on the ccdc units. Copyright 2004 American Chemical Society

  12. Units Coordination and the Construction of Improper Fractions: A Revision of the Splitting Hypothesis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hackenberg, Amy J.

    2007-01-01

    This article communicates findings from a year-long constructivist teaching experiment about the relationship between four sixth-grade students' multiplicative structures and their construction of improper fractions. Students' multiplicative structures are the units coordinations that they can take as given prior to activity--i.e., the units…

  13. From Spontaneous Motor Activity to Coordinated Behaviour: A Developmental Model

    PubMed Central

    Marques, Hugo Gravato; Bharadwaj, Arjun; Iida, Fumiya

    2014-01-01

    In mammals, the developmental path that links the primary behaviours observed during foetal stages to the full fledged behaviours observed in adults is still beyond our understanding. Often theories of motor control try to deal with the process of incremental learning in an abstract and modular way without establishing any correspondence with the mammalian developmental stages. In this paper, we propose a computational model that links three distinct behaviours which appear at three different stages of development. In order of appearance, these behaviours are: spontaneous motor activity (SMA), reflexes, and coordinated behaviours, such as locomotion. The goal of our model is to address in silico four hypotheses that are currently hard to verify in vivo: First, the hypothesis that spinal reflex circuits can be self-organized from the sensor and motor activity induced by SMA. Second, the hypothesis that supraspinal systems can modulate reflex circuits to achieve coordinated behaviour. Third, the hypothesis that, since SMA is observed in an organism throughout its entire lifetime, it provides a mechanism suitable to maintain the reflex circuits aligned with the musculoskeletal system, and thus adapt to changes in body morphology. And fourth, the hypothesis that by changing the modulation of the reflex circuits over time, one can switch between different coordinated behaviours. Our model is tested in a simulated musculoskeletal leg actuated by six muscles arranged in a number of different ways. Hopping is used as a case study of coordinated behaviour. Our results show that reflex circuits can be self-organized from SMA, and that, once these circuits are in place, they can be modulated to achieve coordinated behaviour. In addition, our results show that our model can naturally adapt to different morphological changes and perform behavioural transitions. PMID:25057775

  14. Patient- and family-centered care coordination: a framework for integrating care for children and youth across multiple systems.

    PubMed

    2014-05-01

    Understanding a care coordination framework, its functions, and its effects on children and families is critical for patients and families themselves, as well as for pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists/surgical specialists, and anyone providing services to children and families. Care coordination is an essential element of a transformed American health care delivery system that emphasizes optimal quality and cost outcomes, addresses family-centered care, and calls for partnership across various settings and communities. High-quality, cost-effective health care requires that the delivery system include elements for the provision of services supporting the coordination of care across settings and professionals. This requirement of supporting coordination of care is generally true for health systems providing care for all children and youth but especially for those with special health care needs. At the foundation of an efficient and effective system of care delivery is the patient-/family-centered medical home. From its inception, the medical home has had care coordination as a core element. In general, optimal outcomes for children and youth, especially those with special health care needs, require interfacing among multiple care systems and individuals, including the following: medical, social, and behavioral professionals; the educational system; payers; medical equipment providers; home care agencies; advocacy groups; needed supportive therapies/services; and families. Coordination of care across settings permits an integration of services that is centered on the comprehensive needs of the patient and family, leading to decreased health care costs, reduction in fragmented care, and improvement in the patient/family experience of care. Copyright © 2014 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

  15. 75 FR 2595 - Proposed Information Collection (Care Coordination Home Telehealth (CCHT) Activity: Comment Request

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-01-15

    ... (Care Coordination Home Telehealth (CCHT) Activity: Comment Request AGENCY: Veterans Health.... Title: Care Coordination Home Telehealth (CCHT) Patient Satisfaction Survey, VA Form 10-0481. OMB... program will receive survey questions through a messaging device located in their home. Patients can...

  16. Analyzing Group Coordination when Solving Geometry Problems with Dynamic Geometry Software

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oner, Diler

    2013-01-01

    In CSCL research, collaborative activity is conceptualized along various yet intertwined dimensions. When functioning within these multiple dimensions, participants make use of several resources, which can be social or content-related (and sometimes temporal) in nature. It is the effective coordination of these resources that appears to…

  17. A Lyapunov-based Approach for Time-Coordinated 3D Path-Following of Multiple Quadrotors in SO(3)

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2012-12-10

    January 2006. [22] T. Lee, “ Robust adaptive geometric tracking controls on so(3) with an application to the attitude dynamicsof a quadrotor uav,” 2011...in the presence of time-varying communication networks and spatial and temporal constraints. The objective is to enable n Quadrotors to track prede?ned...developing control laws to solve the Time-Coordinated 3D Path-Following task for multiple Quadrotor UAVs in the presence of time-varying communication

  18. Deadlines in space: Selective effects of coordinate spatial processing in multitasking.

    PubMed

    Todorov, Ivo; Del Missier, Fabio; Konke, Linn Andersson; Mäntylä, Timo

    2015-11-01

    Many everyday activities require coordination and monitoring of multiple deadlines. One way to handle these temporal demands might be to represent future goals and deadlines as a pattern of spatial relations. We examined the hypothesis that spatial ability, in addition to executive functioning, contributes to individual differences in multitasking. In two studies, participants completed a multitasking session in which they monitored four digital clocks running at different rates. In Study 1, we found that individual differences in spatial ability and executive functions were independent predictors of multiple-task performance. In Study 2, we found that individual differences in specific spatial abilities were selectively related to multiple-task performance, as only coordinate spatial processing, but not categorical, predicted multitasking, even beyond executive functioning and numeracy. In both studies, males outperformed females in spatial ability and multitasking and in Study 2 these sex differences generalized to a simulation of everyday multitasking. Menstrual changes moderated the effects on multitasking, in that sex differences in coordinate spatial processing and multitasking were observed between males and females in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, but not between males and females at menses. Overall, these findings suggest that multiple-task performance reflects independent contributions of spatial ability and executive functioning. Furthermore, our results support the distinction of categorical versus coordinate spatial processing, and suggest that these two basic relational processes are selectively affected by female sex hormones and differentially effective in transforming and handling temporal patterns as spatial relations in the context of multitasking.

  19. Fabrication of a PANI/CPs composite material: a feasible method to enhance the photocatalytic activity of coordination polymers.

    PubMed

    Xu, Xin-Xin; Cui, Zhong-Ping; Qi, Ji; Liu, Xiao-Xia

    2013-03-21

    To improve the photocatalytic activity of a coordination polymer in the visible light region, polyaniline (PANI) was loaded onto its surface through a facile in situ chemical oxidation polymerization process. The resulting PANI loaded coordination polymer composite materials with excellent stability exhibit significantly higher photocatalytic activities than the pure coordination polymer photocatalyst on the degradation of methyl orange (MO) under visible light irradiation. This enhancement can be ascribed to the introduction of PANI on the surface of the coordination polymer, which leads to efficient separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs as well as a significant expansion of the photoresponse region. Finally, we discussed the influence of acidity on the morphology and photocatalytic activity of the composite material. An optimal condition to obtain the PANI loaded coordination polymer composite material with excellent photocatalytic activity has been obtained.

  20. Active video gaming improves body coordination in survivors of childhood brain tumours.

    PubMed

    Sabel, Magnus; Sjölund, Anette; Broeren, Jürgen; Arvidsson, Daniel; Saury, Jean-Michel; Blomgren, Klas; Lannering, Birgitta; Emanuelson, Ingrid

    2016-10-01

    We investigated whether active video gaming (AVG) could bring about regular, enjoyable, physical exercise in children treated for brain tumours, what level of physical activity could be reached and if the children's physical functioning improved. Thirteen children, aged 7-17 years, were randomised to either AVG or waiting-list. After 10-12 weeks they crossed-over. Weekly Internet coaching sessions were used to sustain motivation and evaluate enjoyment. Energy expenditure (EE) levels were measured as Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET), using a multisensory activity monitor. Single-blinded assessments of physical functioning were done, using the Bruininks-Osteretsky Test of Motor Performance, second edition, evaluating participants before and after the intervention period, as well as comparing the randomisation groups after the first period. All patients completed the study. AVG sessions (mean duration 47 minutes) were performed on 72% of all days. Mean EE level during AVG sessions was 3.0 MET, corresponding to moderate physical activity. The Body Coordination score improved by 15% (p = 0.021) over the intervention period. In this group of childhood brain tumour survivors, home-based AVG, supported by a coach, was a feasible, enjoyable and moderately intense form of exercise that improved Body Coordination. Implications for Rehabilitation Childhood brain tumour survivors frequently have cognitive problems, inferior physical functioning and are less physically active compared to their healthy peers. Active video gaming (AVG), supported by Internet coaching, is a feasible home-based intervention in children treated for brain tumours, promoting enjoyable, regular physical exercise of moderate intensity. In this pilot study, AVG with Nintendo Wii improved Body Coordination.

  1. Coordinating a Large, Amalgamated REU Program with Multiple Funding Sources

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fiorini, Eugene; Myers, Kellen; Naqvi, Yusra

    2017-01-01

    In this paper, we discuss the challenges of organizing a large REU program amalgamated from multiple funding sources, including diverse participants, mentors, and research projects. We detail the program's structure, activities, and recruitment, and we hope to demonstrate that the organization of this REU is not only beneficial to its…

  2. Bimanual motor coordination controlled by cooperative interactions in intrinsic and extrinsic coordinates.

    PubMed

    Sakurada, Takeshi; Ito, Koji; Gomi, Hiroaki

    2016-01-01

    Although strong motor coordination in intrinsic muscle coordinates has frequently been reported for bimanual movements, coordination in extrinsic visual coordinates is also crucial in various bimanual tasks. To explore the bimanual coordination mechanisms in terms of the frame of reference, here we characterized implicit bilateral interactions in visuomotor tasks. Visual perturbations (finger-cursor gain change) were applied while participants performed a rhythmic tracking task with both index fingers under an in-phase or anti-phase relationship in extrinsic coordinates. When they corrected the right finger's amplitude, the left finger's amplitude unintentionally also changed [motor interference (MI)], despite the instruction to keep its amplitude constant. Notably, we observed two specificities: one was large MI and low relative-phase variability (PV) under the intrinsic in-phase condition, and the other was large MI and high PV under the extrinsic in-phase condition. Additionally, using a multiple-interaction model, we successfully decomposed MI into intrinsic components caused by motor correction and extrinsic components caused by visual-cursor mismatch of the right finger's movements. This analysis revealed that the central nervous system facilitates MI by combining intrinsic and extrinsic components in the condition with in-phases in both intrinsic and extrinsic coordinates, and that under-additivity of the effects is explained by the brain's preference for the intrinsic interaction over extrinsic interaction. In contrast, the PV was significantly correlated with the intrinsic component, suggesting that the intrinsic interaction dominantly contributed to bimanual movement stabilization. The inconsistent features of MI and PV suggest that the central nervous system regulates multiple levels of bilateral interactions for various bimanual tasks. © 2015 The Authors. European Journal of Neuroscience published by Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and

  3. Research nurse manager perceptions about research activities performed by non-nurse clinical research coordinators.

    PubMed

    Jones, Carolynn Thomas; Hastings, Clare; Wilson, Lynda Law

    2015-01-01

    There has been limited research to document differences in roles between nurses and non-nurses who assume clinical research coordination and management roles. Several authors have suggested that there is no acknowledged guidance for the licensure requirements for research study coordinators and that some non-nurse research coordinators may be assuming roles that are outside of their legal scopes of practice. There is a need for further research on issues related to the delegation of clinical research activities to non-nurses. This study used nominal group process focus groups to identify perceptions of experienced research nurse managers at an academic health science center in the Southern United States about the clinical research activities that are being performed by non-nurse clinical research coordinators without supervision that they believed should only be performed by a nurse or under the supervision of a nurse. A total of 13 research nurse managers volunteered to be contacted about the study. Of those, 8 participated in two separate nominal group process focus group sessions. The group members initially identified 22 activities that they felt should only be performed by a nurse or under the direct supervision of a nurse. After discussion and clarification of results, activities were combined into 12 categories of clinical research activities that participants believed should only be performed by a nurse or under the direct supervision of a nurse. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Pyrolysis of Helical Coordination Polymers for Metal-Sulfide-Based Helices with Broadband Chiroptical Activity.

    PubMed

    Hirai, Kenji; Yeom, Bongjun; Sada, Kazuki

    2017-06-27

    Fabrication of chiroptical materials with broadband response in the visible light region is vital to fully realize their potential applications. One way to achieve broadband chiroptical activity is to fabricate chiral nanostructures from materials that exhibit broadband absorption in the visible light region. However, the compounds used for chiroptical materials have predominantly been limited to materials with narrowband spectral response. Here, we synthesize Ag 2 S-based nanohelices derived from helical coordination polymers. The right- and left-handed coordination helices used as precursors are prepared from l- and d-glutathione with Ag + and a small amount of Cu 2+ . The pyrolysis of the coordination helices yields right- and left-handed helices of Cu 0.12 Ag 1.94 S/C, which exhibit chiroptical activity spanning the entire visible light region. Finite element method simulations substantiate that the broadband chiroptical activity is attributed to synergistic broadband light absorption and light scattering. Furthermore, another series of Cu 0.10 Ag 1.90 S/C nanohelices are synthesized by choosing the l- or d-Glu-Cys as starting materials. The pitch length of nanohelicies is controlled by changing the peptides, which alters their chiroptical properties. The pyrolysis of coordination helices enables one to fabricate helical Ag 2 S-based materials that enable broadband chiroptical activity but have not been explored owing to the lack of synthetic routes.

  5. Market-Based Coordination and Auditing Mechanisms for Self-Interested Multi-Robot Systems

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ham, MyungJoo

    2009-01-01

    We propose market-based coordinated task allocation mechanisms, which allocate complex tasks that require synchronized and collaborated services of multiple robot agents to robot agents, and an auditing mechanism, which ensures proper behaviors of robot agents by verifying inter-agent activities, for self-interested, fully-distributed, and…

  6. Dopamine D1 receptor activation maintains motor coordination and balance in rats.

    PubMed

    Avila-Luna, Alberto; Gálvez-Rosas, Arturo; Durand-Rivera, Alfredo; Ramos-Languren, Laura-Elisa; Ríos, Camilo; Arias-Montaño, José-Antonio; Bueno-Nava, Antonio

    2018-02-01

    Dopamine (DA) modulates motor coordination, and its depletion, as in Parkinson's disease, produces motor impairment. The basal ganglia, cerebellum and cerebral cortex are interconnected, have functional roles in motor coordination, and possess dopamine D 1 receptors (D 1 Rs), which are expressed at a particularly high density in the basal ganglia. In this study, we examined whether the activation of D 1 Rs modulates motor coordination and balance in the rat using a beam-walking test that has previously been used to detect motor coordination deficits. The systemic administration of the D 1 R agonist SKF-38393 at 2, 3, or 4 mg/kg did not alter the beam-walking scores, but the subsequent administration of the D 1 R antagonist SCH-23390 at 1 mg/kg did produce deficits in motor coordination, which were reversed by the full agonist SKF-82958. The co-administration of SKF-38393 and SCH-23390 did not alter the beam-walking scores compared with the control group, but significantly prevented the increase in beam-walking scores induced by SCH-23390. The effect of the D 1 R agonist to prevent and reverse the effect of the D 1 R antagonist in beam-walking scores is an indicator that the function of D 1 Rs is necessary to maintain motor coordination and balance in rats. Our results support that D 1 Rs mediate the SCH-23390-induced deficit in motor coordination.

  7. Relationships between coordination, active drag and propelling efficiency in crawl.

    PubMed

    Seifert, Ludovic; Schnitzler, Christophe; Bideault, Gautier; Alberty, Morgan; Chollet, Didier; Toussaint, Huub Martin

    2015-02-01

    This study examines the relationships between the index of coordination (IdC) and active drag (D) assuming that at constant average speed, average drag equals average propulsion. The relationship between IdC and propulsive efficiency (ep) was also investigated at maximal speed. Twenty national swimmers completed two incremental speed tests swimming front crawl with arms only in free condition and using a measurement of active drag system. Each test was composed of eight 25-m bouts from 60% to 100% of maximal intensity whereby each lap was swum at constant speed. Different regression models were tested to analyse IdC-D relationship. Correlation between IdC and ep was calculated. IdC was linked to D by linear regression (IdC=0.246·D-27.06; R(2)=0.88, P<.05); swimmers switched from catch-up to superposition coordination mode at a speed of ∼1.55ms(-1) where average D is ∼110N. No correlation between IdC and ep at maximal speed was found. The intra-individual analysis revealed that coordination plays an important role in scaling propulsive forces with higher speed levels such that these are adapted to aquatic resistance. Inter-individual analysis showed that high IdC did not relate to a high ep suggesting an individual optimization of force and power generation is at play to reach high speeds. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  8. 75 FR 15496 - Agency Information Collection (Care Coordination Home Telehealth (CCHT)) Activity Under OMB Review

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-03-29

    ... (Care Coordination Home Telehealth (CCHT)) Activity Under OMB Review AGENCY: Veterans Health... INFORMATION: Title: Care Coordination Home Telehealth (CCHT) Patient Satisfaction Survey, VA Form 10-0481. OMB... program will receive survey questions through a messaging device located in their home. Patients can...

  9. Amplified Rate Acceleration by Simultaneous Up-Regulation of Multiple Active Sites in an Endo-Functionalized Porous Capsule.

    PubMed

    Kopilevich, Sivil; Müller, Achim; Weinstock, Ira A

    2015-10-14

    Using the hydrolysis of epoxides in water as a model reaction, the effect of multiple active sites on Michaelis-Menten compliant rate accelerations in a porous capsule is demonstrated. The capsule is a water-soluble Ih-symmetry Keplerate-type complex of the form, [{Mo(VI)6O21(H2O)6}12{Mo(V)2O4(L)}30](42-), in which 12 pentagonal "ligands," {(Mo(VI))Mo(VI)5O21(H2O)6}(6-), are coordinated to 30 dimolybdenum sites, {Mo(V)2O4L}(1+) (L = an endohedrally coordinated η(2)-bound carboxylate anion), resulting in 20 Mo9O9 pores. When "up-regulated" by removal of ca. one-third of the blocking ligands, L, an equal number of dimolybdenum sites are activated, and the newly freed-up space allows for encapsulation of nearly twice as many substrate guests, leading to a larger effective molarity (amplification), and an increase in the rate acceleration (k(cat)/k(uncat)) from 16,000 to an enzyme-like value of 182,800.

  10. 36 CFR 9.83 - Coordination of AMRAP activities in National Park System units.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-07-01

    ... activities in National Park System units. 9.83 Section 9.83 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK... Coordination of AMRAP activities in National Park System units. (a) To facilitate compliance with this Subpart... agreeable schedule of AMRAP projects and activities in Alaska units of the National Park System. Where...

  11. 36 CFR 9.83 - Coordination of AMRAP activities in National Park System units.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-07-01

    ... activities in National Park System units. 9.83 Section 9.83 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK... Coordination of AMRAP activities in National Park System units. (a) To facilitate compliance with this Subpart... agreeable schedule of AMRAP projects and activities in Alaska units of the National Park System. Where...

  12. 36 CFR 9.83 - Coordination of AMRAP activities in National Park System units.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... activities in National Park System units. 9.83 Section 9.83 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK... Coordination of AMRAP activities in National Park System units. (a) To facilitate compliance with this Subpart... agreeable schedule of AMRAP projects and activities in Alaska units of the National Park System. Where...

  13. 36 CFR 9.83 - Coordination of AMRAP activities in National Park System units.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... activities in National Park System units. 9.83 Section 9.83 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK... Coordination of AMRAP activities in National Park System units. (a) To facilitate compliance with this Subpart... agreeable schedule of AMRAP projects and activities in Alaska units of the National Park System. Where...

  14. 36 CFR 9.83 - Coordination of AMRAP activities in National Park System units.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-07-01

    ... activities in National Park System units. 9.83 Section 9.83 Parks, Forests, and Public Property NATIONAL PARK... Coordination of AMRAP activities in National Park System units. (a) To facilitate compliance with this Subpart... agreeable schedule of AMRAP projects and activities in Alaska units of the National Park System. Where...

  15. Classification of physical activities based on body-segments coordination.

    PubMed

    Fradet, Laetitia; Marin, Frederic

    2016-09-01

    Numerous innovations based on connected objects and physical activity (PA) monitoring have been proposed. However, recognition of PAs requires robust algorithm and methodology. The current study presents an innovative approach for PA recognition. It is based on the heuristic definition of postures and the use of body-segments coordination obtained through external sensors. The first part of this study presents the methodology required to define the set of accelerations which is the most appropriate to represent the particular body-segments coordination involved in the chosen PAs (here walking, running, and cycling). For that purpose, subjects of different ages and heterogeneous physical conditions walked, ran, cycled, and performed daily activities at different paces. From the 3D motion capture, vertical and horizontal accelerations of 8 anatomical landmarks representative of the body were computed. Then, the 680 combinations from up to 3 accelerations were compared to identify the most appropriate set of acceleration to discriminate the PAs in terms of body segment coordinations. The discrimination was based on the maximal Hausdorff Distance obtained between the different set of accelerations. The vertical accelerations of both knees demonstrated the best PAs discrimination. The second step was the proof of concept, implementing the proposed algorithm to classify PAs of new group of subjects. The originality of the proposed algorithm is the possibility to use the subject's specific measures as reference data. With the proposed algorithm, 94% of the trials were correctly classified. In conclusion, our study proposed a flexible and extendable methodology. At the current stage, the algorithm has been shown to be valid for heterogeneous subjects, which suggests that it could be deployed in clinical or health-related applications regardless of the subjects' physical abilities or characteristics. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Dysfunctional long-range coordination of neural activity during Gestalt perception in schizophrenia.

    PubMed

    Uhlhaas, Peter J; Linden, David E J; Singer, Wolf; Haenschel, Corinna; Lindner, Michael; Maurer, Konrad; Rodriguez, Eugenio

    2006-08-02

    Recent theoretical and empirical research on schizophrenia converges on the notion that core aspects of the pathophysiology of the disorder may arise from a dysfunction in the coordination of distributed neural activity. Synchronization of neural responses in the beta-band (15-30 Hz) and gamma-band range (30-80 Hz) has been implicated as a possible neural substrate for dysfunctional coordination in schizophrenia. To test this hypothesis, we examined the electroencephalography (EEG) activity in 19 patients with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, edition IV criteria, diagnosis of schizophrenia and 19 healthy control subjects during a Gestalt perception task. EEG data were analyzed for phase synchrony and induced spectral power as an index of neural synchronization. Schizophrenia patients were impaired significantly in the detection of images that required the grouping of stimulus elements into coherent object representations. This deficit was accompanied by longer reaction times in schizophrenia patients. Deficits in Gestalt perception in schizophrenia patients were associated with reduced phase synchrony in the beta-band (20-30 Hz), whereas induced spectral power in the gamma-band (40-70 Hz) was mainly intact. Our findings suggest that schizophrenia patients are impaired in the long-range synchronization of neural responses, which may reflect a core deficit in the coordination of neural activity and underlie the specific cognitive dysfunctions associated with the disorder.

  17. Activity of transplant coordination in Uruguay.

    PubMed

    Mizraji, R; Pérez, S; Alvarez, I

    2007-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to analyze the evolution of donation and organ transplantation in Uruguay, after the initiation of a program of transplant coordination, which began in 2000. The total number of effective donors increased from 28.7 per million people (pmp) in 2000 to 48.1 pmp in 2005, which constituted an increase of 75%. The number of real donors also increased from 10 pmp in 2000 to 20.6 pmp in 2005, more than a 100% increase, with a cadaveric renal transplantation rate of 36 pmp (2005). The conversion of effective to real donors (RD/ED) increased from 0.125 to 0.42. Familial refusal decreased from 62.1% in 2000 to 19% in 2005, which constituted a decrease of 70%. We concluded that implementation of transplant coordinators and involvement of intensive care medical doctors in coordination have had a strong impact on these results.

  18. Voice loops as coordination aids in space shuttle mission control.

    PubMed

    Patterson, E S; Watts-Perotti, J; Woods, D D

    1999-01-01

    Voice loops, an auditory groupware technology, are essential coordination support tools for experienced practitioners in domains such as air traffic management, aircraft carrier operations and space shuttle mission control. They support synchronous communication on multiple channels among groups of people who are spatially distributed. In this paper, we suggest reasons for why the voice loop system is a successful medium for supporting coordination in space shuttle mission control based on over 130 hours of direct observation. Voice loops allow practitioners to listen in on relevant communications without disrupting their own activities or the activities of others. In addition, the voice loop system is structured around the mission control organization, and therefore directly supports the demands of the domain. By understanding how voice loops meet the particular demands of the mission control environment, insight can be gained for the design of groupware tools to support cooperative activity in other event-driven domains.

  19. Voice loops as coordination aids in space shuttle mission control

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Patterson, E. S.; Watts-Perotti, J.; Woods, D. D.

    1999-01-01

    Voice loops, an auditory groupware technology, are essential coordination support tools for experienced practitioners in domains such as air traffic management, aircraft carrier operations and space shuttle mission control. They support synchronous communication on multiple channels among groups of people who are spatially distributed. In this paper, we suggest reasons for why the voice loop system is a successful medium for supporting coordination in space shuttle mission control based on over 130 hours of direct observation. Voice loops allow practitioners to listen in on relevant communications without disrupting their own activities or the activities of others. In addition, the voice loop system is structured around the mission control organization, and therefore directly supports the demands of the domain. By understanding how voice loops meet the particular demands of the mission control environment, insight can be gained for the design of groupware tools to support cooperative activity in other event-driven domains.

  20. Developmental Coordination Disorder, Sex, and Activity Deficit over Time: A Longitudinal Analysis of Participation Trajectories in Children with and without Coordination Difficulties

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cairney, John; Hay, John A.; Veldhuizen, Scott; Missiuna, Cheryl; Faught, Brent E.

    2010-01-01

    Aim: Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are known to participate in active play less than typically developing children. However, it is not known whether the activity deficit between children with and without DCD widens or diminishes over time. Method: Data were obtained from a large, prospective cohort study of children…

  1. Multiple flood vulnerability assessment approach based on fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method and coordinated development degree model.

    PubMed

    Yang, Weichao; Xu, Kui; Lian, Jijian; Bin, Lingling; Ma, Chao

    2018-05-01

    Flood is a serious challenge that increasingly affects the residents as well as policymakers. Flood vulnerability assessment is becoming gradually relevant in the world. The purpose of this study is to develop an approach to reveal the relationship between exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity for better flood vulnerability assessment, based on the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method (FCEM) and coordinated development degree model (CDDM). The approach is organized into three parts: establishment of index system, assessment of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, and multiple flood vulnerability assessment. Hydrodynamic model and statistical data are employed for the establishment of index system; FCEM is used to evaluate exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity; and CDDM is applied to express the relationship of the three components of vulnerability. Six multiple flood vulnerability types and four levels are proposed to assess flood vulnerability from multiple perspectives. Then the approach is applied to assess the spatiality of flood vulnerability in Hainan's eastern area, China. Based on the results of multiple flood vulnerability, a decision-making process for rational allocation of limited resources is proposed and applied to the study area. The study shows that multiple flood vulnerability assessment can evaluate vulnerability more completely, and help decision makers learn more information about making decisions in a more comprehensive way. In summary, this study provides a new way for flood vulnerability assessment and disaster prevention decision. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Embryo as an active granular fluid: stress-coordinated cellular constriction chains

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Holcomb, Michael; Gao, Guo-Jie; Thomas, Jeffrey; Blawzdziewicz, Jerzy

    2016-11-01

    Mechanical stress plays an intricate role in gene expression in individual cells and sculpting of developing tissues. Motivated by our observation of the cellular constriction chains (CCCs) during the initial phase of ventral furrow formation in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo, we propose an active granular fluid (AGF) model that provides valuable insights into cellular coordination in the apical constriction process. In our model, cells are treated as circular particles connected by a predefined force network, and they undergo a random constriction process in which the particle constriction probability P is a function of the stress exerted on the particle by its neighbors. We find that when P favors tensile stress, constricted particles tend to form chain-like structures. In contrast, constricted particles tend to form compact clusters when P favors compression. A remarkable similarity of constricted-particle chains and CCCs observed in vivo provides indirect evidence that tensile-stress feedback coordinates the apical constriction activity.

  3. Cobalt-cadmium bimetallic porphyrin coordination polymers for electrochemistry application

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, C. Y.; Cui, G. Y.; Ding, D.; Zhou, B.

    2018-01-01

    In this paper, we used tetra (4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (H2TCPP) and metal cadmium, cobalt as reactants to synthesize metal porphyrin coordination polymers that they had different metal ratio. They were expressed as Co1Cd3TCPP, Co1Cd1TCPP, Co3Cd1TCPP, respectively. The results were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP). Herein, a series of metal porphyrin coordination polymers has multiple metal active centers and constructs electrochemistry sensors. In order to increase the conductivity, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) can be used to modify the electrodes. The polymer/MWCNTs/GCE electrode was studied by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry as sensor for sodium nitrite. The performance of Co1Cd1TCPP/MWCNTs/GCE electrode is best, the sensitivity for sodium nitrite is 350.95 mA M-1 cm-2 and the. The results indicate that metal porphyrin coordination polymers have excellent performance. It also enriches the application of metal porphyrin coordination polymer in electrochemistry sensor.

  4. Intelligent multiagent coordination based on reinforcement hierarchical neuro-fuzzy models.

    PubMed

    Mendoza, Leonardo Forero; Vellasco, Marley; Figueiredo, Karla

    2014-12-01

    This paper presents the research and development of two hybrid neuro-fuzzy models for the hierarchical coordination of multiple intelligent agents. The main objective of the models is to have multiple agents interact intelligently with each other in complex systems. We developed two new models of coordination for intelligent multiagent systems, which integrates the Reinforcement Learning Hierarchical Neuro-Fuzzy model with two proposed coordination mechanisms: the MultiAgent Reinforcement Learning Hierarchical Neuro-Fuzzy with a market-driven coordination mechanism (MA-RL-HNFP-MD) and the MultiAgent Reinforcement Learning Hierarchical Neuro-Fuzzy with graph coordination (MA-RL-HNFP-CG). In order to evaluate the proposed models and verify the contribution of the proposed coordination mechanisms, two multiagent benchmark applications were developed: the pursuit game and the robot soccer simulation. The results obtained demonstrated that the proposed coordination mechanisms greatly improve the performance of the multiagent system when compared with other strategies.

  5. Physical Activity and Fitness in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: A Systematic Review

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rivilis, Irina; Hay, John; Cairney, John; Klentrou, Panagiota; Liu, Jian; Faught, Brent E.

    2011-01-01

    Developmental coordination disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by poor motor proficiency that interferes with a child's activities of daily living. Activities that most young children engage in such as running, walking, and jumping are important for the proper development of fitness and overall health. However, children…

  6. Identifying and Coordinating Care for Complex Patients

    PubMed Central

    Rudin, Robert S.; Gidengil, Courtney A.; Predmore, Zachary; Schneider, Eric C.; Sorace, James; Hornstein, Rachel

    2017-01-01

    Abstract In the United States, a relatively small proportion of complex patients---defined as having multiple comorbidities, high risk for poor outcomes, and high cost---incur most of the nation's health care costs. Improved care coordination and management of complex patients could reduce costs while increasing quality of care. However, care coordination efforts face multiple challenges, such as segmenting populations of complex patients to better match their needs with the design of specific interventions, understanding how to reduce spending, and integrating care coordination programs into providers' care delivery processes. Innovative uses of analytics and health information technology (HIT) may address these challenges. Rudin and colleagues at RAND completed a literature review and held discussions with subject matter experts, reaching the conclusion that analytics and HIT are being used in innovative ways to coordinate care for complex patients but that the capabilities are limited, evidence of their effectiveness is lacking, and challenges are substantial, and important foundational work is still needed. PMID:28845354

  7. Coordination of networked systems on digraphs with multiple leaders via pinning control

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Gang; Lewis, Frank L.

    2012-02-01

    It is well known that achieving consensus among a group of multi-vehicle systems by local distributed control is feasible if and only if all nodes in the communication digraph are reachable from a single (root) node. In this article, we take into account a more general case that the communication digraph of the networked multi-vehicle systems is weakly connected and has two or more zero-in-degree and strongly connected subgraphs, i.e. there are two or more leader groups. Based on the pinning control strategy, the feasibility problem of achieving second-order controlled consensus is studied. At first, a necessary and sufficient condition is given when the topology is fixed. Then the method to design the controller and the rule to choose the pinned vehicles are discussed. The proposed approach allows us to extend several existing results for undirected graphs to directed balanced graphs. A sufficient condition is proposed in the case where the coupling topology is variable. As an illustrative example, a second-order controlled consensus scheme is applied to coordinate the movement of networked multiple mobile robots.

  8. Block coordination copolymers

    DOEpatents

    Koh, Kyoung Moo; Wong-Foy, Antek G; Matzger, Adam J; Benin, Annabelle I; Willis, Richard R

    2014-11-11

    The present invention provides compositions of crystalline coordination copolymers wherein multiple organic molecules are assembled to produce porous framework materials with layered or core-shell structures. These materials are synthesized by sequential growth techniques such as the seed growth technique. In addition, the invention provides a simple procedure for controlling functionality.

  9. Block coordination copolymers

    DOEpatents

    Koh, Kyoung Moo; Wong-Foy, Antek G.; Matzger, Adam J.; Benin, Annabelle I.; Willis, Richard R.

    2012-12-04

    The present invention provides compositions of crystalline coordination copolymers wherein multiple organic molecules are assembled to produce porous framework materials with layered or core-shell structures. These materials are synthesized by sequential growth techniques such as the seed growth technique. In addition, the invention provides a simple procedure for controlling functionality.

  10. Block coordination copolymers

    DOEpatents

    Koh, Kyoung Moo; Wong-Foy, Antek G; Matzger, Adam J; Benin, Annabelle I; Willis, Richard R

    2012-11-13

    The present invention provides compositions of crystalline coordination copolymers wherein multiple organic molecules are assembled to produce porous framework materials with layered or core-shell structures. These materials are synthesized by sequential growth techniques such as the seed growth technique. In addition, the invention provides a simple procedure for controlling functionality.

  11. The Telesupervised Adaptive Ocean Sensor Fleet (TAOSF) Architecture: Coordination of Multiple Oceanic Robot Boats

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Elfes, Alberto; Podnar, Gregg W.; Dolan, John M.; Stancliff, Stephen; Lin, Ellie; Hosler, Jeffrey C.; Ames, Troy J.; Higinbotham, John; Moisan, John R.; Moisan, Tiffany A.; hide

    2008-01-01

    Earth science research must bridge the gap between the atmosphere and the ocean to foster understanding of Earth s climate and ecology. Ocean sensing is typically done with satellites, buoys, and crewed research ships. The limitations of these systems include the fact that satellites are often blocked by cloud cover, and buoys and ships have spatial coverage limitations. This paper describes a multi-robot science exploration software architecture and system called the Telesupervised Adaptive Ocean Sensor Fleet (TAOSF). TAOSF supervises and coordinates a group of robotic boats, the OASIS platforms, to enable in-situ study of phenomena in the ocean/atmosphere interface, as well as on the ocean surface and sub-surface. The OASIS platforms are extended deployment autonomous ocean surface vehicles, whose development is funded separately by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). TAOSF allows a human operator to effectively supervise and coordinate multiple robotic assets using a sliding autonomy control architecture, where the operating mode of the vessels ranges from autonomous control to teleoperated human control. TAOSF increases data-gathering effectiveness and science return while reducing demands on scientists for robotic asset tasking, control, and monitoring. The first field application chosen for TAOSF is the characterization of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs). We discuss the overall TAOSF architecture, describe field tests conducted under controlled conditions using rhodamine dye as a HAB simulant, present initial results from these tests, and outline the next steps in the development of TAOSF.

  12. Embryo as an active granular fluid: stress-coordinated cellular constriction chains

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gao, Guo-Jie Jason; Holcomb, Michael C.; Thomas, Jeffrey H.; Blawzdziewicz, Jerzy

    2016-10-01

    Mechanical stress plays an intricate role in gene expression in individual cells and sculpting of developing tissues. However, systematic methods of studying how mechanical stress and feedback help to harmonize cellular activities within a tissue have yet to be developed. Motivated by our observation of the cellular constriction chains (CCCs) during the initial phase of ventral furrow formation in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo, we propose an active granular fluid (AGF) model that provides valuable insights into cellular coordination in the apical constriction process. In our model, cells are treated as circular particles connected by a predefined force network, and they undergo a random constriction process in which the particle constriction probability P is a function of the stress exerted on the particle by its neighbors. We find that when P favors tensile stress, constricted particles tend to form chain-like structures. In contrast, constricted particles tend to form compact clusters when P favors compression. A remarkable similarity of constricted-particle chains and CCCs observed in vivo provides indirect evidence that tensile-stress feedback coordinates the apical constriction activity. Our particle-based AGF model will be useful in analyzing mechanical feedback effects in a wide variety of morphogenesis and organogenesis phenomena.

  13. Chitosan-Copper (II) complex as antibacterial agent: synthesis, characterization and coordinating bond- activity correlation study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mekahlia, S.; Bouzid, B.

    2009-11-01

    The antimicrobial activity of chitosan is unstable and sensitive to many factors such as molecular weight. Recent investigations showed that low molecular weight chitosan exhibited strong bactericidal activities compared to chitosan with high molecular weight. Since chitosan degradation can be caused by the coordinating bond, we attempt to synthesize and characterize the chitosan-Cu (II) complex, and thereafter study the coordinating bond effect on its antibacterial activity against Salmonella enteritidis. Seven chitosan-copper complexes with different copper contents were prepared and characterized by FT-IR, UV-vis, XRD and atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS). Results indicated that for chitosan-Cu (II) complexes with molar ratio close to 1:1, the inhibition rate reached 100%.

  14. Mindfulness-based interventions in multiple sclerosis: beneficial effects of Tai Chi on balance, coordination, fatigue and depression

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Background Patients suffering from Multiple Sclerosis (MS) experience a wide array of symptoms, including balance problems, mobility impairment, fatigue and depression. Physical exercise has recently been acknowledged as a treatment option complementary to medication. However, information regarding putative effects of structured exercise programs on neurological symptoms is sparse. Tai Chi, a Chinese martial art incorporating physical exercise and mindfulness training, has been shown to yield health benefits in various neurological groups. It seems particularly suitable for patients with motoric deficits as it challenges coordination and balance. The purpose of the current study was to explore the therapeutic value of structured Tai Chi training for coordination, balance, fatigue and depression in mildly disabled MS patients. Methods A sample of 32 MS patients (Expanded Disability Status Scale, EDSS < 5) was examined. A structured Tai Chi course was devised and a Tai Chi group participated in two weekly sessions of 90 minutes duration for six months, while a comparison group received treatment as usual (TAU). Both groups were examined prior to and following the six-months interval with regards to balance and coordination performance as well as measures of fatigue, depression and life satisfaction. Results Following the intervention, the Tai Chi group showed significant, consistent improvements in balance, coordination, and depression, relative to the TAU group (range of effect-sizes: partial η2 = 0.16 – 0.20). Additionally, life satisfaction improved (partial η2 = 0.31). Fatigue deteriorated in the comparison group, whereas it remained relatively stable in the Tai Chi group (partial η2 = 0.24). Conclusions The consistent pattern of results confirms that Tai Chi holds therapeutic potential for MS patients. Further research is needed to determine underlying working mechanisms, and to verify the results in a larger sample and different MS

  15. Physical Activity and Its Correlates in Youth with Multiple Sclerosis.

    PubMed

    Grover, Stephanie A; Sawicki, Carolyn P; Kinnett-Hopkins, Dominique; Finlayson, Marcia; Schneiderman, Jane E; Banwell, Brenda; Till, Christine; Motl, Robert W; Yeh, E Ann

    2016-12-01

    To investigate physical activity levels in youth with multiple sclerosis and monophasic acquired demyelinating syndromes ([mono-ADS], ie, children without relapsing disease) compared with healthy controls and to determine factors that contribute to engagement in physical activity. We hypothesized that greater physical activity goal setting and physical activity self-efficacy would be associated with greater levels of vigorous physical activity in youth with multiple sclerosis. A total of 68 consecutive patients (27 multiple sclerosis, 41 mono-ADS) and 37 healthy controls completed fatigue, depression, Physical Activity Self-Efficacy Scale, perceived disability, Exercise Goal-Setting scale, and physical activity questionnaires, and wore an accelerometer for 7 days. All patients had no ambulatory limitations (Expanded Disability Status Scale, scores all <4). Youth with multiple sclerosis engaged in fewer minutes per day of vigorous (P = .009) and moderate and vigorous physical activity (P = .048) than did patients with mono-ADS and healthy controls. A lower proportion of the group with multiple sclerosis (63%) reported participating in any strenuous physical activity than the mono-ADS (85%) and healthy control (89%) groups (P = .020). When we adjusted for age and sex, the Physical Activity Self-Efficacy Scale and Exercise Goal-Setting scale were associated positively with vigorous physical activity in the group with multiple sclerosis. Fatigue and depression did not predict physical activity or accelerometry metrics. Youth with multiple sclerosis participate in less physical activity than their counterparts with mono-ADS and healthy controls. Physical activity self-efficacy and exercise goal setting serve as potentially modifiable correlates of physical activity, and are measures suited to future interventions aimed to increase physical activity in youth with multiple sclerosis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Can Gymnastic Teacher Predict Leisure Activity Preference among Children with Developmental Coordination Disorders (DCD)?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Engel-Yeger, Batya; Hanna-Kassis, Amany; Rosenblum, Sara

    2012-01-01

    The aims of the study were to analyze: (1) whether significant differences exist between children with typical development and children with developmental coordination disorders (DCD) in their preference to participate in leisure activities (2) whether the teacher estimation of activity form (TEAF) evaluation predicts participation preference.…

  17. Zn(II)-Coordinated Quantum Dot-FRET Nanosensors for the Detection of Protein Kinase Activity.

    PubMed

    Lim, Butaek; Park, Ji-In; Lee, Kyung Jin; Lee, Jin-Won; Kim, Tae-Wuk; Kim, Young-Pil

    2015-07-23

    We report a simple detection of protein kinase activity using Zn(II)-mediated fluorescent resonance energy transfer (FRET) between quantum dots (QDs) and dye-tethered peptides. With neither complex chemical ligands nor surface modification of QDs, Zn(II) was the only metal ion that enabled the phosphorylated peptides to be strongly attached on the carboxyl groups of the QD surface via metal coordination, thus leading to a significant FRET efficiency. As a result, protein kinase activity in intermixed solution was efficiently detected by QD-FRET via Zn(II) coordination, especially when the peptide substrate was combined with affinity-based purification. We also found that mono- and di-phosphorylation in the peptide substrate could be discriminated by the Zn(II)-mediated QD-FRET. Our approach is expected to find applications for studying physiological function and signal transduction with respect to protein kinase activity.

  18. Redox-active porous coordination polymer based on trinuclear pivalate: Temperature-dependent crystal rearrangement and redox-behavior

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lytvynenko, Anton S.; Kiskin, Mikhail A., E-mail: mkiskin@igic.ras.ru; Dorofeeva, Victoria N.

    2015-03-15

    Linking of trinuclear pivalate Fe{sub 2}NiO(Piv){sub 6} (Piv=O{sub 2}CC(CH{sub 3}){sub 3}) by 2,6-bis(4-pyridyl)-4-(1-naphthyl)pyridine (L) resulted in formation of 1D-porous coordination polymer Fe{sub 2}NiO(Piv){sub 6}(L)·Solv, which was characterized in two forms: DMSO solvate Fe{sub 2}NiO(Piv){sub 6}(L)(DMSO)·2.5DMSO (1) or water solvate Fe{sub 2}NiO(Piv){sub 6}(L)(H{sub 2}O) (2). X-ray structure of 1 was determined. Crystal lattice of 1 at 160 K contained open channels, filled by captured solvent, while temperature growth to 296 K led to the crystal lattice rearrangement and formation of closed voids. Redox-behavior of 2 was studied by cyclic voltammetry for a solid compound, deposited on glassy-carbon electrode. Redox-activity of Lmore » preserved upon incorporation in the coordination polymer. The presence of pores in desolvated sample Fe{sub 2}NiO(Piv){sub 6}(L) was confirmed by the measurements of N{sub 2} and H{sub 2} adsorption at 77 K. Potential barriers of the different molecules diffusion through pores were estimated by the means of molecular mechanics. - Graphical abstract: Redox-behavior of 1D-porous coordination polymer Fe{sub 2}NiO(Piv){sub 6}(L)(H{sub 2}O) was studied by cyclic voltammetry in thin film, deposited on glassy-carbon electrode. Redox-activity of L preserved upon incorporation in the coordination polymer. Potential barriers of different molecules diffusion through pores were estimated by the means of molecular mechanics. - Highlights: • Porous 1D coordination polymer was synthesized. • Temperature growth led to pores closing due to crystal lattice rearrangement. • Redox-activity of ligand preserved upon incorporation into coordination polymer. • Redox-properties of solid coordination polymer were studied in thin film. • Diffusion barriers were evaluated by molecular mechanics.« less

  19. Temporal Coordination and Adaptation to Rate Change in Music Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Loehr, Janeen D.; Large, Edward W.; Palmer, Caroline

    2011-01-01

    People often coordinate their actions with sequences that exhibit temporal variability and unfold at multiple periodicities. We compared oscillator- and timekeeper-based accounts of temporal coordination by examining musicians' coordination of rhythmic musical sequences with a metronome that gradually changed rate at the end of a musical phrase…

  20. Optimal wide-area monitoring and nonlinear adaptive coordinating neurocontrol of a power system with wind power integration and multiple FACTS devices.

    PubMed

    Qiao, Wei; Venayagamoorthy, Ganesh K; Harley, Ronald G

    2008-01-01

    Wide-area coordinating control is becoming an important issue and a challenging problem in the power industry. This paper proposes a novel optimal wide-area coordinating neurocontrol (WACNC), based on wide-area measurements, for a power system with power system stabilizers, a large wind farm and multiple flexible ac transmission system (FACTS) devices. An optimal wide-area monitor (OWAM), which is a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN), is designed to identify the input-output dynamics of the nonlinear power system. Its parameters are optimized through particle swarm optimization (PSO). Based on the OWAM, the WACNC is then designed by using the dual heuristic programming (DHP) method and RBFNNs, while considering the effect of signal transmission delays. The WACNC operates at a global level to coordinate the actions of local power system controllers. Each local controller communicates with the WACNC, receives remote control signals from the WACNC to enhance its dynamic performance and therefore helps improve system-wide dynamic and transient performance. The proposed control is verified by simulation studies on a multimachine power system.

  1. Gaze Stabilization During Locomotion Requires Full Body Coordination

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mulavara, A. P.; Miller, C. A.; Houser, J.; Richards, J. T.; Bloomberg, J. J.

    2001-01-01

    Maintaining gaze stabilization during locomotion places substantial demands on multiple sensorimotor subsystems for precise coordination. Gaze stabilization during locomotion requires eye-head-trunk coordination (Bloomberg, et al., 1997) as well as the regulation of energy flow or shock-wave transmission through the body at high impact phases with the support surface (McDonald, et al., 1997). Allowing these excessive transmissions of energy to reach the head may compromise gaze stability. Impairments in these mechanisms may lead to the oscillopsia and decreased dynamic visual acuity seen in crewmembers returning from short and long duration spaceflight, as well as in patients with vestibular disorders (Hillman, et al., 1999). Thus, we hypothesize that stabilized gaze during locomotion results from full-body coordination of the eye-head-trunk system combined with the lower limb apparatus. The goal of this study was to determine how multiple, interdependent full- body sensorimotor subsystems aiding gaze stabilization during locomotion are functionally coordinated, and how they adaptively respond to spaceffight.

  2. Multiple Sensory-Motor Pathways Lead to Coordinated Visual Attention

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yu, Chen; Smith, Linda B.

    2017-01-01

    Joint attention has been extensively studied in the developmental literature because of overwhelming evidence that the ability to socially coordinate visual attention to an object is essential to healthy developmental outcomes, including language learning. The goal of this study was to understand the complex system of sensory-motor behaviors that…

  3. Coordinated activation of the secretory pathway during notochord formation in the Xenopus embryo.

    PubMed

    Tanegashima, Kosuke; Zhao, Hui; Rebbert, Martha L; Dawid, Igor B

    2009-11-01

    We compared the transcriptome in the developing notochord of Xenopus laevis embryos with that of other embryonic regions. A coordinated and intense activation of a large set of secretory pathway genes was observed in the notochord, but not in notochord precursors in the axial mesoderm at early gastrula stage. The genes encoding Xbp1 and Creb3l2 were also activated in the notochord. These two transcription factors are implicated in the activation of secretory pathway genes during the unfolded protein response, where cells react to the stress of a build-up of unfolded proteins in their endoplasmic reticulum. Xbp1 and Creb3l2 are differentially expressed but not differentially activated in the notochord. Reduction of expression of Xbp1 or Creb3l2 by injection of antisense morpholinos led to strong deficits in notochord but not somitic muscle development. In addition, the expression of some, but not all, genes encoding secretory proteins was inhibited by injection of xbp1 morpholinos. Furthermore, expression of activated forms of Xbp1 or Creb3l2 in animal explants could activate a similar subset of secretory pathway genes. We conclude that coordinated activation of a battery of secretory pathway genes mediated by Xbp1 and Creb/ATF factors is a characteristic and necessary feature of notochord formation.

  4. Rapid and enhanced activation of microporous coordination polymers by flowing supercritical CO.sub.2

    DOEpatents

    Matzger, Adam J.; Liu, Baojian; Wong-Foy, Antek G.

    2016-07-19

    Flowing supercritical CO.sub.2 is used to activate metal organic framework materials (MOF). MOFs are activated directly from N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) thus avoiding exchange with a volatile solvent. Most MCPs display increased surface areas directly after treatment although those with coordinatively unsaturated metal centers benefit from additional heating.

  5. Zn(II)-Coordinated Quantum Dot-FRET Nanosensors for the Detection of Protein Kinase Activity

    PubMed Central

    Lim, Butaek; Park, Ji-In; Lee, Kyung Jin; Lee, Jin-Won; Kim, Tae-Wuk; Kim, Young-Pil

    2015-01-01

    We report a simple detection of protein kinase activity using Zn(II)-mediated fluorescent resonance energy transfer (FRET) between quantum dots (QDs) and dye-tethered peptides. With neither complex chemical ligands nor surface modification of QDs, Zn(II) was the only metal ion that enabled the phosphorylated peptides to be strongly attached on the carboxyl groups of the QD surface via metal coordination, thus leading to a significant FRET efficiency. As a result, protein kinase activity in intermixed solution was efficiently detected by QD-FRET via Zn(II) coordination, especially when the peptide substrate was combined with affinity-based purification. We also found that mono- and di-phosphorylation in the peptide substrate could be discriminated by the Zn(II)-mediated QD-FRET. Our approach is expected to find applications for studying physiological function and signal transduction with respect to protein kinase activity. PMID:26213934

  6. Coordination of Fictive Motor Activity in the Larval Zebrafish Is Generated by Non-Segmental Mechanisms

    PubMed Central

    Wiggin, Timothy D.; Peck, Jack H.; Masino, Mark A.

    2014-01-01

    The cellular and network basis for most vertebrate locomotor central pattern generators (CPGs) is incompletely characterized, but organizational models based on known CPG architectures have been proposed. Segmental models propose that each spinal segment contains a circuit that controls local coordination and sends longer projections to coordinate activity between segments. Unsegmented/continuous models propose that patterned motor output is driven by gradients of neurons and synapses that do not have segmental boundaries. We tested these ideas in the larval zebrafish, an animal that swims in discrete episodes, each of which is composed of coordinated motor bursts that progress rostrocaudally and alternate from side to side. We perturbed the spinal cord using spinal transections or strychnine application and measured the effect on fictive motor output. Spinal transections eliminated episode structure, and reduced both rostrocaudal and side-to-side coordination. Preparations with fewer intact segments were more severely affected, and preparations consisting of midbody and caudal segments were more severely affected than those consisting of rostral segments. In reduced preparations with the same number of intact spinal segments, side-to-side coordination was more severely disrupted than rostrocaudal coordination. Reducing glycine receptor signaling with strychnine reversibly disrupted both rostrocaudal and side-to-side coordination in spinalized larvae without disrupting episodic structure. Both spinal transection and strychnine decreased the stability of the motor rhythm, but this effect was not causal in reducing coordination. These results are inconsistent with a segmented model of the spinal cord and are better explained by a continuous model in which motor neuron coordination is controlled by segment-spanning microcircuits. PMID:25275377

  7. The free energy of a reaction coordinate at multiple constraints: a concise formulation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Schlitter, Jürgen; Klähn, Marco

    The free energy as a function of the reaction coordinate (rc) is the key quantity for the computation of equilibrium and kinetic quantities. When it is considered as the potential of mean force, the problem is the calculation of the mean force for given values of the rc. We reinvestigate the PMCF (potential of mean constraint force) method which applies a constraint to the rc to compute the mean force as the mean negative constraint force and a metric tensor correction. The latter allows for the constraint imposed to the rc and possible artefacts due to multiple constraints of other variables which for practical reasons are often used in numerical simulations. Two main results are obtained that are of theoretical and practical interest. First, the correction term is given a very concise and simple shape which facilitates its interpretation and evaluation. Secondly, a theorem describes various rcs and possible combinations with constraints that can be used without introducing any correction to the constraint force. The results facilitate the computation of free energy by molecular dynamics simulations.

  8. Twinning in fcc lattice creates low-coordinated catalytically active sites in porous gold

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Krajčí, Marian; Kameoka, Satoshi; Tsai, An-Pang

    We describe a new mechanism for creation of catalytically active sites in porous gold. Samples of porous gold prepared by de-alloying Al{sub 2}Au exhibit a clear correlation between the catalytic reactivity towards CO oxidation and structural defects in the fcc lattice of Au. We have found that on the stepped (211) surfaces quite common twin boundary defects in the bulk structure of porous gold can form long close-packed rows of atoms with the coordination number CN = 6. DFT calculations confirm that on these low-coordinated Au sites dioxygen chemisorbs and CO oxidation can proceed via the Langmuir–Hinshelwood mechanism with themore » activation energy of 37 kJ/mol or via the CO–OO intermediate with the energy barrier of 19 kJ/mol. The existence of the twins in porous gold is stabilized by the surface energy.« less

  9. Coordinated, multi-joint, fatigue-resistant feline stance produced with intrafascicular hind limb nerve stimulation.

    PubMed

    Normann, R A; Dowden, B R; Frankel, M A; Wilder, A M; Hiatt, S D; Ledbetter, N M; Warren, D A; Clark, G A

    2012-04-01

    The production of graceful skeletal movements requires coordinated activation of multiple muscles that produce torques around multiple joints. The work described herein is focused on one such movement, stance, that requires coordinated activation of extensor muscles acting around the hip, knee and ankle joints. The forces evoked in these muscles by external stimulation all have a complex dependence on muscle length and shortening velocities, and some of these muscles are biarticular. In order to recreate sit-to-stand maneuvers in the anesthetized feline, we excited the hind limb musculature using intrafascicular multielectrode stimulation (IFMS) of the muscular branch of the sciatic nerve, the femoral nerve and the main branch of the sciatic nerve. Stimulation was achieved with either acutely or chronically implanted Utah Slanted Electrode Arrays (USEAs) via subsets of electrodes (1) that activated motor units in the extensor muscles of the hip, knee and ankle joints, (2) that were able to evoke large extension forces and (3) that manifested minimal coactivation of the targeted motor units. Three hind limb force-generation strategies were investigated, including sequential activation of independent motor units to increase force, and interleaved or simultaneous IFMS of three sets of six or more USEA electrodes that excited the hip, knee and ankle extensors. All force-generation strategies evoked stance, but the interleaved IFMS strategy also reduced muscle fatigue produced by repeated sit-to-stand maneuvers compared with fatigue produced by simultaneous activation of different motor neuron pools. These results demonstrate the use of interleaved IFMS as a means to recreate coordinated, fatigue-resistant multi-joint muscle forces in the unilateral hind limb. This muscle activation paradigm could provide a promising neuroprosthetic approach for the restoration of sit-to-stand transitions in individuals who are paralyzed by spinal cord injury, stroke or disease.

  10. Coordinated, multi-joint, fatigue-resistant feline stance produced with intrafascicular hind limb nerve stimulation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Normann, R. A.; Dowden, B. R.; Frankel, M. A.; Wilder, A. M.; Hiatt, S. D.; Ledbetter, N. M.; Warren, D. A.; Clark, G. A.

    2012-04-01

    The production of graceful skeletal movements requires coordinated activation of multiple muscles that produce torques around multiple joints. The work described herein is focused on one such movement, stance, that requires coordinated activation of extensor muscles acting around the hip, knee and ankle joints. The forces evoked in these muscles by external stimulation all have a complex dependence on muscle length and shortening velocities, and some of these muscles are biarticular. In order to recreate sit-to-stand maneuvers in the anesthetized feline, we excited the hind limb musculature using intrafascicular multielectrode stimulation (IFMS) of the muscular branch of the sciatic nerve, the femoral nerve and the main branch of the sciatic nerve. Stimulation was achieved with either acutely or chronically implanted Utah Slanted Electrode Arrays (USEAs) via subsets of electrodes (1) that activated motor units in the extensor muscles of the hip, knee and ankle joints, (2) that were able to evoke large extension forces and (3) that manifested minimal coactivation of the targeted motor units. Three hind limb force-generation strategies were investigated, including sequential activation of independent motor units to increase force, and interleaved or simultaneous IFMS of three sets of six or more USEA electrodes that excited the hip, knee and ankle extensors. All force-generation strategies evoked stance, but the interleaved IFMS strategy also reduced muscle fatigue produced by repeated sit-to-stand maneuvers compared with fatigue produced by simultaneous activation of different motor neuron pools. These results demonstrate the use of interleaved IFMS as a means to recreate coordinated, fatigue-resistant multi-joint muscle forces in the unilateral hind limb. This muscle activation paradigm could provide a promising neuroprosthetic approach for the restoration of sit-to-stand transitions in individuals who are paralyzed by spinal cord injury, stroke or disease.

  11. Pediatric Care Coordination: Lessons Learned and Future Priorities.

    PubMed

    Cady, Rhonda G; Looman, Wendy S; Lindeke, Linda L; LaPlante, Bonnie; Lundeen, Barbara; Seeley, Amanda; Kautto, Mary E

    2015-09-30

    A fundamental component of the medical home model is care coordination. In Minnesota, this model informed design and implementation of the state's health care home (HCH) model, a key element of statewide healthcare reform legislation. Children with medical complexity (CMC) often require care from multiple specialists and community resources. Coordinating this multi-faceted care within the HCH is challenging. This article describes the need for specialized models of care coordination for CMC. Two models of care coordination for CMC were developed to address this challenge. The TeleFamilies Model of Pediatric Care Coordination uses an advanced practice registered nurse care (APRN) coordinator embedded within an established HCH. The PRoSPer Model of Pediatric Care Coordination uses a registered nurse/social worker care coordinator team embedded within a specialty care system. We describe key findings from implementation of these models, and conclude with lessons learned. Replication of the models is encouraged to increase the evidence base for care coordination for the growing population of children with medical complexities.

  12. Tools for Coordinated Planning Between Observatories

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Jones, Jeremy; Fishman, Mark; Grella, Vince; Kerbel, Uri; Maks, Lori; Misra, Dharitri; Pell, Vince; Powers, Edward I. (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    With the realization of NASA's era of great observatories, there are now more than three space-based telescopes operating in different wavebands. This situation provides astronomers with a unique opportunity to simultaneously observe with multiple observatories. Yet scheduling multiple observatories simultaneously is highly inefficient when compared to observations using only one single observatory. Thus, programs using multiple observatories are limited not due to scientific restrictions, but due to operational inefficiencies. At present, multi-observatory programs are conducted by submitting observing proposals separately to each concerned observatory. To assure that the proposed observations can be scheduled, each observatory's staff has to check that the observations are valid and meet all the constraints for their own observatory; in addition, they have to verify that the observations satisfy the constraints of the other observatories. Thus, coordinated observations require painstaking manual collaboration among the observatory staff at each observatory. Due to the lack of automated tools for coordinated observations, this process is time consuming, error-prone, and the outcome of the requests is not certain until the very end. To increase observatory operations efficiency, such manpower intensive processes need to undergo re-engineering. To overcome this critical deficiency, Goddard Space Flight Center's Advanced Architectures and Automation Branch is developing a prototype effort called the Visual Observation Layout Tool (VOLT). The main objective of the VOLT project is to provide visual tools to help automate the planning of coordinated observations by multiple astronomical observatories, as well as to increase the scheduling probability of all observations.

  13. Concurrent negotiation and coordination for grid resource coallocation.

    PubMed

    Sim, Kwang Mong; Shi, Benyun

    2010-06-01

    Bolstering resource coallocation is essential for realizing the Grid vision, because computationally intensive applications often require multiple computing resources from different administrative domains. Given that resource providers and consumers may have different requirements, successfully obtaining commitments through concurrent negotiations with multiple resource providers to simultaneously access several resources is a very challenging task for consumers. The impetus of this paper is that it is one of the earliest works that consider a concurrent negotiation mechanism for Grid resource coallocation. The concurrent negotiation mechanism is designed for 1) managing (de)commitment of contracts through one-to-many negotiations and 2) coordination of multiple concurrent one-to-many negotiations between a consumer and multiple resource providers. The novel contributions of this paper are devising 1) a utility-oriented coordination (UOC) strategy, 2) three classes of commitment management strategies (CMSs) for concurrent negotiation, and 3) the negotiation protocols of consumers and providers. Implementing these ideas in a testbed, three series of experiments were carried out in a variety of settings to compare the following: 1) the CMSs in this paper with the work of others in a single one-to-many negotiation environment for one resource where decommitment is allowed for both provider and consumer agents; 2) the performance of the three classes of CMSs in different resource market types; and 3) the UOC strategy with the work of others [e.g., the patient coordination strategy (PCS )] for coordinating multiple concurrent negotiations. Empirical results show the following: 1) the UOC strategy achieved higher utility, faster negotiation speed, and higher success rates than PCS for different resource market types; and 2) the CMS in this paper achieved higher final utility than the CMS in other works. Additionally, the properties of the three classes of CMSs in

  14. Cytosolic Calcium Coordinates Mitochondrial Energy Metabolism with Presynaptic Activity

    PubMed Central

    Chouhan, Amit K.; Ivannikov, Maxim V.; Lu, Zhongmin; Sugimori, Mutsuyuki; Llinas, Rodolfo R.; Macleod, Gregory T.

    2012-01-01

    Most neurons fire in bursts, imposing episodic energy demands, but how these demands are coordinated with oxidative phosphorylation is still unknown. Here, using fluorescence imaging techniques on presynaptic termini of Drosophila motor neurons (MNs), we show that mitochondrial matrix pH (pHm), inner membrane potential (Δψm), and NAD(P)H levels ([NAD(P)H]m) increase within seconds of nerve stimulation. The elevations of pHm, Δψm, and [NAD(P)H]m indicate an increased capacity for ATP production. Elevations in pHm were blocked by manipulations which blocked mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake, including replacement of extracellular Ca2+ with Sr2+, and application of either tetraphenylphosphonium chloride or KB-R7943, indicating that it is Ca2+ that stimulates presynaptic mitochondrial energy metabolism. To place this phenomenon within the context of endogenous neuronal activity, the firing rates of a number of individually identified MNs were determined during fictive locomotion. Surprisingly, although endogenous firing rates are significantly different, there was little difference in presynaptic cytosolic Ca2+ levels ([Ca2+]c) between MNs when each fires at its endogenous rate. The average [Ca2+]c level (329±11nM) was slightly above the average Ca2+ affinity of the mitochondria (281±13nM). In summary, we show that when MNs fire at endogenous rates [Ca2+]c is driven into a range where mitochondria rapidly acquire Ca2+. As we also show that Ca2+ stimulates presynaptic mitochondrial energy metabolism, we conclude that [Ca2+]c levels play an integral role in coordinating mitochondrial energy metabolism with presynaptic activity in Drosophila MNs. PMID:22279208

  15. Comparing Activity Patterns, Biological, and Family Factors in Children with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beutum, Monique Natalie; Cordier, Reinie; Bundy, Anita

    2013-01-01

    The association between motor proficiency and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) suggests children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) may be susceptible to inactivity-related conditions such as cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to compare children with and without DCD on physical activity patterns, activity…

  16. Physical activity motivation and benefits in people with multiple sclerosis.

    PubMed

    Fasczewski, Kimberly S; Gill, Diane L; Rothberger, Sara M

    2018-06-01

    Multiple sclerosis is a degenerative neurological disease that affects 2.1 million people worldwide. There is no cure, but an expanding body of research supports the positive impact of physical activity and suggests physical activity has benefits for the individual's psychological and physical well-being. Using Self-Determination Theory as a framework, mixed methods with a focus on qualitative interviews were used to explore physical activity motivation and benefits with a sample of highly active people with multiple sclerosis (n = 15). Disability level ranged from not disabled to wheelchair bound with the majority of participants reporting minimal impact from multiple sclerosis. Survey data were collected using a number of open-ended questions along with measures of self-efficacy, self-determined motivation, physical activity, and quality of life. Additionally, eight individuals participated in semistructured telephone interviews focused on (a) motivation and strategies used to maintain physical activity and (b) the benefits and impact of physical activity in their lives. The main findings were consistent with Self-Determination Theory; participants described feelings of accomplishment and competence in both their physical activity and daily life, as well as a sense of independence and autonomy. Similarly, all participants cited benefits, and the main themes were enhanced satisfaction with life and an overall positive outlook on life. Results provide insight into the role of physical activity in a highly active sample and have implications for professionals working in physical activity settings with the multiple sclerosis population. Interventions aimed at increasing long-term physical activity adherence should focus on increasing autonomy and competence for physical activity in the individual and promoting potential increased quality of life outcomes from physical activity participation. Implications for Rehabilitation Multiple sclerosis is a chronic

  17. Cortical Circuit for Binding Object Identity and Location During Multiple-Object Tracking

    PubMed Central

    Nummenmaa, Lauri; Oksama, Lauri; Glerean, Erico; Hyönä, Jukka

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Sustained multifocal attention for moving targets requires binding object identities with their locations. The brain mechanisms of identity-location binding during attentive tracking have remained unresolved. In 2 functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments, we measured participants’ hemodynamic activity during attentive tracking of multiple objects with equivalent (multiple-object tracking) versus distinct (multiple identity tracking, MIT) identities. Task load was manipulated parametrically. Both tasks activated large frontoparietal circuits. MIT led to significantly increased activity in frontoparietal and temporal systems subserving object recognition and working memory. These effects were replicated when eye movements were prohibited. MIT was associated with significantly increased functional connectivity between lateral temporal and frontal and parietal regions. We propose that coordinated activity of this network subserves identity-location binding during attentive tracking. PMID:27913430

  18. Parallel Allostery by cAMP and PDE Coordinates Activation and Termination Phases in cAMP Signaling.

    PubMed

    Krishnamurthy, Srinath; Tulsian, Nikhil Kumar; Chandramohan, Arun; Anand, Ganesh S

    2015-09-15

    The second messenger molecule cAMP regulates the activation phase of the cAMP signaling pathway through high-affinity interactions with the cytosolic cAMP receptor, the protein kinase A regulatory subunit (PKAR). Phosphodiesterases (PDEs) are enzymes responsible for catalyzing hydrolysis of cAMP to 5' AMP. It was recently shown that PDEs interact with PKAR to initiate the termination phase of the cAMP signaling pathway. While the steps in the activation phase are well understood, steps in the termination pathway are unknown. Specifically, the binding and allosteric networks that regulate the dynamic interplay between PKAR, PDE, and cAMP are unclear. In this study, PKAR and PDE from Dictyostelium discoideum (RD and RegA, respectively) were used as a model system to monitor complex formation in the presence and absence of cAMP. Amide hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry was used to monitor slow conformational transitions in RD, using disordered regions as conformational probes. Our results reveal that RD regulates its interactions with cAMP and RegA at distinct loci by undergoing slow conformational transitions between two metastable states. In the presence of cAMP, RD and RegA form a stable ternary complex, while in the absence of cAMP they maintain transient interactions. RegA and cAMP each bind at orthogonal sites on RD with resultant contrasting effects on its dynamics through parallel allosteric relays at multiple important loci. RD thus serves as an integrative node in cAMP termination by coordinating multiple allosteric relays and governing the output signal response. Copyright © 2015 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. 20 CFR 631.37 - Coordination activities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-04-01

    ...) Services under this part shall be integrated or coordinated with services and payments made available under...) and the unemployment compensation system consistent with the limitation on administrative expenses... compensation system and worker readjustment programs (section 314(f)). (c) Services under this part shall be...

  20. 20 CFR 631.37 - Coordination activities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-04-01

    ...) Services under this part shall be integrated or coordinated with services and payments made available under...) and the unemployment compensation system consistent with the limitation on administrative expenses... compensation system and worker readjustment programs (section 314(f)). (c) Services under this part shall be...

  1. 20 CFR 631.37 - Coordination activities.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-04-01

    ...) Services under this part shall be integrated or coordinated with services and payments made available under...) and the unemployment compensation system consistent with the limitation on administrative expenses... compensation system and worker readjustment programs (section 314(f)). (c) Services under this part shall be...

  2. A needs assessment of health information technology for improving care coordination in three leading patient-centered medical homes.

    PubMed

    Richardson, Joshua E; Vest, Joshua R; Green, Cori M; Kern, Lisa M; Kaushal, Rainu

    2015-07-01

    We investigated ways that patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) are currently using health information technology (IT) for care coordination and what types of health IT are needed to improve care coordination. A multi-disciplinary team of researchers conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with 28 participants from 3 PCMHs in the United States. Participants included administrators and clinicians from PCMHs, electronic health record (EHR) and health information exchange (HIE) representatives, and policy makers. Participants identified multiple barriers to care coordination using current health IT tools. We identified five areas in which health IT can improve care coordination in PCMHs: 1) monitoring patient populations, 2) notifying clinicians and other staff when specific patients move across care settings, 3) collaborating around patients, 4) reporting activities, and 5) interoperability. To accomplish these tasks, many participants described using homegrown care coordination systems separate from EHRs. The participants in this study have resources, experience, and expertise with using health IT for care coordination, yet they still identified multiple areas for improvement. We hypothesize that focusing health IT development in the five areas we identified can enable more effective care coordination. Key findings from this work are that homegrown systems apart from EHRs are currently used to support care coordination and, also, that reporting tools are key components of care coordination. New health IT that enables monitoring, notifying, collaborating, reporting, and interoperability would enhance care coordination within PCMHs beyond what current health IT enables. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  3. Joint Coordination and Muscle Activities of Ballet Dancers During Tiptoe Standing.

    PubMed

    Tanabe, Hiroko; Fujii, Keisuke; Kouzaki, Motoki

    2017-01-01

    We aimed to investigate joint coordination of lower limbs in dancers during tiptoe standing and the relationship between joint coordination and muscle coactivation. Seven female ballet dancers performed tiptoe standing with six leg positions (fi e classical dance positions and one modern dance position) for 10 s. The kinematic data of the metatarsophalangeal (MP), ankle, knee, and hip joints was collected, and surface electromyography (EMG) of over 13 lower limb muscles was conducted. Principal component analysis was performed to determine joint coordination. MP-ankle and ankle-knee had in-phase coordination, whereas knee-hip showed anti-phase coordination in the sagittal plane. In addition, most EMG-EMG coherence around the MP and ankle joints was significant up to 50 Hz when these two joints swayed with in-phase. This suggests that different joint coordination patterns are associated with neural processing related to different muscle coactivation patterns. In conclusion, ballet dancers showed in-phase coordination from the MP to knee joints, which was associated with muscle coactivation to a higher frequency domain (up to 50 Hz) in comparison with anti-phase coordination.

  4. Optimal coordinated voltage control in active distribution networks using backtracking search algorithm.

    PubMed

    Tengku Hashim, Tengku Juhana; Mohamed, Azah

    2017-01-01

    The growing interest in distributed generation (DG) in recent years has led to a number of generators connected to a distribution system. The integration of DGs in a distribution system has resulted in a network known as active distribution network due to the existence of bidirectional power flow in the system. Voltage rise issue is one of the predominantly important technical issues to be addressed when DGs exist in an active distribution network. This paper presents the application of the backtracking search algorithm (BSA), which is relatively new optimisation technique to determine the optimal settings of coordinated voltage control in a distribution system. The coordinated voltage control considers power factor, on-load tap-changer and generation curtailment control to manage voltage rise issue. A multi-objective function is formulated to minimise total losses and voltage deviation in a distribution system. The proposed BSA is compared with that of particle swarm optimisation (PSO) so as to evaluate its effectiveness in determining the optimal settings of power factor, tap-changer and percentage active power generation to be curtailed. The load flow algorithm from MATPOWER is integrated in the MATLAB environment to solve the multi-objective optimisation problem. Both the BSA and PSO optimisation techniques have been tested on a radial 13-bus distribution system and the results show that the BSA performs better than PSO by providing better fitness value and convergence rate.

  5. Multiplayer Activities That Develop Mathematical Coordination.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bricker, Lauren J.; Tanimoto, Steven L.; Rothenberg, Alex I.; Hutama, Danny C.; Wong, Tina H.

    Four computer applications are presented that encourage students to develop "mathematical coordination"--the ability to manipulate numerical variables in cooperation with other students so as to achieve a definite goal. The programs enable a form of computer-supported cooperative learning (CSCL). This paper describes the rationale and…

  6. Fusagene vectors: a novel strategy for the expression of multiple genes from a single cistron.

    PubMed

    Gäken, J; Jiang, J; Daniel, K; van Berkel, E; Hughes, C; Kuiper, M; Darling, D; Tavassoli, M; Galea-Lauri, J; Ford, K; Kemeny, M; Russell, S; Farzaneh, F

    2000-12-01

    Transduction of cells with multiple genes, allowing their stable and co-ordinated expression, is difficult with the available methodologies. A method has been developed for expression of multiple gene products, as fusion proteins, from a single cistron. The encoded proteins are post-synthetically cleaved and processed into each of their constituent proteins as individual, biologically active factors. Specifically, linkers encoding cleavage sites for the Golgi expressed endoprotease, furin, have been incorporated between in-frame cDNA sequences encoding different secreted or membrane bound proteins. With this strategy we have developed expression vectors encoding multiple proteins (IL-2 and B7.1, IL-4 and B7.1, IL-4 and IL-2, IL-12 p40 and p35, and IL-12 p40, p35 and IL-2 ). Transduction and analysis of over 100 individual clones, derived from murine and human tumour cell lines, demonstrate the efficient expression and biological activity of each of the encoded proteins. Fusagene vectors enable the co-ordinated expression of multiple gene products from a single, monocistronic, expression cassette.

  7. Activity Participation Intensity Is Associated with Skeletal Development in Pre-Pubertal Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tsang, William W. N.; Guo, X.; Fong, Shirley S. M.; Mak, Kwok-Kei; Pang, Marco Y. C.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: This study aimed (1) to compare the skeletal maturity and activity participation pattern between children with and without developmental coordination disorder (DCD); and (2) to determine whether activity participation pattern was associated with the skeletal development among children with DCD. Materials and methods: Thirty-three children…

  8. Transition Metal Ions in Zeolites: Coordination and activation of O2

    PubMed Central

    Smeets, Pieter J.; Woertink, Julia S.; Sels, Bert F.; Solomon, Edward I.; Schoonheydt, Robert A.

    2010-01-01

    Zeolites containing transition metal ions (TMI) often show promising activity as heterogeneous catalysts in pollution abatement and selective oxidation reactions. In this paper, two aspects of research on the TMI Cu, Co and Fe in zeolites are discussed: (i) coordination to the lattice and (ii) activated oxygen species. At low loading, TMI preferably occupy exchange sites in six-membered oxygen rings (6MR) where the TMI preferentially coordinate with the oxygen atoms of Al tetrahedra. High TMI loadings result in a variety of TMI species formed at the zeolite surface. Removal of the extra-lattice oxygens during high temperature pretreatments can result in auto-reduction. Oxidation of reduced TMI sites often results in the formation of highly reactive oxygen species. In Cu-ZSM-5, calcination with O2 results in the formation of a species, which was found to be a crucial intermediate in both the direct decomposition of NO and N2O and the selective oxidation of methane into methanol. An activated oxygen species, called α-oxygen, is formed in Fe-ZSM5 and reported to be the active site in the partial oxidation of methane and benzene into methanol and phenol, respectively. However, this reactive α-oxygen can only be formed with N2O, not with O2. O2 activated Co intermediates in Faujasite (FAU) zeolites can selectively oxidize α-pinene and epoxidize styrene. In Co-FAU, CoIII superoxo and peroxo complexes are suggested to be the active cores, whereas in Cu and Fe-ZSM-5 various monomeric and dimeric sites have been proposed, but no consensus has been obtained. Very recently, the active site in Cu-ZSM-5 was identified as a bent [Cu-O-Cu]2+ core (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2009, 106, 18908-18913). Overall, O2 activation depends on the interplay of structural factors such as type of zeolite, size of the channels and cages and chemical factors such as Si/Al ratio and the nature, charge and distribution of the charge balancing cations. The presence of several different TMI sites

  9. A bio-inspired swarm robot coordination algorithm for multiple target searching

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Meng, Yan; Gan, Jing; Desai, Sachi

    2008-04-01

    The coordination of a multi-robot system searching for multi targets is challenging under dynamic environment since the multi-robot system demands group coherence (agents need to have the incentive to work together faithfully) and group competence (agents need to know how to work together well). In our previous proposed bio-inspired coordination method, Local Interaction through Virtual Stigmergy (LIVS), one problem is the considerable randomness of the robot movement during coordination, which may lead to more power consumption and longer searching time. To address these issues, an adaptive LIVS (ALIVS) method is proposed in this paper, which not only considers the travel cost and target weight, but also predicting the target/robot ratio and potential robot redundancy with respect to the detected targets. Furthermore, a dynamic weight adjustment is also applied to improve the searching performance. This new method a truly distributed method where each robot makes its own decision based on its local sensing information and the information from its neighbors. Basically, each robot only communicates with its neighbors through a virtual stigmergy mechanism and makes its local movement decision based on a Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm. The proposed ALIVS algorithm has been implemented on the embodied robot simulator, Player/Stage, in a searching target. The simulation results demonstrate the efficiency and robustness in a power-efficient manner with the real-world constraints.

  10. Cytotoxicity of Cyclometalated Platinum Complexes Based on Tridentate NCN and CNN-coordinating ligands: Remarkable Coordination Dependence

    PubMed Central

    Vezzu, Dileep A. k.; Lu, Qun; Chen, Yan-Hua; Huo, Shouquan

    2014-01-01

    A series of cyclometalated platinum complexes with diverse coordination patterns and geometries were screened for their anticancer activity. It was discovered that the NʌCʌN-coordinated platinum complex based on 1,3-di(pyridyl)benzene displayed much higher cytotoxicity against human lung cancer cells NCI-H522, HCC827, and NCI-H1299, and human prostate cancer cell RV1 than cisplatin. In a sharp contrast, the CʌNʌN-coordinated platinum complex based on 6-phenyl-2,2′-bipyridine was ineffective on these cancer cells. This remarkable difference in cytotoxicity displayed by NʌCʌN- and CʌNʌN-coordinated platinum complexes was related to the trans effect of the carbon donor in the cyclometalated platinum complexes, which played a crucial role in facilitating the dissociation of the chloride ligand to create an active binding site. The DNA binding was studied for the NʌCʌN-coordinated platinum complex using electrophoresis and emission titration. The cellular uptake observed by fluorescent microscope showed the complex is largely concentrated in the cytoplasm. The possible pathways for the cell apoptosis was studied by western blot analysis and the activation of PARP via caspase 7 was observed. PMID:24531534

  11. Science Planning for Multi-Spacecraft Coordinated Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Maks, Lori; Fishman, Mark; Pell, Vince; Obenschain, Arthur F. (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    Fulfilling the promise of an era of great observatories, NASA now has more than three space-based astronomical telescopes operating in different wavebands. This situation provides astronomers with a unique opportunity to simultaneously observe with multiple observatories. Yet scheduling multiple observatories simultaneously is highly inefficient when compared to single observatory observations. Thus, programs using multiple observatories are limited not due to scientific restrictions, but due to operational inefficiencies. Each year, a number of proposals are accepted by a space-based observatory for conduction of astronomical observations and gathering of science data for the study of galactic events. Since each space-based observatory uses a set of instruments designed to operate in specific energy regions, most such studies are conducted by submitting observation proposals to multiple observatories, with requests to coordinate among themselves. To assure that the proposed observations can be scheduled, each observatory's staff has to check that the observations are valid and meet all the constraints for their own observatory; in addition, they have to verify that the observations satisfy the constraints of the other observatories. Thus, coordinated observations require painstaking manual collaboration among the observatory staff at each observatory. In order to exploit new paradigms for observatory operation, the Goddard Space Flight Center's Advanced Architectures and Automation Branch has developed a prototype tool called the Visual Observation Layout Tool (VOLT). The main objective of VOLT is to provide a visual tool to automate the science planning of coordinated observations for multiple spacecraft, as well as to increase the scheduling probability of observations. However, VOLT is also useful for single observatory planning to optimize observatory control. Three space-based missions are interested in using VOLT (the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X

  12. Optimal coordinated voltage control in active distribution networks using backtracking search algorithm

    PubMed Central

    Tengku Hashim, Tengku Juhana; Mohamed, Azah

    2017-01-01

    The growing interest in distributed generation (DG) in recent years has led to a number of generators connected to a distribution system. The integration of DGs in a distribution system has resulted in a network known as active distribution network due to the existence of bidirectional power flow in the system. Voltage rise issue is one of the predominantly important technical issues to be addressed when DGs exist in an active distribution network. This paper presents the application of the backtracking search algorithm (BSA), which is relatively new optimisation technique to determine the optimal settings of coordinated voltage control in a distribution system. The coordinated voltage control considers power factor, on-load tap-changer and generation curtailment control to manage voltage rise issue. A multi-objective function is formulated to minimise total losses and voltage deviation in a distribution system. The proposed BSA is compared with that of particle swarm optimisation (PSO) so as to evaluate its effectiveness in determining the optimal settings of power factor, tap-changer and percentage active power generation to be curtailed. The load flow algorithm from MATPOWER is integrated in the MATLAB environment to solve the multi-objective optimisation problem. Both the BSA and PSO optimisation techniques have been tested on a radial 13-bus distribution system and the results show that the BSA performs better than PSO by providing better fitness value and convergence rate. PMID:28991919

  13. Chronophin coordinates cell leading edge dynamics by controlling active cofilin levels

    PubMed Central

    Delorme-Walker, Violaine; Seo, Ji-Yeon; Gohla, Antje; Fowler, Bruce; Bohl, Ben; DerMardirossian, Céline

    2015-01-01

    Cofilin, a critical player of actin dynamics, is spatially and temporally regulated to control the direction and force of membrane extension required for cell locomotion. In carcinoma cells, although the signaling pathways regulating cofilin activity to control cell direction have been established, the molecular machinery required to generate the force of the protrusion remains unclear. We show that the cofilin phosphatase chronophin (CIN) spatiotemporally regulates cofilin activity at the cell edge to generate persistent membrane extension. We show that CIN translocates to the leading edge in a PI3-kinase–, Rac1-, and cofilin-dependent manner after EGF stimulation to activate cofilin, promotes actin free barbed end formation, accelerates actin turnover, and enhances membrane protrusion. In addition, we establish that CIN is crucial for the balance of protrusion/retraction events during cell migration. Thus, CIN coordinates the leading edge dynamics by controlling active cofilin levels to promote MTLn3 cell protrusion. PMID:26324884

  14. Movement coordination patterns between the foot joints during walking.

    PubMed

    Arnold, John B; Caravaggi, Paolo; Fraysse, François; Thewlis, Dominic; Leardini, Alberto

    2017-01-01

    In 3D gait analysis, kinematics of the foot joints are usually reported via isolated time histories of joint rotations and no information is provided on the relationship between rotations at different joints. The aim of this study was to identify movement coordination patterns in the foot during walking by expanding an existing vector coding technique according to an established multi-segment foot and ankle model. A graphical representation is also described to summarise the coordination patterns of joint rotations across multiple patients. Three-dimensional multi-segment foot kinematics were recorded in 13 adults during walking. A modified vector coding technique was used to identify coordination patterns between foot joints involving calcaneus, midfoot, metatarsus and hallux segments. According to the type and direction of joints rotations, these were classified as in-phase (same direction), anti-phase (opposite directions), proximal or distal joint dominant. In early stance, 51 to 75% of walking trials showed proximal-phase coordination between foot joints comprising the calcaneus, midfoot and metatarsus. In-phase coordination was more prominent in late stance, reflecting synergy in the simultaneous inversion occurring at multiple foot joints. Conversely, a distal-phase coordination pattern was identified for sagittal plane motion of the ankle relative to the midtarsal joint, highlighting the critical role of arch shortening to locomotor function in push-off. This study has identified coordination patterns between movement of the calcaneus, midfoot, metatarsus and hallux by expanding an existing vector cording technique for assessing and classifying coordination patterns of foot joints rotations during walking. This approach provides a different perspective in the analysis of multi-segment foot kinematics, and may be used for the objective quantification of the alterations in foot joint coordination patterns due to lower limb pathologies or following injuries.

  15. Coordination of the EMS system: an organizational theory approach.

    PubMed

    Narad, R A

    1998-01-01

    Emergency medical services (EMS) systems include autonomous organizations with high degrees of interdependence. The need to coordinate system participants has long been recognized but seldom achieved. This can be explained by organizational theory--specifically, the study of the relationships among organizations. Existing models identify the total system's functions, but fail to explain roles and relationships among the system's participants. Coordination among organizations is more difficult than coordination within an organization because of lack of an authority structure. The EMS system can be described as "a functionally interdependent system," consisting of multiple autonomous organizations with high degrees of interdependence in their technical functions. Communities have five potential management approaches, varying according to their aggressiveness. These are laissez-faire, where even voluntary coordination efforts are not tried; voluntary cooperation efforts, such as coordinating councils; external planning agencies without regulatory control; "framework organizations" with regulatory control over the system participants; and bureaucratization, placing the system participants within a single organizational hierarchy. The "multicratic organization" is a model for management of multiorganizational systems. A "system lead agency" plans joint activities and manages relationships among system participants in the way that the management of a uniorganization integrates departments. A lead agency is usually a unit of government or organized pursuant to government action, but a managed care organization can also fill this role. In extreme application of the model, the system is viewed as a framework and temporary modules are attached. Their interests are limited, as needed, to optimize the entire system. The lead agency sets policies affecting relationships of modules and policies crossing organizational boundaries.

  16. Coordination of ScO+ and YO+ by multiple Ar, Kr, and Xe atoms in noble gas matrixes: a matrix isolation infrared spectroscopic and theoretical study.

    PubMed

    Zhao, Yanying; Gong, Yu; Chen, Mohua; Ding, Chuanfan; Zhou, Mingfei

    2005-12-29

    The combination of matrix isolation infrared spectroscopic and quantum chemical calculation results provide strong evidence that scandium and yttrium monoxide cations, ScO+ and YO+, coordinate multiple noble gas atoms in forming noble gas complexes. The results showed that ScO+ coordinates five Ar, Kr, or Xe atoms, and YO+ coordinates six Ar or Kr and five Xe atoms in solid noble gas matrixes. Hence, the ScO+ and YO+ cations trapped in solid noble gas matrixes should be regarded as the [ScO(Ng)5]+ (Ng = Ar, Kr, or Xe), [YO(Ng)6]+ (Ng = Ar or Kr) or [YO(Xe)5]+ complexes. Experiments with dilute krypton or xenon in argon or krypton in xenon produced new IR bands, which are due to the stepwise formation of the [ScO(Ar)(5-n)(Kr)n]+, [ScO(Kr)(5-n)(Xe)n]+ (n = 1-5), [YO(Ar)(6-n)(Kr)n]+ (n = 1-6), and [YO(Ar)(6-n)(Xe)n]+ (n = 1-4) complexes.

  17. Enhancer of polycomb coordinates multiple signaling pathways to promote both cyst and germline stem cell differentiation in the Drosophila adult testis

    PubMed Central

    Feng, Lijuan; Shi, Zhen; Chen, Xin

    2017-01-01

    Stem cells reside in a particular microenvironment known as a niche. The interaction between extrinsic cues originating from the niche and intrinsic factors in stem cells determines their identity and activity. Maintenance of stem cell identity and stem cell self-renewal are known to be controlled by chromatin factors. Herein, we use the Drosophila adult testis which has two adult stem cell lineages, the germline stem cell (GSC) lineage and the cyst stem cell (CySC) lineage, to study how chromatin factors regulate stem cell differentiation. We find that the chromatin factor Enhancer of Polycomb [E(Pc)] acts in the CySC lineage to negatively control transcription of genes associated with multiple signaling pathways, including JAK-STAT and EGF, to promote cellular differentiation in the CySC lineage. E(Pc) also has a non-cell-autonomous role in regulating GSC lineage differentiation. When E(Pc) is specifically inactivated in the CySC lineage, defects occur in both germ cell differentiation and maintenance of germline identity. Furthermore, compromising Tip60 histone acetyltransferase activity in the CySC lineage recapitulates loss-of-function phenotypes of E(Pc), suggesting that Tip60 and E(Pc) act together, consistent with published biochemical data. In summary, our results demonstrate that E(Pc) plays a central role in coordinating differentiation between the two adult stem cell lineages in Drosophila testes. PMID:28196077

  18. Bidirectional Coupling between Astrocytes and Neurons Mediates Learning and Dynamic Coordination in the Brain: A Multiple Modeling Approach

    PubMed Central

    Wade, John J.; McDaid, Liam J.; Harkin, Jim; Crunelli, Vincenzo; Kelso, J. A. Scott

    2011-01-01

    In recent years research suggests that astrocyte networks, in addition to nutrient and waste processing functions, regulate both structural and synaptic plasticity. To understand the biological mechanisms that underpin such plasticity requires the development of cell level models that capture the mutual interaction between astrocytes and neurons. This paper presents a detailed model of bidirectional signaling between astrocytes and neurons (the astrocyte-neuron model or AN model) which yields new insights into the computational role of astrocyte-neuronal coupling. From a set of modeling studies we demonstrate two significant findings. Firstly, that spatial signaling via astrocytes can relay a “learning signal” to remote synaptic sites. Results show that slow inward currents cause synchronized postsynaptic activity in remote neurons and subsequently allow Spike-Timing-Dependent Plasticity based learning to occur at the associated synapses. Secondly, that bidirectional communication between neurons and astrocytes underpins dynamic coordination between neuron clusters. Although our composite AN model is presently applied to simplified neural structures and limited to coordination between localized neurons, the principle (which embodies structural, functional and dynamic complexity), and the modeling strategy may be extended to coordination among remote neuron clusters. PMID:22242121

  19. Multiple-source multiple-harmonic active vibration control of variable section cylindrical structures: A numerical study

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Jinxin; Chen, Xuefeng; Gao, Jiawei; Zhang, Xingwu

    2016-12-01

    Air vehicles, space vehicles and underwater vehicles, the cabins of which can be viewed as variable section cylindrical structures, have multiple rotational vibration sources (e.g., engines, propellers, compressors and motors), making the spectrum of noise multiple-harmonic. The suppression of such noise has been a focus of interests in the field of active vibration control (AVC). In this paper, a multiple-source multiple-harmonic (MSMH) active vibration suppression algorithm with feed-forward structure is proposed based on reference amplitude rectification and conjugate gradient method (CGM). An AVC simulation scheme called finite element model in-loop simulation (FEMILS) is also proposed for rapid algorithm verification. Numerical studies of AVC are conducted on a variable section cylindrical structure based on the proposed MSMH algorithm and FEMILS scheme. It can be seen from the numerical studies that: (1) the proposed MSMH algorithm can individually suppress each component of the multiple-harmonic noise with an unified and improved convergence rate; (2) the FEMILS scheme is convenient and straightforward for multiple-source simulations with an acceptable loop time. Moreover, the simulations have similar procedure to real-life control and can be easily extended to physical model platform.

  20. Active head rotations and eye-head coordination

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zangemeister, W. H.; Stark, L.

    1981-01-01

    It is pointed out that head movements play an important role in gaze. The interaction between eye and head movements involves both their shared role in directing gaze and the compensatory vestibular ocular reflex. The dynamics of head trajectories are discussed, taking into account the use of parameterization to obtain the peak velocity, peak accelerations, the times of these extrema, and the duration of the movement. Attention is given to the main sequence, neck muscle EMG and details of the head-movement trajectory, types of head model accelerations, the latency of eye and head movement in coordinated gaze, gaze latency as a function of various factors, and coordinated gaze types. Clinical examples of gaze-plane analysis are considered along with the instantaneous change of compensatory eye movement (CEM) gain, and aspects of variability.

  1. Correlation between three color coordinates of human teeth.

    PubMed

    Lee, Yong-Keun

    2014-11-01

    The objective was to determine whether there were significant correlations in the three color coordinates within each of two color coordinate systems, such as the Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage (CIE) L*a*b* system, and the lightness, chroma, and hue angle system, of human vital teeth. The color of six maxillary and six mandibular anterior teeth was measured by the Shade Vision System. Pearson correlations between each pair of the color coordinates were determined (α=0.01 ). The influence of two color coordinates on the other color coordinate was determined with a multiple regression analysis (α=0.01 ). Based on correlation analyses, all the color coordinate pairs showed significant correlations except for the chroma and hue angle pair. The CIE L* was negatively correlated with the CIE a*,b*, and chroma, but positively correlated with the hue angle. The CIE a* was positively correlated with the CIE b* and chroma. Tooth color coordinates were correlated each other. Lighter teeth were less chromatic both in the CIE a* and b* coordinates. Therefore, it was postulated that the three color coordinates of human teeth were harmonized within certain color attribute ranges, and a lack of correlations in these coordinates might indicate external/internal discolorations and/or anomalies of teeth.

  2. Correlation between three color coordinates of human teeth

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Yong-Keun

    2014-11-01

    The objective was to determine whether there were significant correlations in the three color coordinates within each of two color coordinate systems, such as the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) L*a*b* system, and the lightness, chroma, and hue angle system, of human vital teeth. The color of six maxillary and six mandibular anterior teeth was measured by the Shade Vision System. Pearson correlations between each pair of the color coordinates were determined (α=0.01). The influence of two color coordinates on the other color coordinate was determined with a multiple regression analysis (α=0.01). Based on correlation analyses, all the color coordinate pairs showed significant correlations except for the chroma and hue angle pair. The CIE L* was negatively correlated with the CIE a*, b*, and chroma, but positively correlated with the hue angle. The CIE a* was positively correlated with the CIE b* and chroma. Tooth color coordinates were correlated each other. Lighter teeth were less chromatic both in the CIE a* and b* coordinates. Therefore, it was postulated that the three color coordinates of human teeth were harmonized within certain color attribute ranges, and a lack of correlations in these coordinates might indicate external/internal discolorations and/or anomalies of teeth.

  3. Automatic ball bar for a coordinate measuring machine

    DOEpatents

    Jostlein, H.

    1997-07-15

    An automatic ball bar for a coordinate measuring machine determines the accuracy of a coordinate measuring machine having at least one servo drive. The apparatus comprises a first and second gauge ball connected by a telescoping rigid member. The rigid member includes a switch such that inward radial movement of the second gauge ball relative to the first gauge ball causes activation of the switch. The first gauge ball is secured in a first magnetic socket assembly in order to maintain the first gauge ball at a fixed location with respect to the coordinate measuring machine. A second magnetic socket assembly secures the second gauge ball to the arm or probe holder of the coordinate measuring machine. The second gauge ball is then directed by the coordinate measuring machine to move radially inward from a point just beyond the length of the ball bar until the switch is activated. Upon switch activation, the position of the coordinate measuring machine is determined and compared to known ball bar length such that the accuracy of the coordinate measuring machine can be determined. 5 figs.

  4. Automatic ball bar for a coordinate measuring machine

    DOEpatents

    Jostlein, Hans

    1997-01-01

    An automatic ball bar for a coordinate measuring machine determines the accuracy of a coordinate measuring machine having at least one servo drive. The apparatus comprises a first and second gauge ball connected by a telescoping rigid member. The rigid member includes a switch such that inward radial movement of the second gauge ball relative to the first gauge ball causes activation of the switch. The first gauge ball is secured in a first magnetic socket assembly in order to maintain the first gauge ball at a fixed location with respect to the coordinate measuring machine. A second magnetic socket assembly secures the second gauge ball to the arm or probe holder of the coordinate measuring machine. The second gauge ball is then directed by the coordinate measuring machine to move radially inward from a point just beyond the length of the ball bar until the switch is activated. Upon switch activation, the position of the coordinate measuring machine is determined and compared to known ball bar length such that the accuracy of the coordinate measuring machine can be determined.

  5. Symptomatic and asymptomatic movement coordination of the lumbar spine and hip during an everyday activity.

    PubMed

    Shum, Gary L K; Crosbie, Jack; Lee, Raymond Y W

    2005-12-01

    This experimental study analyzed the movements of the lumbar spine and hip while putting on a sock. To examine differences in kinematics and coordination of the lumbar and hip movements in subjects with and without subacute low back pain. There is no information on the coordination of movements of lumbar spine and hips during activities of daily living such as putting on a sock. The effect of low back pain, with or without nerve root signs, is unknown. A real-time three-dimensional electromagnetic tracking device was used to measure movements of the lumbar spine and hips in 60 subacute low back pain subjects with or without straight leg raise (SLR) signs and 20 asymptomatic subjects. Movement coordination between the two regions was examined by cross-correlation. Mobility was significantly reduced in back pain subjects. Symptomatic subjects compensated for limited motion through various strategies, but in all cases the contribution of the lumbar spine relative to that of the hip was significantly reduced. The lumbar spine-hip joint coordination was substantially altered in back pain subjects, in particular, when putting on a sock on the side with positive SLR sign. Changes in the lumbar and hip kinematics when putting on a sock were related to back pain and limitation in SLR. Low back pain will affect lumbar-hip coordination.

  6. Pathway connectivity and signaling coordination in the yeast stress-activated signaling network

    PubMed Central

    Chasman, Deborah; Ho, Yi-Hsuan; Berry, David B; Nemec, Corey M; MacGilvray, Matthew E; Hose, James; Merrill, Anna E; Lee, M Violet; Will, Jessica L; Coon, Joshua J; Ansari, Aseem Z; Craven, Mark; Gasch, Audrey P

    2014-01-01

    Stressed cells coordinate a multi-faceted response spanning many levels of physiology. Yet knowledge of the complete stress-activated regulatory network as well as design principles for signal integration remains incomplete. We developed an experimental and computational approach to integrate available protein interaction data with gene fitness contributions, mutant transcriptome profiles, and phospho-proteome changes in cells responding to salt stress, to infer the salt-responsive signaling network in yeast. The inferred subnetwork presented many novel predictions by implicating new regulators, uncovering unrecognized crosstalk between known pathways, and pointing to previously unknown ‘hubs’ of signal integration. We exploited these predictions to show that Cdc14 phosphatase is a central hub in the network and that modification of RNA polymerase II coordinates induction of stress-defense genes with reduction of growth-related transcripts. We find that the orthologous human network is enriched for cancer-causing genes, underscoring the importance of the subnetwork's predictions in understanding stress biology. PMID:25411400

  7. Cytotoxicity of cyclometalated platinum complexes based on tridentate NCN and CNN-coordinating ligands: remarkable coordination dependence.

    PubMed

    Vezzu, Dileep A K; Lu, Qun; Chen, Yan-Hua; Huo, Shouquan

    2014-05-01

    A series of cyclometalated platinum complexes with diverse coordination patterns and geometries were screened for their anticancer activity. It was discovered that the N^C^N-coordinated platinum complex based on 1,3-di(pyridyl)benzene displayed much higher cytotoxicity against human lung cancer cells NCI-H522, HCC827, and NCI-H1299, and human prostate cancer cell RV1 than cisplatin. In a sharp contrast, the C^N^N-coordinated platinum complex based on 6-phenyl-2,2'-bipyridine was ineffective on these cancer cells. This remarkable difference in cytotoxicity displayed by N^C^N- and C^N^N-coordinated platinum complexes was related to the trans effect of the carbon donor in the cyclometalated platinum complexes, which played a crucial role in facilitating the dissociation of the chloride ligand to create an active binding site. The DNA binding was studied for the N^C^N-coordinated platinum complex using electrophoresis and emission titration. The cellular uptake observed by fluorescent microscope showed that the complex is largely concentrated in the cytoplasm. The possible pathways for the cell apoptosis were studied by western blot analysis and the activation of PARP via caspase 7 was observed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Coordinated Science Campaign Scheduling for Sensor Webs

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Edgington, Will; Morris, Robert; Dungan, Jennifer; Williams, Jenny; Carlson, Jean; Fleming, Damian; Wood, Terri; Yorke-Smith, Neil

    2005-01-01

    Future Earth observing missions will study different aspects and interacting pieces of the Earth's eco-system. Scientists are designing increasingly complex, interdisciplinary campaigns to exploit the diverse capabilities of multiple Earth sensing assets. In addition, spacecraft platforms are being configured into clusters, trains, or other distributed organizations in order to improve either the quality or the coverage of observations. These simultaneous advances in the design of science campaigns and in the missions that will provide the sensing resources to support them offer new challenges in the coordination of data and operations that are not addressed by current practice. For example, the scheduling of scientific observations for satellites in low Earth orbit is currently conducted independently by each mission operations center. An absence of an information infrastructure to enable the scheduling of coordinated observations involving multiple sensors makes it difficult to execute campaigns involving multiple assets. This paper proposes a software architecture and describes a prototype system called DESOPS (Distributed Earth Science Observation Planning and Scheduling) that will address this deficiency.

  9. 75 FR 44063 - Designation of the National Science and Technology Council to Coordinate Certain Activities Under...

    Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

    2010-07-28

    ... Activities Under the Arctic Research and Policy Act of 1984 Memorandum for the Director of the Office of... of the United States, including the Arctic Research and Policy Act of 1984 (Title I of Public Law 98...) responsibility to coordinate activities assigned in sections 107 and 108 of the Act to the Interagency Arctic...

  10. Enhancing healthcare sector coordination through infrastructure and logistics support.

    PubMed

    Zoraster, Richard M

    2010-01-01

    The International Response to the 2004 Southeast Asia Tsunami was noted to have multiple areas of poor coordination, and in 2005, the "Health Cluster"approach to coordination was formulated. However, the 2010 Haiti response suggests that many of the same problems continue and that there are significant limitations to the cluster meetings. These limitations include the inconsistent attendance, poor dissemination of information, and perceived lack of benefit to providers. This article proposes that healthcare coordination would be greatly improved with logistical support, leading to improved efficiency and outcomes for those affected by disasters.

  11. A coordination theory for intelligent machines

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wang, Fei-Yue; Saridis, George N.

    1990-01-01

    A formal model for the coordination level of intelligent machines is established. The framework of the coordination level investigated consists of one dispatcher and a number of coordinators. The model called coordination structure has been used to describe analytically the information structure and information flow for the coordination activities in the coordination level. Specifically, the coordination structure offers a formalism to (1) describe the task translation of the dispatcher and coordinators; (2) represent the individual process within the dispatcher and coordinators; (3) specify the cooperation and connection among the dispatcher and coordinators; (4) perform the process analysis and evaluation; and (5) provide a control and communication mechanism for the real-time monitor or simulation of the coordination process. A simple procedure for the task scheduling in the coordination structure is presented. The task translation is achieved by a stochastic learning algorithm. The learning process is measured with entropy and its convergence is guaranteed. Finally, a case study of the coordination structure with three coordinators and one dispatcher for a simple intelligent manipulator system illustrates the proposed model and the simulation of the task processes performed on the model verifies the soundness of the theory.

  12. Molecular-orbital models for the catalytic activity and selectivity of coordinatively unsaturated platinum surfaces and complexes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Balazs, A. C.; Johnson, K. H.

    1982-01-01

    Electronic structures have been calculated for 5-, 6-, and 10-atom Pt clusters, as well as for a Pt(PH 3) 4 coordination complex, using the self-consistent-field X-alpha scattered-wave (SCF-Xα-SW) molecular-orbital technique. The 10-atom cluster models the local geometry of a flat, unreconstructed Pt(100) surface, while the 5- and 6-atom clusters show features of a stepped Pt surface. Pt(PH 3) 4 resembles the chemically similar homogeneous catalyst Pt(PPh 3) 4. Common to all these coordinatively unsaturated complexes are orbitals lying near or coinciding with the highest occupied molecular orbital ("Fermi level") which show pronounced d lobes pointing directly into the vacuum. Under the hypothesis that these molecular orbitals are mainly responsible for the chemical activities of the above species, one can account for the relative similarities and differences in catalytic activity and selectivity displayed by unreconstructed Pt(100) surfaces, stepped Pt surfaces or particles, and isolated Pt(PPh 3) 4 coordination complexes. The relevance of these findings to catalyst-support interactions is also discussed. Finally, relativistic corrections to the electronic structures are calculated and their implications on catalytic properties discussed.

  13. Enhancing communication by using the Coordinated Care Classification System.

    PubMed

    O'Neal, P V; Kozeny, D K; Garland, P P; Gaunt, S M; Gordon, S C

    1998-07-01

    Because of the changes in our healthcare system, some clinical nurse specialists (CNSs) are having to expand their traditional roles of clinician, educator, consultant, leader, and researcher to include case management activities. The CNSs at Promina Gwinnett Health System in Lawrenceville, Georgia, have combined CNS and case manager activities and have adopted the title "CNS/Outcomes Coordinator." The CNS/Outcomes Coordinator is responsible for coordinating patient care, promoting team collaboration, and facilitating communication. To inform the healthcare team of the CNS/Outcomes Coordinator's patient responsibilities, the CNS/Outcomes Coordinators developed a Coordinated Care Classification System. This article describes how coordinating patient care, promoting team collaboration, and facilitating communication can be enhanced by the use of a classification system.

  14. Multiple structure-intrinsic disorder interactions regulate and coordinate Hox protein function

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bondos, Sarah

    During animal development, Hox transcription factors determine fate of developing tissues to generate diverse organs and appendages. Hox proteins are famous for their bizarre mutant phenotypes, such as replacing antennae with legs. Clearly, the functions of individual Hox proteins must be distinct and reliable in vivo, or the organism risks malformation or death. However, within the Hox protein family, the DNA-binding homeodomains are highly conserved and the amino acids that contact DNA are nearly invariant. These observations raise the question: How do different Hox proteins correctly identify their distinct target genes using a common DNA binding domain? One possible means to modulate DNA binding is through the influence of the non-homeodomain protein regions, which differ significantly among Hox proteins. However genetic approaches never detected intra-protein interactions, and early biochemical attempts were hindered because the special features of ``intrinsically disordered'' sequences were not appreciated. We propose the first-ever structural model of a Hox protein to explain how specific contacts between distant, intrinsically disordered regions of the protein and the homeodomain regulate DNA binding and coordinate this activity with other Hox molecular functions.

  15. A Multiplicity Survey of Chromospherically Active and Inactive Stars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mason, Brian D.; Henry, Todd J.; Hartkopf, William I.; TenBrummelaar, Theo; Soderblom, David R.

    1998-01-01

    Surveys of the three samples of solar-type stars, segregated by chromospheric emission level, were made to determine their multiplicity fractions and to investigate the evolution of multiplicity with age. In total, 245 stars were searched for companions with DeltaV <= 3.0 and separations of 0.035" to 1.08" using optical speckle interferometry, By incorporating the visual micrometer survey for duplicity of the LamontHussey Observatory, the angular coverage was extended to 5.0" with no change in in the DeltaV limit. This magnitude difference allows mass ratios of 0.63 and larger to be detected throughout a search region of 2-127 AU for the stars observed. The 84 primaries observed in the chromospherically active sample are presumably part of a young population and are found to have a multiplicity fraction of 17.9% +/- 4.6%. The sample of 118 inactive, presumably older, primaries were selected and observed using identical methods and are found to have a multiplicity fraction of only 8.5% +/- 2.7%. Given the known link between chromospheric activity and age, these results tentatively imply a decreasing stellar multiplicity fraction from 1 to 4 Gyr, the approximate ages of the two samples. Finally, only two of the 14 very active primaries observed were found to have a companion meeting the survey detection parameters. In this case, many of the systems are either very young, or close, RS CVn type multiples that are unresolvable using techniques employed here.

  16. A customizable model for chronic disease coordination: Lessons learned from the coordinated chronic disease program

    DOE PAGES

    Voetsch, Karen; Sequeira, Sonia; Chavez, Amy Holmes

    2016-03-31

    In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided funding and technical assistance to all states and territories to implement the Coordinated Chronic Disease Program, marking the first time that all state health departments had federal resources to coordinate chronic disease prevention and control programs. This article describes lessons learned from this initiative and identifies key elements of a coordinated approach. We analyzed 80 programmatic documents from 21 states and conducted semistructured interviews with 7 chronic disease directors. Six overarching themes emerged: 1) focused agenda, 2) identification of functions, 3) comprehensive planning, 4) collaborative leadership and expertise, 5) managedmore » resources, and 6) relationship building. Furthermore, these elements supported 4 essential activities: 1) evidence-based interventions, 2) strategic use of staff, 3) consistent communication, and 4) strong program infrastructure. On the basis of these elements and activities, we propose a conceptual model that frames overarching concepts, skills, and strategies needed to coordinate state chronic disease prevention and control programs.« less

  17. A customizable model for chronic disease coordination: Lessons learned from the coordinated chronic disease program

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Voetsch, Karen; Sequeira, Sonia; Chavez, Amy Holmes

    In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provided funding and technical assistance to all states and territories to implement the Coordinated Chronic Disease Program, marking the first time that all state health departments had federal resources to coordinate chronic disease prevention and control programs. This article describes lessons learned from this initiative and identifies key elements of a coordinated approach. We analyzed 80 programmatic documents from 21 states and conducted semistructured interviews with 7 chronic disease directors. Six overarching themes emerged: 1) focused agenda, 2) identification of functions, 3) comprehensive planning, 4) collaborative leadership and expertise, 5) managedmore » resources, and 6) relationship building. Furthermore, these elements supported 4 essential activities: 1) evidence-based interventions, 2) strategic use of staff, 3) consistent communication, and 4) strong program infrastructure. On the basis of these elements and activities, we propose a conceptual model that frames overarching concepts, skills, and strategies needed to coordinate state chronic disease prevention and control programs.« less

  18. Multi-energy Coordinated Evaluation for Energy Internet

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jia, Dongqiang; Sun, Jian; Wang, Cunping; Hong, Xiao; Ma, Xiufan; Xiong, Wenting; Shen, Yaqi

    2017-05-01

    This paper reviews the current research status of multi-energy coordinated evaluation for energy Internet. Taking the coordinated optimization effect of wind energy, solar energy and other energy sources into consideration, 17 evaluation indexes, such as the substitution coefficient of cold heat and power, the ratio of wind and solar energy, and the rate of energy storage ratio, were designed from five aspects, including the acceptance of renewable energy, energy complementary alternative benefits, peak valley difference, the degree of equipment utilization and user needs. At the same time, this article attaches importance to the economic and social benefits of the coordination of multiple energy sources. Ultimately, a comprehensive multi-energy coordination evaluation index system of regional energy Internet was put forward from the safe operation, coordination and optimization, economic and social benefits four aspects, and a comprehensive evaluation model was established. This model uses the optimal combination weighting method based on moment estimation and Topsis evaluation analysis method, so both the subjective and objective weight of the index are considered and the coordinate evaluation of multi-energy is realized. Finally the perfection of the index system and the validity of the evaluation method are verified by a case analysis.

  19. Acquisition and reacquisition of motor coordination in musicians.

    PubMed

    Furuya, Shinichi; Altenmüller, Eckart

    2015-03-01

    Precise control of movement timing plays a key role in musical performance. This motor skill requires coordination across multiple joints and muscles, which is acquired through extensive musical training from childhood. However, extensive training has a potential risk of causing neurological disorders that impair fine motor control, such as task-specific tremor and focal dystonia. Recent technological advances in measurement and analysis of biological data, as well as noninvasive manipulation of neuronal activities, have promoted the understanding of computational and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying acquisition, loss, and reacquisition of dexterous movements through musical practice and rehabilitation. This paper aims to provide an overview of the behavioral and neurophysiological basis of motor virtuosity and disorder in musicians, representative extremes of human motor skill. We also report novel evidence of effects of noninvasive neurorehabilitation that combined transcranial direct-current stimulation and motor rehabilitation over multiple days on musician's dystonia, which offers a promising therapeutic means. © 2015 New York Academy of Sciences.

  20. First MRI application of an active breathing coordinator

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kaza, E.; Symonds-Tayler, R.; Collins, D. J.; McDonald, F.; McNair, H. A.; Scurr, E.; Koh, D.-M.; Leach, M. O.

    2015-02-01

    A commercial active breathing coordinator (ABC) device, employed to hold respiration at a specific level for a predefined duration, was successfully adapted for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) use for the first time. Potential effects of the necessary modifications were assessed and taken into account. Automatic MR acquisition during ABC breath holding was achieved. The feasibility of MR-ABC thoracic and abdominal examinations together with the advantages of imaging in repeated ABC-controlled breath holds were demonstrated on healthy volunteers. Five lung cancer patients were imaged under MR-ABC, visually confirming the very good intra-session reproducibility of organ position in images acquired with the same patient positioning as used for computed tomography (CT). Using identical ABC settings, good MR-CT inter-modality registration was achieved. This demonstrates the value of ABC, since application of T1, T2 and diffusion weighted MR sequences provides a wider range of contrast mechanisms and additional diagnostic information compared to CT, thus improving radiotherapy treatment planning and assessment.

  1. First MRI application of an active breathing coordinator.

    PubMed

    Kaza, E; Symonds-Tayler, R; Collins, D J; McDonald, F; McNair, H A; Scurr, E; Koh, D-M; Leach, M O

    2015-02-21

    A commercial active breathing coordinator (ABC) device, employed to hold respiration at a specific level for a predefined duration, was successfully adapted for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) use for the first time. Potential effects of the necessary modifications were assessed and taken into account. Automatic MR acquisition during ABC breath holding was achieved. The feasibility of MR-ABC thoracic and abdominal examinations together with the advantages of imaging in repeated ABC-controlled breath holds were demonstrated on healthy volunteers. Five lung cancer patients were imaged under MR-ABC, visually confirming the very good intra-session reproducibility of organ position in images acquired with the same patient positioning as used for computed tomography (CT). Using identical ABC settings, good MR-CT inter-modality registration was achieved. This demonstrates the value of ABC, since application of T1, T2 and diffusion weighted MR sequences provides a wider range of contrast mechanisms and additional diagnostic information compared to CT, thus improving radiotherapy treatment planning and assessment.

  2. First MRI application of an active breathing coordinator

    PubMed Central

    Kaza, E; Symonds-Tayler, R; Collins, D J; McDonald, F; McNair, H A; Scurr, E; Koh, D-M; Leach, M O

    2015-01-01

    Abstract A commercial active breathing coordinator (ABC) device, employed to hold respiration at a specific level for a predefined duration, was successfully adapted for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) use for the first time. Potential effects of the necessary modifications were assessed and taken into account. Automatic MR acquisition during ABC breath holding was achieved. The feasibility of MR-ABC thoracic and abdominal examinations together with the advantages of imaging in repeated ABC-controlled breath holds were demonstrated on healthy volunteers. Five lung cancer patients were imaged under MR-ABC, visually confirming the very good intra-session reproducibility of organ position in images acquired with the same patient positioning as used for computed tomography (CT). Using identical ABC settings, good MR-CT inter-modality registration was achieved. This demonstrates the value of ABC, since application of T1, T2 and diffusion weighted MR sequences provides a wider range of contrast mechanisms and additional diagnostic information compared to CT, thus improving radiotherapy treatment planning and assessment. PMID:25633183

  3. Coordinated path following of multiple underacutated marine surface vehicles along one curve.

    PubMed

    Liu, Lu; Wang, Dan; Peng, Zhouhua

    2016-09-01

    This paper investigates the coordinated path following problem for a fleet of underactuated marine surface vehicles (MSVs) along one curve. The dedicated control design is divided into two tasks. One is to steer individual underactuated MSV to track the given spatial path, and the other is to force the vehicles dispersed on a parameterized path subject to the constraints of a communication network. Specifically, a robust individual path following controller is developed based on a line-of-sight (LOS) guidance law and a reduced-order extended state observer (ESO). The vehicle sideslip angle due to environmental disturbances can be exactly identified. Then, the vehicle coordination is achieved by a path variable containment approach, under which the path variables are evenly dispersed between two virtual leaders. Another reduced-order ESO is developed to identify the composite disturbance related to the speed of virtual leaders and neighboring vehicles. The proposed coordination design is distributed since the reference speed does not need to be known by all vehicles as a priori. The input-to-state stability of the closed-loop network system is established via cascade theory. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed design method. Copyright © 2016 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Multi-time Scale Coordination of Distributed Energy Resources in Isolated Power Systems

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Mayhorn, Ebony; Xie, Le; Butler-Purry, Karen

    2016-03-31

    In isolated power systems, including microgrids, distributed assets, such as renewable energy resources (e.g. wind, solar) and energy storage, can be actively coordinated to reduce dependency on fossil fuel generation. The key challenge of such coordination arises from significant uncertainty and variability occurring at small time scales associated with increased penetration of renewables. Specifically, the problem is with ensuring economic and efficient utilization of DERs, while also meeting operational objectives such as adequate frequency performance. One possible solution is to reduce the time step at which tertiary controls are implemented and to ensure feedback and look-ahead capability are incorporated tomore » handle variability and uncertainty. However, reducing the time step of tertiary controls necessitates investigating time-scale coupling with primary controls so as not to exacerbate system stability issues. In this paper, an optimal coordination (OC) strategy, which considers multiple time-scales, is proposed for isolated microgrid systems with a mix of DERs. This coordination strategy is based on an online moving horizon optimization approach. The effectiveness of the strategy was evaluated in terms of economics, technical performance, and computation time by varying key parameters that significantly impact performance. The illustrative example with realistic scenarios on a simulated isolated microgrid test system suggests that the proposed approach is generalizable towards designing multi-time scale optimal coordination strategies for isolated power systems.« less

  5. Coordination of deep hip muscle activity is altered in symptomatic femoroacetabular impingement.

    PubMed

    Diamond, Laura E; Van den Hoorn, Wolbert; Bennell, Kim L; Wrigley, Tim V; Hinman, Rana S; O'Donnell, John; Hodges, Paul W

    2017-07-01

    Diagnosis of femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) is increasing, yet the associated physical impairments remain poorly defined. This morphological hip condition can cause joint pain, stiffness, impaired function, and eventually hip osteoarthritis. This exploratory study compared coordination of deep hip muscles between people with and without symptomatic FAI using analysis of muscle synergies (i.e., patterns of activity of groups of muscles activated in synchrony) during gait. Fifteen individuals (11 males) with symptomatic FAI (clinical examination and imaging) and 14 age- and sex-comparable controls without morphological FAI underwent testing. Intramuscular fine-wire and surface electrodes recorded electromyographic activity of selected deep and superficial hip muscles. A non-negative matrix factorization algorithm extracted three synergies which were compared between groups. Information regarding which muscles were activated together in the FAI group (FAI group synergy vector) was used to reconstruct individual electromyography patterns and compare groups. Variance accounted for (VAF) by three synergies was less for the control (94.8 [1.4]%) than FAI (96.0 [1.0]%) group (p = 0.03). VAF of obturator internus was significantly higher in the FAI group (p = 0.02). VAF of the reconstructed individual electromyography patterns with the FAI or control group vector were significantly higher for the FAI group (p < 0.01). Following reconstruction, VAF of quadratus femoris was significantly more reduced in controls (p = 0.04), indicating greater between-subject variability. Coordination of deep hip muscles in the synergy related to hip joint control during early swing differed between groups. This phase involves movement towards the impingement position, which has relevance for the interpretation of synergy differences and potential clinical importance. © 2016 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 35:1494-1504, 2017

  6. Tracking cardiorespiratory fitness and physical activity in children with and without motor coordination problems.

    PubMed

    Cairney, John; Veldhuizen, Scott; King-Dowling, Sara; Faught, Brent E; Hay, John

    2017-04-01

    Previous research has shown children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) have lower cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) than typically developing (TD) children. This has been hypothesized to be due to an activity deficit, whereby poor motor functioning discourages children from participating in physical activities, but this hypothesis has not been directly tested. In this study, we use longitudinal data to measure the extent to which physical activity explains differences in CRF between children with and without motor coordination deficits. Longitudinal observational study. The study sample is an open cohort of children, numbering 2278 at baseline (age 9-10), that was followed for up to 5 years (to age 13-14). Motor skills were assessed once over the study period. Children scoring at or below the 5th percentile (n=103) on the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency-Short Form were considered to have possible DCD (pDCD). CRF (estimated peak VO 2 ) was estimated from performance on the Léger 20m shuttle run test, and physical activity was measured with the Participation Questionnaire. Both fitness and physical activity were measured up to 7 times over the study period. Children with pDCD had significantly lower CRF than their TD peers at each time point. CRF declined for both groups, but this decline was steeper for children with pDCD. Physical activity explained only a small part of the difference in CRF. The activity deficit did not contribute to the persistent and gradually widening gap in CRF between children with and without possible DCD. Possible reasons for this and future directions are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Visualizing Active-Site Dynamics in Single Crystals of HePTP: Opening of the WPD Loop Involves Coordinated Movement of the E Loop

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    D Critton; L Tautz; R Page

    2011-12-31

    Phosphotyrosine hydrolysis by protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) involves substrate binding by the PTP loop and closure over the active site by the WPD loop. The E loop, located immediately adjacent to the PTP and WPD loops, is conserved among human PTPs in both sequence and structure, yet the role of this loop in substrate binding and catalysis is comparatively unexplored. Hematopoietic PTP (HePTP) is a member of the kinase interaction motif (KIM) PTP family. Compared to other PTPs, KIM-PTPs have E loops that are unique in both sequence and structure. In order to understand the role of the E loopmore » in the transition between the closed state and the open state of HePTP, we identified a novel crystal form of HePTP that allowed the closed-state-to-open-state transition to be observed within a single crystal form. These structures, which include the first structure of the HePTP open state, show that the WPD loop adopts an 'atypically open' conformation and, importantly, that ligands can be exchanged at the active site, which is critical for HePTP inhibitor development. These structures also show that tetrahedral oxyanions bind at a novel secondary site and function to coordinate the PTP, WPD, and E loops. Finally, using both structural and kinetic data, we reveal a novel role for E-loop residue Lys182 in enhancing HePTP catalytic activity through its interaction with Asp236 of the WPD loop, providing the first evidence for the coordinated dynamics of the WPD and E loops in the catalytic cycle, which, as we show, is relevant to multiple PTP families.« less

  8. Care coordination between convenient care clinics and healthcare homes.

    PubMed

    Carney Moore, Jeanne Marie; Dolansky, Mary; Hudak, Christine; Kenneley, Irena

    2015-05-01

    Patient care coordination is foundational to high-quality health care and is a national priority. Since its inception, convenient health care has been criticized for its potential to decrease patient care coordination. The purpose of this study is to investigate care coordination between convenient care clinics and healthcare homes. The care coordination practices of Minute Clinic, which represents over 40% of the convenient care industry, were studied. Patient identification of healthcare homes and consent to transmit visit records were abstracted from the health records of 1,014,249 patients dated July 1 to December 31, 2012. The completeness of record content and timeliness of record transmission were assessed by means of interviewing Minute Clinic's Director of Quality and reviewing patient electronic health records. Minute Clinic attempts to coordinate care with healthcare homes, but opportunities for improved care coordination exist. Increased vigilance on the part of providers, patients, and healthcare systems is needed to mitigate barriers to care coordination. Future research is needed to examine care coordination from multiple convenient care operators and explore how to increase care coordination with healthcare homes. ©2014 American Association of Nurse Practitioners.

  9. Self-efficacy toward physical activity and the physical activity behavior of children with and without Developmental Coordination Disorder.

    PubMed

    Batey, C A; Missiuna, C A; Timmons, B W; Hay, J A; Faught, B E; Cairney, J

    2014-08-01

    Affecting 5-6% of children, Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a prevalent chronic condition. The nature of the disorder - impaired motor coordination - makes avoidance of physical activity (PA) common. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of barrier and task self-efficacy on PA behavior in children with DCD and a group of typically developing (TD) children. Children were compared on their perceived ability to complete different intensities and duration of PA (task efficacy) and their confidence in completing PA when faced with everyday barriers (barrier efficacy). An accelerometer was used to record their activity over the subsequent week. Children with DCD were found to have significantly lower task efficacy and barrier efficacy. They also spent significantly less time in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Multivariate analyses revealed that gender modified the relationship for both groups. Separate multivariate regressions, were therefore conducted by gender. A direct effect of DCD on PA was observed for boys, but not for girls. Further analyses showed that neither task efficacy nor barrier efficacy influenced the relationship between DCD and PA. Results from this study confirm that children with DCD have lower task and barrier self-efficacy than TD children and that males have lower PA levels than their TD peers; however neither task or barrier self-efficacy mediated the relationship between DCD and PA. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  10. Quadrupedal gaits in hexapod animals - inter-leg coordination in free-walking adult stick insects.

    PubMed

    Grabowska, Martyna; Godlewska, Elzbieta; Schmidt, Joachim; Daun-Gruhn, Silvia

    2012-12-15

    The analysis of inter-leg coordination in insect walking is generally a study of six-legged locomotion. For decades, the stick insect Carausius morosus has been instrumental for unravelling the rules and mechanisms that control leg coordination in hexapeds. We analysed inter-leg coordination in C. morosus that freely walked on straight paths on plane surfaces with different slopes. Consecutive 1.7 s sections were assigned inter-leg coordination patterns (which we call gaits) based on footfall patterns. Regular gaits, i.e. wave, tetrapod or tripod gaits, occurred in different proportions depending on surface slopes. Tetrapod gaits were observed most frequently, wave gaits only occurred on 90 deg inclining slopes and tripod gaits occurred most often on 15 deg declining slopes, i.e. in 40% of the sections. Depending on the slope, 36-66% of the sections were assigned irregular gaits. Irregular gaits were mostly due to multiple stepping by the front legs, which is perhaps probing behaviour, not phase coupled to the middle legs' cycles. In irregular gaits, middle leg and hindleg coordination was regular, related to quadrupedal walk and wave gaits. Apparently, front legs uncouple from and couple to the walking system without compromising middle leg and hindleg coordination. In front leg amputees, the remaining legs were strictly coordinated. In hindleg and middle leg amputees, the front legs continued multiple stepping. The coordination of middle leg amputees was maladapted, with front legs and hindlegs performing multiple steps or ipsilateral legs being in simultaneous swing. Thus, afferent information from middle legs might be necessary for a regular hindleg stepping pattern.

  11. Effects of experimental muscle pain on muscle activity and co-ordination during static and dynamic motor function.

    PubMed

    Graven-Nielsen, T; Svensson, P; Arendt-Nielsen, L

    1997-04-01

    The relation between muscle pain, muscle activity, and muscle co-ordination is still controversial. The present human study investigates the influence of experimental muscle pain on resting, static, and dynamic muscle activity. In the resting and static experiments, the electromyography (EMG) activity and the contraction force of m. tibialis anterior were assessed before and after injection of 0.5 ml hypertonic saline (5%) into the same muscle. In the dynamic experiment, injections of 0.5 ml hypertonic saline (5%) were performed into either m. tibialis anterior (TA) or m. gastrocnemius (GA) and the muscle activity and co-ordination were investigated during gait on a treadmill by EMG recordings from m. TA and m. GA. At rest no evidence of EMG hyperactivity was found during muscle pain. The maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) during muscle pain was significantly lower than the control condition (P < 0.05). During a static contraction at 80% of the pre-pain MVC muscle pain caused a significant reduction in endurance time (P < 0.043). During dynamic contractions, muscle pain resulted in a significant decrease of the EMG activity in the muscle, agonistic to the painful muscle (P < 0.05), and a significant increase of the EMG activity of the muscle, antagonistic to the painful muscle (P < 0.05). Muscle pain seems to cause a general protection of painful muscles during both static and dynamic contractions. The increased EMG activity of the muscle antagonistic to the painful muscle is probably a functional adaptation of muscle co-ordination in order to limit movements. Modulation of muscle activity by muscle pain could be controlled via inhibition of muscles agonistic to the movement and/or excitation of muscles antagonistic to the movement. The present results are in accordance with the pain-adaptation model (Lund, J.P., Stohler, C.S. and Widmer, C.G. In: H. Vaerøy and H. Merskey (Eds.), Progress in Fibromyalgia and Myofascial Pain. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1993, pp. 311

  12. Coordinating an Autonomous Earth-Observing Sensorweb

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sherwood, Robert; Cichy, Benjamin; Tran, Daniel; Chien, Steve; Rabideau, Gregg; Davies, Ashley; Castano, Rebecca; frye, Stuart; Mandl, Dan; Shulman, Seth; hide

    2006-01-01

    A system of software has been developed to coordinate the operation of an autonomous Earth-observing sensorweb. Sensorwebs are collections of sensor units scattered over large regions to gather data on spatial and temporal patterns of physical, chemical, or biological phenomena in those regions. Each sensor unit is a node in a data-gathering/ data-communication network that spans a region of interest. In this case, the region is the entire Earth, and the sensorweb includes multiple terrestrial and spaceborne sensor units. In addition to acquiring data for scientific study, the sensorweb is required to give timely notice of volcanic eruptions, floods, and other hazardous natural events. In keeping with the inherently modular nature of the sensory, communication, and data-processing hardware, the software features a flexible, modular architecture that facilitates expansion of the network, customization of conditions that trigger alarms of hazardous natural events, and customization of responses to alarms. The soft8 NASA Tech Briefs, July 2006 ware facilitates access to multiple sources of data on an event of scientific interest, enables coordinated use of multiple sensors in rapid reaction to detection of an event, and facilitates the tracking of spacecraft operations, including tracking of the acquisition, processing, and downlinking of requested data.

  13. Stages in Constructing and Coordinating Units Additively and Multiplicatively (Part 2)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ulrich, Catherine

    2016-01-01

    This is the second of a two-part article that presents a theory of unit construction and coordination that underlies radical constructivist empirical studies of student learning ranging from young students' counting strategies to high school students' algebraic reasoning. In Part I, I discussed the formation of arithmetical units and composite…

  14. Stages in Constructing and Coordinating Units Additively and Multiplicatively (Part 1)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ulrich, Catherine

    2015-01-01

    This is the first of a two-part article that presents a theory of unit construction and coordination that underlies radical constructivist empirical studies of student learning ranging from young students' counting strategies to high school students' algebraic reasoning. My explanation starts with the formation of arithmetical units, which presage…

  15. Teaching High School Biology Students to Coordinate Text and Diagrams: Relations with Transfer, Effort, and Spatial Skill

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bergey, Bradley W.; Cromley, Jennifer G.; Newcombe, Nora S.

    2015-01-01

    There is growing evidence that targeted instruction can improve diagram comprehension, yet one of the skills identified in the diagram comprehension literature--coordinating multiple representations--has rarely been directly taught to students and tested as a classroom intervention. We created a Coordinating Multiple Representation (CMR)…

  16. Multiple-object tracking while driving: the multiple-vehicle tracking task.

    PubMed

    Lochner, Martin J; Trick, Lana M

    2014-11-01

    Many contend that driving an automobile involves multiple-object tracking. At this point, no one has tested this idea, and it is unclear how multiple-object tracking would coordinate with the other activities involved in driving. To address some of the initial and most basic questions about multiple-object tracking while driving, we modified the tracking task for use in a driving simulator, creating the multiple-vehicle tracking task. In Experiment 1, we employed a dual-task methodology to determine whether there was interference between tracking and driving. Findings suggest that although it is possible to track multiple vehicles while driving, driving reduces tracking performance, and tracking compromises headway and lane position maintenance while driving. Modified change-detection paradigms were used to assess whether there were change localization advantages for tracked targets in multiple-vehicle tracking. When changes occurred during a blanking interval, drivers were more accurate (Experiment 2a) and ~250 ms faster (Experiment 2b) at locating the vehicle that changed when it was a target rather than a distractor in tracking. In a more realistic driving task where drivers had to brake in response to the sudden onset of brake lights in one of the lead vehicles, drivers were more accurate at localizing the vehicle that braked if it was a tracking target, although there was no advantage in terms of braking response time. Overall, results suggest that multiple-object tracking is possible while driving and perhaps even advantageous in some situations, but further research is required to determine whether multiple-object tracking is actually used in day-to-day driving.

  17. Coordination processes and outcomes in the public service: the challenge of inter-organizational food safety coordination in Norway.

    PubMed

    Lie, Amund

    2011-01-01

    In 2004 Norway implemented a food safety reform programme aimed at enhancing inter-organizational coordination processes and outcomes. Has this programme affected inter-organizational coordination processes and outcomes, both vertically and horizontally – and if so how? This article employs the concept of inter-organizational coordination as an analytical tool, examining it in the light of two theoretical perspectives and coupling it with the empirical findings. The argument presented is that the chances of strong coordination outcomes may increase if inter-organizational processes feature a clear division of labour, arenas for coordination, active leadership, a lack of major conflicting goals, and shared obligations.

  18. 40 CFR 265.55 - Emergency coordinator.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... FACILITIES Contingency Plan and Emergency Procedures § 265.55 Emergency coordinator. At all times, there must... aspects of the facility's contingency plan, all operations and activities at the facility, the location... out the contingency plan. [Comment: The emergency coordinator's responsibilities are more fully...

  19. Developmental Coordination Disorder, Gender, and Body Weight: Examining the Impact of Participation in Active Play

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cairney, John; Kwan, Matthew Y. W.; Hay, John A.; Faught, Brent E.

    2012-01-01

    Background: To examine whether differences in participation in active play (PAP) can account for gender differences in the relationship between Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) and body weight/fat (BMI and percentage fat) in youth. Methods: A cross-sectional investigation of students in grades four through eight (n = 590). Height, weight…

  20. Summary of Session Activities: Coordination of Environmental Education Projects

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Keeler, Michael; Mahootian, Farzad

    1995-01-01

    In this session, we address four fundamental questions related to environmental fields with emphasis on education. These are: What are the goals, objectives, and practical opportunities for coordinating our projects? How can we improve awareness of, interest in, access to, and support the products of our work? How can we build relationships between projects for scientific, educational, technical, and programmatic benefit? How can we evaluate the effectiveness of coordination efforts. In this working session, we produced answers to these questions and proposed a structure for future collaboration.

  1. Organization of left–right coordination of neuronal activity in the mammalian spinal cord: Insights from computational modelling

    PubMed Central

    Shevtsova, Natalia A; Talpalar, Adolfo E; Markin, Sergey N; Harris-Warrick, Ronald M; Kiehn, Ole; Rybak, Ilya A

    2015-01-01

    Different locomotor gaits in mammals, such as walking or galloping, are produced by coordinated activity in neuronal circuits in the spinal cord. Coordination of neuronal activity between left and right sides of the cord is provided by commissural interneurons (CINs), whose axons cross the midline. In this study, we construct and analyse two computational models of spinal locomotor circuits consisting of left and right rhythm generators interacting bilaterally via several neuronal pathways mediated by different CINs. The CIN populations incorporated in the models include the genetically identified inhibitory (V0D) and excitatory (V0V) subtypes of V0 CINs and excitatory V3 CINs. The model also includes the ipsilaterally projecting excitatory V2a interneurons mediating excitatory drive to the V0V CINs. The proposed network architectures and CIN connectivity allow the models to closely reproduce and suggest mechanistic explanations for several experimental observations. These phenomena include: different speed-dependent contributions of V0D and V0V CINs and V2a interneurons to left–right alternation of neural activity, switching gaits between the left–right alternating walking-like activity and the left–right synchronous hopping-like pattern in mutants lacking specific neuron classes, and speed-dependent asymmetric changes of flexor and extensor phase durations. The models provide insights into the architecture of spinal network and the organization of parallel inhibitory and excitatory CIN pathways and suggest explanations for how these pathways maintain alternating and synchronous gaits at different locomotor speeds. The models propose testable predictions about the neural organization and operation of mammalian locomotor circuits. Key points Coordination of neuronal activity between left and right sides of the mammalian spinal cord is provided by several sets of commissural interneurons (CINs) whose axons cross the midline. Genetically identified inhibitory V

  2. The Coordination and Activity Tracking in CHildren (CATCH) study: rationale and design.

    PubMed

    Cairney, John; Missiuna, Cheryl; Timmons, Brian W; Rodriguez, Christine; Veldhuizen, Scott; King-Dowling, Sara; Wellman, Sarah; Le, Tuyen

    2015-12-21

    Past studies have found that children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) engage in less physical activity than typically developing children. This "activity deficit" may result in children with DCD being less physically fit and more likely to be overweight or obese, potentially increasing later risk for poor cardiovascular health. Unfortunately, the majority of DCD research has been limited to cross-sectional designs, leading to questions about the complex relationship among motor ability, inactivity and health-related fitness. Of the few longitudinal studies on the topic, determining precedence amongst these factors is difficult because study cohorts typically focus on mid to late childhood. By this age, both decreased physical fitness and obesity are often established. The Coordination and Activity Tracking in CHildren (CATCH) study will examine the pathways connecting DCD, physical activity, physical fitness, and body composition from early to middle childhood. The CATCH study is a prospective cohort study. We aim to recruit a cohort of 600 children aged 4 to 5 years (300 probable DCD [pDCD] and 300 controls) and test them once a year for 4 years. At Phase 1 of baseline testing, we assess motor skills, cognitive ability (IQ), basic anthropometry, flexibility and lower body muscle strength, while parents complete an interview and questionnaires regarding family demographics, their child's physical activity, and behavioural characteristics. Children who move on to Phase 2 (longitudinal cohort) have their body fat percentage, foot structure, aerobic and anaerobic fitness assessed. An accelerometer to measure physical activity is then given to the child and interested family members. The family also receives an accelerometer logbook and 3-day food dairy. At years 2 to 4, children in the longitudinal cohort will have all baseline assessments repeated (excluding the IQ test), and complete an additional measure of perceived self-efficacy. Parents will

  3. Automation of Coordinated Planning Between Observatories: The Visual Observation Layout Tool (VOLT)

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Maks, Lori; Koratkar, Anuradha; Kerbel, Uri; Pell, Vince

    2002-01-01

    Fulfilling the promise of the era of great observatories, NASA now has more than three space-based astronomical telescopes operating in different wavebands. This situation provides astronomers with the unique opportunity of simultaneously observing a target in multiple wavebands with these observatories. Currently scheduling multiple observatories simultaneously, for coordinated observations, is highly inefficient. Coordinated observations require painstaking manual collaboration among the observatory staff at each observatory. Because they are time-consuming and expensive to schedule, observatories often limit the number of coordinated observations that can be conducted. In order to exploit new paradigms for observatory operation, the Advanced Architectures and Automation Branch of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has developed a tool called the Visual Observation Layout Tool (VOLT). The main objective of VOLT is to provide a visual tool to automate the planning of coordinated observations by multiple astronomical observatories. Four of NASA's space-based astronomical observatories - the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE), Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and Chandra - are enthusiastically pursuing the use of VOLT. This paper will focus on the purpose for developing VOLT, as well as the lessons learned during the infusion of VOLT into the planning and scheduling operations of these observatories.

  4. Temporal coordination and adaptation to rate change in music performance.

    PubMed

    Loehr, Janeen D; Large, Edward W; Palmer, Caroline

    2011-08-01

    People often coordinate their actions with sequences that exhibit temporal variability and unfold at multiple periodicities. We compared oscillator- and timekeeper-based accounts of temporal coordination by examining musicians' coordination of rhythmic musical sequences with a metronome that gradually changed rate at the end of a musical phrase (Experiment 1) or at the beginning of a phrase (Experiment 2). The rhythms contained events that occurred at the same periodic rate as the metronome and at half the period. Rate change consisted of a linear increase or decrease in intervals between metronome onsets. Musicians coordinated their performances better with a metronome that decreased than increased in tempo (as predicted by an oscillator model), at both beginnings and ends of musical phrases. Model performance was tested with an oscillator period or timekeeper interval set to the same period as the metronome (1:1 coordination) or half the metronome period (2:1 coordination). Only the oscillator model was able to predict musicians' coordination at both periods. These findings suggest that coordination is based on internal neural oscillations that entrain to external sequences.

  5. Lunar International Science Coordination/Calibration Targets

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Head, J. W.; Issacson, P.; Petro, N.; Runyon, C.; Ohtake, M.; Foing, B.; Grande, M.

    2007-01-01

    A new era of international lunar exploration has begun and will expand over the next four years with data acquired from at least four sophisticated remote sensing missions: KAGUYA (SELENE) [Japan], Chang'E [China], Chandrayaan-l [India], and LRO [United States]. It is recognized that this combined activity at the Moon with modern sophisticated sensors wi II provide unprecedented new information about the Moon and will dramatically improve our understanding of Earth's nearest neighbor. It is anticipated that the blooming of scientific exploration of the Moon by nations involved in space activities will seed and foster peaceful international coordination and cooperation that will benefit all. Summarized here are eight Lunar International Science Coordination/Calibration Targets (L-ISCT) that are intended to a) allow cross-calibration of diverse multi-national instruments and b) provide a focus for training young scientists about a range of lunar science issues. The targets, discussed at several scientific forums, were selected for coordinated science and instrument calibration of orbital data. All instrument teams are encouraged to participate in a coordinated activity of early-release data that will improve calibration and validation of data across independent and diverse instruments.

  6. Quantifying care coordination using natural language processing and domain-specific ontology

    PubMed Central

    Popejoy, Lori L; Khalilia, Mohammed A; Popescu, Mihail; Galambos, Colleen; Lyons, Vanessa; Rantz, Marilyn; Hicks, Lanis; Stetzer, Frank

    2015-01-01

    Objective This research identifies specific care coordination activities used by Aging in Place (AIP) nurse care coordinators and home healthcare (HHC) nurses when coordinating care for older community-dwelling adults and suggests a method to quantify care coordination. Methods A care coordination ontology was built based on activities extracted from 11 038 notes labeled with the Omaha Case management category. From the parsed narrative notes of every patient, we mapped the extracted activities to the ontology, from which we computed problem profiles and quantified care coordination for all patients. Results We compared two groups of patients: AIP who received enhanced care coordination (n=217) and HHC who received traditional care (n=691) using 128 135 narratives notes. Patients were tracked from the time they were admitted to AIP or HHC until they were discharged. We found that patients in AIP received a higher dose of care coordination than HHC in most Omaha problems, with larger doses being given in AIP than in HHC in all four Omaha categories. Conclusions ‘Communicate’ and ‘manage’ activities are widely used in care coordination. This confirmed the expert hypothesis that nurse care coordinators spent most of their time communicating about their patients and managing problems. Overall, nurses performed care coordination in both AIP and HHC, but the aggregated dose across Omaha problems and categories is larger in AIP. PMID:25324557

  7. Coordination chemistry controls the thiol oxidase activity of the B12-trafficking protein CblC

    PubMed Central

    Li, Zhu; Shanmuganathan, Aranganathan; Ruetz, Markus; Yamada, Kazuhiro; Lesniak, Nicholas A.; Kräutler, Bernhard; Brunold, Thomas C.; Koutmos, Markos; Banerjee, Ruma

    2017-01-01

    The cobalamin or B12 cofactor supports sulfur and one-carbon metabolism and the catabolism of odd-chain fatty acids, branched-chain amino acids, and cholesterol. CblC is a B12-processing enzyme involved in an early cytoplasmic step in the cofactor-trafficking pathway. It catalyzes the glutathione (GSH)-dependent dealkylation of alkylcobalamins and the reductive decyanation of cyanocobalamin. CblC from Caenorhabditis elegans (ceCblC) also exhibits a robust thiol oxidase activity, converting reduced GSH to oxidized GSSG with concomitant scrubbing of ambient dissolved O2. The mechanism of thiol oxidation catalyzed by ceCblC is not known. In this study, we demonstrate that novel coordination chemistry accessible to ceCblC-bound cobalamin supports its thiol oxidase activity via a glutathionyl-cobalamin intermediate. Deglutathionylation of glutathionyl-cobalamin by a second molecule of GSH yields GSSG. The crystal structure of ceCblC provides insights into how architectural differences at the α- and β-faces of cobalamin promote the thiol oxidase activity of ceCblC but mute it in wild-type human CblC. The R161G and R161Q mutations in human CblC unmask its latent thiol oxidase activity and are correlated with increased cellular oxidative stress disease. In summary, we have uncovered key architectural features in the cobalamin-binding pocket that support unusual cob(II)alamin coordination chemistry and enable the thiol oxidase activity of ceCblC. PMID:28442570

  8. Time-Coordination Strategies and Control Laws for Multi-Agent Unmanned Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Puig-Navarro, Javier; Hovakimyan, Naira; Allen, B. Danette

    2017-01-01

    Time-critical coordination tools for unmanned systems can be employed to enforce the type of temporal constraints required in terminal control areas, ensure minimum distance requirements among vehicles are satisfied, and successfully perform coordinated missions. In comparison with previous literature, this paper presents an ampler spectrum of coordination and temporal specifications for unmanned systems, and proposes a general control law that can enforce this range of constraints. The constraint classification presented con- siders the nature of the desired arrival window and the permissible coordination errors to define six different types of time-coordination strategies. The resulting decentralized coordination control law allows the vehicles to negotiate their speeds along their paths in response to information exchanged over the communication network. This control law organizes the different members in the fleet hierarchically per their behavior and informational needs as reference agent, leaders, and followers. Examples and simulation results for all the coordination strategies presented demonstrate the applicability and efficacy of the coordination control law for multiple unmanned systems.

  9. Perceived freedom in leisure and physical co-ordination ability: impact on out-of-school activity participation and life satisfaction.

    PubMed

    Poulsen, A A; Ziviani, J M; Cuskelly, M

    2007-07-01

    Perceived freedom in leisure (PFL) is explored as a potential mechanism mediating relationships between physical co-ordination ability and both global life satisfaction and leisure-time physical activity participation for boys with differing levels of physical co-ordination ability. Understanding psychological mechanisms contributing to low rates of participation in physical activities for boys with developmental co-ordination disorder (DCD) is a clinical and research priority with potential to inform clinical interventions and preventive health initiatives. Sixty boys aged 10-13 years with DCD and 113 boys without DCD completed self-report measures of PFL and life satisfaction. Seven-day leisure-time activity diaries and 12-month retrospective recall questionnaires were completed by parents. Lower self-appraisals of PFL and overall life satisfaction were found for boys with DCD compared with boys without DCD. PFL mediated relationships between physical ability and both life satisfaction and team sport participation. Perceived freedom in leisure, comprising self-appraisals of leisure needs satisfaction and competence, depth of involvement and perceived control over leisure outcomes, was a significant mechanism influencing leisure-time participation and life satisfaction for boys. The implications for effective intervention and preventive health programmes are discussed.

  10. Tunable multiple emissions in manganese-concentrated sulfide through simultaneous tailoring of Mn-site coordination and Mn-Mn pair geometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Zitao; Song, Enhai; Ye, Shi; Zhang, Qinyuan

    2017-12-01

    In contrast to generally single-band visible emission feature from Mn2+, simultaneous visible (VIS) and near-infrared (NIR) multiple emissions are demonstrated in Mn2+ concentrated sulfide (MnS) by only involving a single crystallographic site. Upon varying the Mn2+-site coordination and/or Mn-Mn pairs geometry in different structural MnS, the multiple emissions from divalent manganese can be easily tuned from 575 to 720 nm (VIS) or from 880 to 900 or 1380 nm (NIR), respectively. The excitation spectroscopy and the luminescent decay, together with crystal structural analyses, are employed to investigate the electronic transition and the excited state dynamics of these Mn2+ concentrated systems. It is found that the VIS and NIR emissions can be ascribed to the isolated Mn2+ ion and exchange coupled Mn-Mn pair center, respectively. The effect of crystal field and bridging geometry, as well as temperature on the exchange coupled Mn2+ pairs NIR emissive center, is also investigated in detail. This work not only provides keen insights into the de-excitation pathway of Mn2+-concentrated material, but also offers the possibilities of designing a novel NIR emitting source for various photonic applications.

  11. A Coordination Network with Ligand-Centered Redox Activity Based on facial-[CrIII (2-mercaptophenolato)3 ]3- Metalloligands.

    PubMed

    Wakizaka, Masanori; Matsumoto, Takeshi; Kobayashi, Atsushi; Kato, Masako; Chang, Ho-Chol

    2017-07-21

    The design of redox-active metal-organic frameworks and coordination networks (CNs), which exhibit metal- and/or ligand-centered redox activity, has recently received increased attention. In this study, the redox-active metalloligand (RML) [Me 4 N] 3 fac-[Cr III (mp) 3 ] (1) (mp=2-mercaptophenolato) was synthesized and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis, and its reversible ligand-centered one-electron oxidation was examined by cyclic voltammetry and spectroelectrochemical measurements. Since complex 1 contains O/S coordination sites in three directions, complexation with K + ions led to the formation of the two-dimensional honeycomb sheet-structured [K 3 fac-{Cr III (mp) 3 }(H 2 O) 6 ] n (2⋅6 H 2 O), which is the first example of a redox-active CN constructed from a RML with o-disubstituted benzene ligands. Herein, we unambiguously demonstrate the ligand-centered redox activity of the RML within the CN 2⋅6 H 2 O in the solid state. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

  12. 40 CFR 35.272 - Funding coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Funding coordination. 35.272 Section 35....272 Funding coordination. Recipients must use the lead-based paint program funding in a way that complements any related assistance they receive from other federal sources for lead-based paint activities...

  13. Physical activity and exercise priorities in community dwelling people with multiple sclerosis: a Delphi study.

    PubMed

    Stennett, Andrea; De Souza, Lorraine; Norris, Meriel

    2018-07-01

    Exercise and physical activity have been found to be beneficial in managing disabilities caused by multiple sclerosis. Despite the known benefits, many people with multiple sclerosis are inactive. This study aimed to identify the prioritised exercise and physical activity practices of people with multiple sclerosis living in the community and the reasons why they are engaged in these activities. A four Round Delphi questionnaire scoped and determined consensus of priorities for the top 10 exercise and physical activities and the reasons why people with multiple sclerosis (n = 101) are engaged in these activities. Data were analysed using content analysis, descriptive statistics, and non-parametric tests. The top 10 exercise and physical activity practices and the top 10 reasons why people with multiple sclerosis (n = 70) engaged in these activities were identified and prioritised. Consensus was achieved for the exercise and physical activities (W = 0.744, p < .0001) and for the reasons they engaged in exercise and physical activity (W = 0.723, p < .0001). The exercise and physical activity practices and the reasons people with multiple sclerosis engaged in exercise and physical activity were diverse. These self-selected activities and reasons highlighted that people with multiple sclerosis might conceptualise exercise and physical activity in ways that may not be fully appreciated or understood by health professionals. Considerations of the views of people with multiple sclerosis may be essential if the goal of increasing physical activity in this population is to be achieved. Implications for Rehabilitation Health professionals should work collaboratively with people with multiple sclerosis to understand how they prioritise activities, the underlying reasons for their prioritisations and embed these into rehabilitation programmes. Health professionals should utilise activities prioritised by people with multiple sclerosis in the community

  14. Stoichiometric Control of Multiple Different Tectons in Coordination-Driven Self-assembly

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Junseong; Ghosh, Koushik; Stang, Peter J.

    2009-01-01

    We present a general strategy for the synthesis of stable, multi-component fused polygon complexes where coordination-driven self-assembly allows for single supramolecular species can be formed from multi-component self-assembly and the shape of the obtained polygons can be controlled by simply changing the ratio of individual components. The compounds are characterized by Multinuclear NMR, ESI Mass spectrometry. PMID:19663439

  15. Culture-dependent strategies in coordination games.

    PubMed

    Jackson, Matthew O; Xing, Yiqing

    2014-07-22

    We examine different populations' play in coordination games in online experiments with over 1,000 study participants. Study participants played a two-player coordination game that had multiple equilibria: two equilibria with highly asymmetric payoffs and another equilibrium with symmetric payoffs but a slightly lower total payoff. Study participants were predominantly from India and the United States. Study participants residing in India played the strategies leading to asymmetric payoffs significantly more frequently than study participants residing in the United States who showed a greater play of the strategy leading to the symmetric payoffs. In addition, when prompted to play asymmetrically, the population from India responded even more significantly than those from the United States. Overall, study participants' predictions of how others would play were more accurate when the other player was from their own populations, and they coordinated significantly more frequently and earned significantly higher payoffs when matched with other study participants from their own population than when matched across populations.

  16. Culture-dependent strategies in coordination games

    PubMed Central

    Jackson, Matthew O.; Xing, Yiqing

    2014-01-01

    We examine different populations’ play in coordination games in online experiments with over 1,000 study participants. Study participants played a two-player coordination game that had multiple equilibria: two equilibria with highly asymmetric payoffs and another equilibrium with symmetric payoffs but a slightly lower total payoff. Study participants were predominantly from India and the United States. Study participants residing in India played the strategies leading to asymmetric payoffs significantly more frequently than study participants residing in the United States who showed a greater play of the strategy leading to the symmetric payoffs. In addition, when prompted to play asymmetrically, the population from India responded even more significantly than those from the United States. Overall, study participants’ predictions of how others would play were more accurate when the other player was from their own populations, and they coordinated significantly more frequently and earned significantly higher payoffs when matched with other study participants from their own population than when matched across populations. PMID:25024196

  17. Defining active progressive multiple sclerosis.

    PubMed

    Sellebjerg, Finn; Börnsen, Lars; Ammitzbøll, Cecilie; Nielsen, Jørgen Erik; Vinther-Jensen, Tua; Hjermind, Lena Elisabeth; von Essen, Marina; Ratzer, Rikke Lenhard; Soelberg Sørensen, Per; Romme Christensen, Jeppe

    2017-11-01

    It is unknown whether disease activity according to consensus criteria (magnetic resonance imaging activity or clinical relapses) associate with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) changes in progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). To compare CSF biomarkers in active and inactive progressive MS according to consensus criteria. Neurofilament light chain (NFL), myelin basic protein (MBP), IgG-index, chitinase-3-like-1 (CHI3L1), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), chemokine CXCL13, terminal complement complex, leukocyte counts and nitric oxide metabolites were measured in primary ( n = 26) and secondary progressive MS ( n = 26) and healthy controls ( n = 24). Progressive MS patients had higher CSF cell counts, IgG-index, CHI3L1, MMP-9, CXCL13, NFL and MBP concentrations. Active patients were younger and had higher NFL, CXCL13 and MMP-9 concentrations than inactive patients. Patients with active disease according to consensus criteria or detectable CXCL13 or MMP-9 in CSF were defined as having combined active progressive MS. These patients had increased CSF cell counts, IgG-index and MBP, NFL and CHI3L1 concentrations. Combined inactive patients only had increased IgG-index and MBP concentrations. Patients with combined active progressive MS show evidence of inflammation, demyelination and neuronal/axonal damage, whereas the remaining patients mainly show evidence of active demyelination. This challenges the idea that neurodegeneration independent of inflammation is crucial in disease progression.

  18. Fundamental movement skills proficiency in children with developmental coordination disorder: does physical self-concept matter?

    PubMed

    Yu, Jie; Sit, Cindy H P; Capio, Catherine M; Burnett, Angus; Ha, Amy S C; Huang, Wendy Y J

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to (1) examine differences in fundamental movement skills (FMS) proficiency, physical self-concept, and physical activity in children with and without developmental coordination disorder (DCD), and (2) determine the association of FMS proficiency with physical self-concept while considering key confounding factors. Participants included 43 children with DCD and 87 age-matched typically developing (TD) children. FMS proficiency was assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development - second edition. Physical self-concept and physical activity were assessed using self-report questionnaires. A two-way (group by gender) ANCOVA was used to determine whether between-group differences existed in FMS proficiency, physical self-concept, and physical activity after controlling for age and BMI. Partial correlations and hierarchical multiple regression models were used to examine the relationship between FMS proficiency and physical self-concept. Compared with their TD peers, children with DCD displayed less proficiency in various components of FMS and viewed themselves as being less competent in physical coordination, sporting ability, and physical health. Physical coordination was a significant predictor of ability in object control skills. DCD status and gender were significant predictors of FMS proficiency. Future FMS interventions should target children with DCD and girls, and should emphasize improving object control skills proficiency and physical coordination. Children with DCD tend to have not only lower FMS proficiency than age-matched typically developing children but also lower physical self-concept. Self-perceptions of physical coordination by children with DCD are likely to be valuable contributors to development of object control skills. This may then help to develop their confidence in performing motor skills. Children with DCD need supportive programs that facilitate the development of object control skills. Efficacy of training

  19. Coordinated Control Method of Voltage and Reactive Power for Active Distribution Networks Based on Soft Open Point

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Li, Peng; Ji, Haoran; Wang, Chengshan

    The increasing penetration of distributed generators (DGs) exacerbates the risk of voltage violations in active distribution networks (ADNs). The conventional voltage regulation devices limited by the physical constraints are difficult to meet the requirement of real-time voltage and VAR control (VVC) with high precision when DGs fluctuate frequently. But, soft open point (SOP), a flexible power electronic device, can be used as the continuous reactive power source to realize the fast voltage regulation. Considering the cooperation of SOP and multiple regulation devices, this paper proposes a coordinated VVC method based on SOP for ADNs. Firstly, a time-series model of coordi-natedmore » VVC is developed to minimize operation costs and eliminate voltage violations of ADNs. Then, by applying the linearization and conic relaxation, the original nonconvex mixed-integer non-linear optimization model is converted into a mixed-integer second-order cone programming (MISOCP) model which can be efficiently solved to meet the requirement of voltage regulation rapidity. Here, we carried out some case studies on the IEEE 33-node system and IEEE 123-node system to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.« less

  20. Coordinated Control Method of Voltage and Reactive Power for Active Distribution Networks Based on Soft Open Point

    DOE PAGES

    Li, Peng; Ji, Haoran; Wang, Chengshan; ...

    2017-03-22

    The increasing penetration of distributed generators (DGs) exacerbates the risk of voltage violations in active distribution networks (ADNs). The conventional voltage regulation devices limited by the physical constraints are difficult to meet the requirement of real-time voltage and VAR control (VVC) with high precision when DGs fluctuate frequently. But, soft open point (SOP), a flexible power electronic device, can be used as the continuous reactive power source to realize the fast voltage regulation. Considering the cooperation of SOP and multiple regulation devices, this paper proposes a coordinated VVC method based on SOP for ADNs. Firstly, a time-series model of coordi-natedmore » VVC is developed to minimize operation costs and eliminate voltage violations of ADNs. Then, by applying the linearization and conic relaxation, the original nonconvex mixed-integer non-linear optimization model is converted into a mixed-integer second-order cone programming (MISOCP) model which can be efficiently solved to meet the requirement of voltage regulation rapidity. Here, we carried out some case studies on the IEEE 33-node system and IEEE 123-node system to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.« less

  1. Muscle recruitment and coordination with an ankle exoskeleton.

    PubMed

    Steele, Katherine M; Jackson, Rachel W; Shuman, Benjamin R; Collins, Steven H

    2017-07-05

    Exoskeletons have the potential to assist and augment human performance. Understanding how users adapt their movement and neuromuscular control in response to external assistance is important to inform the design of these devices. The aim of this research was to evaluate changes in muscle recruitment and coordination for ten unimpaired individuals walking with an ankle exoskeleton. We evaluated changes in the activity of individual muscles, cocontraction levels, and synergistic patterns of muscle coordination with increasing exoskeleton work and torque. Participants were able to selectively reduce activity of the ankle plantarflexors with increasing exoskeleton assistance. Increasing exoskeleton net work resulted in greater reductions in muscle activity than increasing exoskeleton torque. Patterns of muscle coordination were not restricted or constrained to synergistic patterns observed during unassisted walking. While three synergies could describe nearly 95% of the variance in electromyography data during unassisted walking, these same synergies could describe only 85-90% of the variance in muscle activity while walking with the exoskeleton. Synergies calculated with the exoskeleton demonstrated greater changes in synergy weights with increasing exoskeleton work versus greater changes in synergy activations with increasing exoskeleton torque. These results support the theory that unimpaired individuals do not exclusively use central pattern generators or other low-level building blocks to coordinate muscle activity, especially when learning a new task or adapting to external assistance, and demonstrate the potential for using exoskeletons to modulate muscle recruitment and coordination patterns for rehabilitation or performance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Role of communication systems in coordinating supervising anesthesiologists' activities outside of operating rooms.

    PubMed

    Smallman, Bettina; Dexter, Franklin; Masursky, Danielle; Li, Fenghua; Gorji, Reza; George, Dave; Epstein, Richard H

    2013-04-01

    Theoretically, communication systems have the potential to increase the productivity of anesthesiologists supervising anesthesia providers. We evaluated the maximal potential of communication systems to increase the productivity of anesthesia care by enhancing anesthesiologists' coordination of care (activities) among operating rooms (ORs). At hospital A, data for 13,368 pages were obtained from files recorded in the internal alphanumeric text paging system. Pages from the postanesthesia care unit were processed through a numeric paging system and thus not included. At hospital B, in a different US state, 3 of the authors categorized each of 898 calls received using the internal wireless audio system (Vocera(®)). Lower and upper 95% confidence limits for percentages are the values reported. At least 45% of pages originated from outside the ORs (e.g., 20% from holding area) at hospital A and at least 56% of calls (e.g., 30% administrative) at hospital B. In contrast, requests from ORs for urgent presence of the anesthesiologist were at most 0.2% of pages at hospital A and 1.8% of calls at hospital B. Approximately half of messages to supervising anesthesiologists are for activity originating outside the ORs being supervised. To use communication tools to increase anesthesia productivity on the day of surgery, their use should include a focus on care coordination outside ORs (e.g., holding area) and among ORs (e.g., at the control desk).

  3. Quantifying care coordination using natural language processing and domain-specific ontology.

    PubMed

    Popejoy, Lori L; Khalilia, Mohammed A; Popescu, Mihail; Galambos, Colleen; Lyons, Vanessa; Rantz, Marilyn; Hicks, Lanis; Stetzer, Frank

    2015-04-01

    This research identifies specific care coordination activities used by Aging in Place (AIP) nurse care coordinators and home healthcare (HHC) nurses when coordinating care for older community-dwelling adults and suggests a method to quantify care coordination. A care coordination ontology was built based on activities extracted from 11,038 notes labeled with the Omaha Case management category. From the parsed narrative notes of every patient, we mapped the extracted activities to the ontology, from which we computed problem profiles and quantified care coordination for all patients. We compared two groups of patients: AIP who received enhanced care coordination (n=217) and HHC who received traditional care (n=691) using 128,135 narratives notes. Patients were tracked from the time they were admitted to AIP or HHC until they were discharged. We found that patients in AIP received a higher dose of care coordination than HHC in most Omaha problems, with larger doses being given in AIP than in HHC in all four Omaha categories. 'Communicate' and 'manage' activities are widely used in care coordination. This confirmed the expert hypothesis that nurse care coordinators spent most of their time communicating about their patients and managing problems. Overall, nurses performed care coordination in both AIP and HHC, but the aggregated dose across Omaha problems and categories is larger in AIP. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. Contributions of Altered Stretch Reflex Coordination to Arm Impairments Following Stroke

    PubMed Central

    Ravichandran, Vengateswaran J.; Krutky, Matthew A.; Perreault, Eric J.

    2010-01-01

    Patterns of stereotyped muscle coactivation, clinically referred to as synergies, emerge following stroke and impair arm function. Although researchers have focused on cortical contributions, there is growing evidence that altered stretch reflex pathways may also contribute to impairment. However, most previous reflex studies have focused on passive, single-joint movements without regard to their coordination during volitional actions. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of stroke on coordinated activity of stretch reflexes elicited in multiple arm muscles following multijoint perturbations. We hypothesized that cortical injury results in increased stretch reflexes of muscles characteristic of the abnormal flexor synergy during active arm conditions. To test this hypothesis, we used a robot to apply position perturbations to impaired arms of 10 stroke survivors and dominant arms of 8 healthy age-matched controls. Corresponding reflexes were assessed during volitional contractions simulating different levels of gravitational support, as well as during voluntary flexion and extension of the elbow and shoulder. Reflexes were quantified by average rectified surface electromyogram, recorded from eight muscles spanning the elbow and shoulder. Reflex coordination was quantified using an independent components analysis. We found stretch reflexes elicited in the stroke group were significantly less sensitive to changes in background muscle activation compared with those in the control group (P < 0.05). We also observed significantly increased reflex coupling between elbow flexor and shoulder abductor–extensor muscles in stroke subjects relative to that in control subjects. This increased coupling was present only during volitional tasks that required elbow flexion (P < 0.001), shoulder extension (P < 0.01), and gravity opposition (P < 0.01), but not during the “no load” condition. During volitional contractions, reflex amplitudes scaled with the level

  5. Muscle coordination is habitual rather than optimal.

    PubMed

    de Rugy, Aymar; Loeb, Gerald E; Carroll, Timothy J

    2012-05-23

    When sharing load among multiple muscles, humans appear to select an optimal pattern of activation that minimizes costs such as the effort or variability of movement. How the nervous system achieves this behavior, however, is unknown. Here we show that contrary to predictions from optimal control theory, habitual muscle activation patterns are surprisingly robust to changes in limb biomechanics. We first developed a method to simulate joint forces in real time from electromyographic recordings of the wrist muscles. When the model was altered to simulate the effects of paralyzing a muscle, the subjects simply increased the recruitment of all muscles to accomplish the task, rather than recruiting only the useful muscles. When the model was altered to make the force output of one muscle unusually noisy, the subjects again persisted in recruiting all muscles rather than eliminating the noisy one. Such habitual coordination patterns were also unaffected by real modifications of biomechanics produced by selectively damaging a muscle without affecting sensory feedback. Subjects naturally use different patterns of muscle contraction to produce the same forces in different pronation-supination postures, but when the simulation was based on a posture different from the actual posture, the recruitment patterns tended to agree with the actual rather than the simulated posture. The results appear inconsistent with computation of motor programs by an optimal controller in the brain. Rather, the brain may learn and recall command programs that result in muscle coordination patterns generated by lower sensorimotor circuitry that are functionally "good-enough."

  6. Penalized nonparametric scalar-on-function regression via principal coordinates

    PubMed Central

    Reiss, Philip T.; Miller, David L.; Wu, Pei-Shien; Hua, Wen-Yu

    2016-01-01

    A number of classical approaches to nonparametric regression have recently been extended to the case of functional predictors. This paper introduces a new method of this type, which extends intermediate-rank penalized smoothing to scalar-on-function regression. In the proposed method, which we call principal coordinate ridge regression, one regresses the response on leading principal coordinates defined by a relevant distance among the functional predictors, while applying a ridge penalty. Our publicly available implementation, based on generalized additive modeling software, allows for fast optimal tuning parameter selection and for extensions to multiple functional predictors, exponential family-valued responses, and mixed-effects models. In an application to signature verification data, principal coordinate ridge regression, with dynamic time warping distance used to define the principal coordinates, is shown to outperform a functional generalized linear model. PMID:29217963

  7. Universal mechatronics coordinator

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Muir, Patrick F.

    1999-11-01

    Mechatronic systems incorporate multiple actuators and sensor which must be properly coordinated to achieve the desired system functionality. Many mechatronic systems are designed as one-of-a-kind custom projects without consideration for facilitating future system or alterations and extensions to the current syste. Thus, subsequent changes to the system are slow, different, and costly. It has become apparent that manufacturing processes, and thus the mechatronics which embody them, need to be agile in order to more quickly and easily respond to changing customer demands or market pressures. To achieve agility, both the hardware and software of the system need to be designed such that the creation of new system and the alteration and extension of current system is fast and easy. This paper describes the design of a Universal Mechatronics Coordinator (UMC) which facilitates agile setup and changeover of coordination software for mechatronic systems. The UMC is capable of sequencing continuous and discrete actions that are programmed as stimulus-response pairs, as state machines, or a combination of the two. It facilitates the modular, reusable programing of continuous actions such as servo control algorithms, data collection code, and safety checking routines; and discrete actions such as reporting achieved states, and turning on/off binary devices. The UMC has been applied to the control of a z- theta assembly robot for the Minifactory project and is applicable to a spectrum of widely differing mechatronic systems.

  8. Knee joint kinaesthesia and neuromuscular coordination during three phases of the menstrual cycle in moderately active women.

    PubMed

    Fridén, Cecilia; Hirschberg, Angelica Lindén; Saartok, Tönu; Renström, Per

    2006-04-01

    An increased incidence of sports related injuries in the premenstrual phase as well as in the menstrual phase of the menstrual cycle has been described. This may be explained by alterations in proprioception and neuromuscular coordination due to hormonal variations. Prospective, within women analysis of knee joint kinesthesia and neuromuscular coordination were performed by repeated measures analysis of variance in three hormonally verified phases of three consecutive menstrual cycles. Thirty-two healthy, moderately active female subjects volunteered to participate in the study. Twenty-five of the subjects performed at least one hormonally verified menstrual cycle. A specially designed device was used to investigate knee joint kinaesthesia and neuromuscular coordination was measured with the square hop test. These tests were carried out in the menstrual phase, ovulation phase and premenstrual phase determined by hormone analyses in three consecutive menstrual cycles. An impaired knee joint kinaesthesia was detected in the premenstrual phase and the performance of square hop test was significantly improved in the ovulation phase compared to the other two phases. The results of this study indicate that the variation of sex hormones in the menstrual cycle has an effect on performance of knee joint kinaesthesia and neuromuscular coordination.

  9. Systems Level Analyses Reveal Multiple Regulatory Activities of CodY Controlling Metabolism, Motility and Virulence in Listeria monocytogenes

    PubMed Central

    Lobel, Lior; Herskovits, Anat A.

    2016-01-01

    Bacteria sense and respond to many environmental cues, rewiring their regulatory network to facilitate adaptation to new conditions/niches. Global transcription factors that co-regulate multiple pathways simultaneously are essential to this regulatory rewiring. CodY is one such global regulator, controlling expression of both metabolic and virulence genes in Gram-positive bacteria. Branch chained amino acids (BCAAs) serve as a ligand for CodY and modulate its activity. Classically, CodY was considered to function primarily as a repressor under rich growth conditions. However, our previous studies of the bacterial pathogen Listeria monocytogenes revealed that CodY is active also when the bacteria are starved for BCAAs. Under these conditions, CodY loses the ability to repress genes (e.g., metabolic genes) and functions as a direct activator of the master virulence regulator gene, prfA. This observation raised the possibility that CodY possesses multiple functions that allow it to coordinate gene expression across a wide spectrum of metabolic growth conditions, and thus better adapt bacteria to the mammalian niche. To gain a deeper understanding of CodY’s regulatory repertoire and identify direct target genes, we performed a genome wide analysis of the CodY regulon and DNA binding under both rich and minimal growth conditions, using RNA-Seq and ChIP-Seq techniques. We demonstrate here that CodY is indeed active (i.e., binds DNA) under both conditions, serving as a repressor and activator of different genes. Further, we identified new genes and pathways that are directly regulated by CodY (e.g., sigB, arg, his, actA, glpF, gadG, gdhA, poxB, glnR and fla genes), integrating metabolism, stress responses, motility and virulence in L. monocytogenes. This study establishes CodY as a multifaceted factor regulating L. monocytogenes physiology in a highly versatile manner. PMID:26895237

  10. Mechanical signaling coordinates the embryonic heart

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chiou, Kevin; Rocks, Jason; Prosser, Benjamin; Discher, Dennis; Liu, Andrea

    The heart is an active material which relies on robust signaling mechanisms between cells in order to produce well-timed, coordinated beats. Heart tissue is composed primarily of active heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) embedded in a passive extracellular matrix. During a heartbeat, cardiomyocyte contractions are coordinated across the heart to form a wavefront that propagates through the tissue to pump blood. In the adult heart, this contractile wave is coordinated via intercellular electrical signaling.Here we present theoretical and experimental evidence for mechanical coordination of embryonic heartbeats. We model cardiomyocytes as mechanically excitable Eshelby inclusions embedded in an overdamped elastic-fluid biphasic medium. For physiological parameters, this model replicates recent experimental measurements of the contractile wavefront which are not captured by electrical signaling models. We additionally challenge our model by pharmacologically blocking gap junctions, inhibiting electrical signaling between myocytes. We find that while adult hearts stop beating almost immediately after gap junctions are blocked, embryonic hearts continue beating even at significantly higher concentrations, providing strong support for a mechanical signaling mechanism.

  11. A Protein Scaffold Coordinates SRC-Mediated JNK Activation in Response to Metabolic Stress.

    PubMed

    Kant, Shashi; Standen, Claire L; Morel, Caroline; Jung, Dae Young; Kim, Jason K; Swat, Wojciech; Flavell, Richard A; Davis, Roger J

    2017-09-19

    Obesity is a major risk factor for the development of metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. How obesity contributes to metabolic syndrome is unclear. Free fatty acid (FFA) activation of a non-receptor tyrosine kinase (SRC)-dependent cJun NH 2 -terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway is implicated in this process. However, the mechanism that mediates SRC-dependent JNK activation is unclear. Here, we identify a role for the scaffold protein JIP1 in SRC-dependent JNK activation. SRC phosphorylation of JIP1 creates phosphotyrosine interaction motifs that bind the SH2 domains of SRC and the guanine nucleotide exchange factor VAV. These interactions are required for SRC-induced activation of VAV and the subsequent engagement of a JIP1-tethered JNK signaling module. The JIP1 scaffold protein, therefore, plays a dual role in FFA signaling by coordinating upstream SRC functions together with downstream effector signaling by the JNK pathway. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Diffusional correlations among multiple active sites in a single enzyme.

    PubMed

    Echeverria, Carlos; Kapral, Raymond

    2014-04-07

    Simulations of the enzymatic dynamics of a model enzyme containing multiple substrate binding sites indicate the existence of diffusional correlations in the chemical reactivity of the active sites. A coarse-grain, particle-based, mesoscopic description of the system, comprising the enzyme, the substrate, the product and solvent, is constructed to study these effects. The reactive and non-reactive dynamics is followed using a hybrid scheme that combines molecular dynamics for the enzyme, substrate and product molecules with multiparticle collision dynamics for the solvent. It is found that the reactivity of an individual active site in the multiple-active-site enzyme is reduced substantially, and this effect is analyzed and attributed to diffusive competition for the substrate among the different active sites in the enzyme.

  13. The forgotten guidelines: cross-sectional analysis of participation in muscle strengthening and balance & co-ordination activities by adults and older adults in Scotland.

    PubMed

    Strain, Tessa; Fitzsimons, Claire; Kelly, Paul; Mutrie, Nanette

    2016-10-21

    In 2011, the UK physical activity guidelines were updated to include recommendations for muscle strengthening and balance & coordination (at least two sessions of relevant activities per week). However, monitoring and policy efforts remain focussed on aerobic activity. This study aimed to assess differences by gender and age in the a) prevalence of muscle strengthening and balance & co-ordination guidelines, and b) participation in guideline-specific activities. The sample for the muscle strengthening analyses was 10,488 adult (16-64 years) and 3857 older adult (≥65 years) 2012-2014 Scottish Health Survey respondents. The balance & co-ordination analyses used only the older adult responses. Differences by gender and (where possible) age in guideline prevalence and activity participation were assessed using logistic regression and t-tests. Thirty-one percent of men and 24 % of women met the muscle strengthening guideline, approximately half that of published figures for aerobic physical activity. Nineteen percent of older men and 12 % of older women met the balance & co-ordination guidelines. The oldest age groups were less likely to meet both guidelines compared to the youngest age groups. Differences by gender were only evident for muscle strengthening: more men met the guidelines than women in all age groups, with the largest difference amongst 16-24 year olds (55 % men compared with 40 % women). Participation in relevant activities differed by gender for both guidelines. 'Workout at gym' was the most popular activity to improve muscle strength for men (18 % participated), while swimming was for women (15 % participated). Golf was the most popular activity to improve balance & co-ordination for older men (11 % participated) and aerobics was for older women (6 % participated). Participation decreased in most muscle strengthening activities for both men and women. One exception was golf, where participation levels were as high amongst older men as in

  14. Coordinating Learning Agents for Active Information Collection

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-06-30

    the experiments were not particularly sensitive to this parameter. By limiting the number of actions that are updated (DANT-L in black/ dark ), the...Bazzan, A. and Ossowski, S. (eds.), Applications of Agent Technology in Traffic and Transportation (Springer, 2005). [19] Mataric , M. J., Coordination...organizing market (1998), preprint cond- mat/9802177. [19] Jones, C. and Mataric , M. J., Adaptive division of labor in large-scale multi-robot systems, in IEEE

  15. Rotation of endosomes demonstrates coordination of molecular motors during axonal transport.

    PubMed

    Kaplan, Luke; Ierokomos, Athena; Chowdary, Praveen; Bryant, Zev; Cui, Bianxiao

    2018-03-01

    Long-distance axonal transport is critical to the maintenance and function of neurons. Robust transport is ensured by the coordinated activities of multiple molecular motors acting in a team. Conventional live-cell imaging techniques used in axonal transport studies detect this activity by visualizing the translational dynamics of a cargo. However, translational measurements are insensitive to torques induced by motor activities. By using gold nanorods and multichannel polarization microscopy, we simultaneously measure the rotational and translational dynamics for thousands of axonally transported endosomes. We find that the rotational dynamics of an endosome provide complementary information regarding molecular motor activities to the conventionally tracked translational dynamics. Rotational dynamics correlate with translational dynamics, particularly in cases of increased rotation after switches between kinesin- and dynein-mediated transport. Furthermore, unambiguous measurement of nanorod angle shows that endosome-contained nanorods align with the orientation of microtubules, suggesting a direct mechanical linkage between the ligand-receptor complex and the microtubule motors.

  16. Rotation of endosomes demonstrates coordination of molecular motors during axonal transport

    PubMed Central

    Kaplan, Luke; Ierokomos, Athena; Chowdary, Praveen; Bryant, Zev; Cui, Bianxiao

    2018-01-01

    Long-distance axonal transport is critical to the maintenance and function of neurons. Robust transport is ensured by the coordinated activities of multiple molecular motors acting in a team. Conventional live-cell imaging techniques used in axonal transport studies detect this activity by visualizing the translational dynamics of a cargo. However, translational measurements are insensitive to torques induced by motor activities. By using gold nanorods and multichannel polarization microscopy, we simultaneously measure the rotational and translational dynamics for thousands of axonally transported endosomes. We find that the rotational dynamics of an endosome provide complementary information regarding molecular motor activities to the conventionally tracked translational dynamics. Rotational dynamics correlate with translational dynamics, particularly in cases of increased rotation after switches between kinesin- and dynein-mediated transport. Furthermore, unambiguous measurement of nanorod angle shows that endosome-contained nanorods align with the orientation of microtubules, suggesting a direct mechanical linkage between the ligand-receptor complex and the microtubule motors. PMID:29536037

  17. Common oscillatory mechanisms across multiple memory systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Headley, Drew B.; Paré, Denis

    2017-01-01

    The cortex, hippocampus, and striatum support dissociable forms of memory. While each of these regions contains specialized circuitry supporting their respective functions, all structure their activities across time with delta, theta, and gamma rhythms. We review how these oscillations are generated and how they coordinate distinct memory systems during encoding, consolidation, and retrieval. First, gamma oscillations occur in all regions and coordinate local spiking, compressing it into short population bursts. Second, gamma oscillations are modulated by delta and theta oscillations. Third, oscillatory dynamics in these memory systems can operate in either a "slow" or "fast" mode. The slow mode happens during slow-wave sleep and is characterized by large irregular activity in the hippocampus and delta oscillations in cortical and striatal circuits. The fast mode occurs during active waking and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and is characterized by theta oscillations in the hippocampus and its targets, along with gamma oscillations in the rest of cortex. In waking, the fast mode is associated with the efficacious encoding and retrieval of declarative and procedural memories. Theta and gamma oscillations have similar relationships with encoding and retrieval across multiple forms of memory and brain regions, despite regional differences in microcircuitry and information content. Differences in the oscillatory coordination of memory systems during sleep might explain why the consolidation of some forms of memory is sensitive to slow-wave sleep, while others depend on REM. In particular, theta oscillations appear to support the consolidation of certain types of procedural memories during REM, while delta oscillations during slow-wave sleep seem to promote declarative and procedural memories.

  18. Integrating Multiple Space Ground Sensors to Track Volcanic Activity

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chien, Steve; Davies, Ashley; Doubleday, Joshua; Tran, Daniel; Jones, Samuel; Kjartansson, Einar; Thorsteinsson, Hrobjartur; Vogfjord, Kristin; Guomundsson, Magnus; Thordarson, Thor; hide

    2011-01-01

    Volcanic activity can occur with little or no warning. Increasing numbers of space borne assets can enable coordinated measurements of volcanic events to enhance both scientific study and hazard response. We describe the use of space and ground measurements to target further measurements as part of a worldwide volcano monitoring system. We utilize a number of alert systems including the MODVOLC, GOESVOLC, US Air Force Weather Advisory, and Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) alert systems. Additionally we use in-situ data from ground instrumentation at a number of volcanic sites, including Iceland.

  19. Perioperative Care Coordination Measurement: A Tool to Support Care Integration of Pediatric Surgical Patients.

    PubMed

    Ferrari, Lynne R; Ziniel, Sonja I; Antonelli, Richard C

    2016-03-01

    The relationship of care coordination activities and outcomes to resource utilization and personnel costs has been evaluated for a number of pediatric medical home practices. One of the first tools designed to evaluate the activities and outcomes for pediatric care coordination is the Care Coordination Measurement Tool (CCMT). It has become widely used as an instrument for health care providers in both primary and subspecialty care settings. This tool enables the user to stratify patients based on acuity and complexity while documenting the activities and outcomes of care coordination. We tested the feasibility of adapting the CCMT to a pediatric surgical population at Boston Children's Hospital. The tool was used to assess the preoperative care coordination activities. Care coordination activities were tracked during the interval from the date the patient was scheduled for a surgical or interventional procedure through the day of the procedure. A care coordination encounter was defined as any task, whether face to face or not, supporting the development or implementation of a plan of care. Data were collected to enable analysis of 5675 care coordination encounters supporting the care provided to 3406 individual surgical cases (patients). The outcomes of care coordination, as documented by the preoperative nursing staff, included the elaboration of the care plan through patient-focused communication among specialist, facilities, perioperative team, and primary care physicians in 80.5% of cases. The average time spent on care coordination activities increased incrementally by 30 minutes with each additional care coordination encounter for a surgical case. Surgical cases with 1 care coordination encounter took an average of 35.7 minutes of preoperative care coordination, whereas those with ≥4 care coordination encounters reported an average of 121.6 minutes. We successfully adapted and implemented the CCMT for a pediatric surgical population and measured nonface

  20. Continuous Coordination Tools and their Evaluation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sarma, Anita; Al-Ani, Ban; Trainer, Erik; Silva Filho, Roberto S.; da Silva, Isabella A.; Redmiles, David; van der Hoek, André

    This chapter discusses a set of co-ordination tools (the Continuous Co-ordination (CC) tool suite that includes Ariadne, Workspace Activity Viewer (WAV), Lighthouse, Palantír, and YANCEES) and details of our evaluation framework for these tools. Specifically, we discuss how we assessed the usefulness and the usability of these tools within the context of a predefined evaluation framework called DESMETDESMET . For example, for visualization tools we evaluated the suitability of the level of abstraction and the mode of displaying information of each tool. Whereas for an infrastructure tool we evaluate the effort required to implement co-ordination tools based on the given tool. We conclude with pointers on factors to consider when evaluating co-ordination tools in general.

  1. Rationale, design and methods for a randomised and controlled trial of the impact of virtual reality games on motor competence, physical activity, and mental health in children with developmental coordination disorder.

    PubMed

    Straker, Leon M; Campbell, Amity C; Jensen, Lyn M; Metcalf, Deborah R; Smith, Anne J; Abbott, Rebecca A; Pollock, Clare M; Piek, Jan P

    2011-08-18

    A healthy start to life requires adequate motor development and physical activity participation. Currently 5-15% of children have impaired motor development without any obvious disorder. These children are at greater risk of obesity, musculoskeletal disorders, low social confidence and poor mental health. Traditional electronic game use may impact on motor development and physical activity creating a vicious cycle. However new virtual reality (VR) game interfaces may provide motor experiences that enhance motor development and lead to an increase in motor coordination and better physical activity and mental health outcomes. VR games are beginning to be used for rehabilitation, however there is no reported trial of the impact of these games on motor coordination in children with developmental coordination disorder. This cross-over randomised and controlled trial will examine whether motor coordination is enhanced by access to active electronic games and whether daily activity, attitudes to physical activity and mental health are also enhanced. Thirty children aged 10-12 years with poor motor coordination (≤ 15th percentile) will be recruited and randomised to a balanced ordering of 'no active electronic games' and 'active electronic games'. Each child will participate in both conditions for 16 weeks, and be assessed prior to participation and at the end of each condition. The primary outcome is motor coordination, assessed by kinematic and kinetic motion analysis laboratory measures. Physical activity and sedentary behaviour will be assessed by accelerometry, coordination in daily life by parent report questionnaire and attitudes to physical activity, self-confidence, anxiety and depressed mood will be assessed by self report questionnaire. A sample of 30 will provide a power of > 0.9 for detecting a 5 point difference in motor coordination on the MABC-2 TIS scale (mean 17, sd = 5). This is the first trial to examine the impact of new virtual reality games on

  2. Rationale, design and methods for a randomised and controlled trial of the impact of virtual reality games on motor competence, physical activity, and mental health in children with developmental coordination disorder

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Background A healthy start to life requires adequate motor development and physical activity participation. Currently 5-15% of children have impaired motor development without any obvious disorder. These children are at greater risk of obesity, musculoskeletal disorders, low social confidence and poor mental health. Traditional electronic game use may impact on motor development and physical activity creating a vicious cycle. However new virtual reality (VR) game interfaces may provide motor experiences that enhance motor development and lead to an increase in motor coordination and better physical activity and mental health outcomes. VR games are beginning to be used for rehabilitation, however there is no reported trial of the impact of these games on motor coordination in children with developmental coordination disorder. Methods This cross-over randomised and controlled trial will examine whether motor coordination is enhanced by access to active electronic games and whether daily activity, attitudes to physical activity and mental health are also enhanced. Thirty children aged 10-12 years with poor motor coordination (≤ 15th percentile) will be recruited and randomised to a balanced ordering of 'no active electronic games' and 'active electronic games'. Each child will participate in both conditions for 16 weeks, and be assessed prior to participation and at the end of each condition. The primary outcome is motor coordination, assessed by kinematic and kinetic motion analysis laboratory measures. Physical activity and sedentary behaviour will be assessed by accelerometry, coordination in daily life by parent report questionnaire and attitudes to physical activity, self-confidence, anxiety and depressed mood will be assessed by self report questionnaire. A sample of 30 will provide a power of > 0.9 for detecting a 5 point difference in motor coordination on the MABC-2 TIS scale (mean 17, sd = 5). Discussion This is the first trial to examine the impact of new

  3. 10 CFR 4.93 - Supervision and coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Supervision and coordination. 4.93 Section 4.93 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION NONDISCRIMINATION IN FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING... Instructions § 4.93 Supervision and coordination. The Commission may from time to time assign to officials of...

  4. 10 CFR 4.93 - Supervision and coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Supervision and coordination. 4.93 Section 4.93 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION NONDISCRIMINATION IN FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING... Instructions § 4.93 Supervision and coordination. The Commission may from time to time assign to officials of...

  5. 10 CFR 4.93 - Supervision and coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Supervision and coordination. 4.93 Section 4.93 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION NONDISCRIMINATION IN FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING... Instructions § 4.93 Supervision and coordination. The Commission may from time to time assign to officials of...

  6. 10 CFR 4.93 - Supervision and coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Supervision and coordination. 4.93 Section 4.93 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION NONDISCRIMINATION IN FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING... Instructions § 4.93 Supervision and coordination. The Commission may from time to time assign to officials of...

  7. 10 CFR 4.93 - Supervision and coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... 10 Energy 1 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Supervision and coordination. 4.93 Section 4.93 Energy NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION NONDISCRIMINATION IN FEDERALLY ASSISTED PROGRAMS OR ACTIVITIES RECEIVING... Instructions § 4.93 Supervision and coordination. The Commission may from time to time assign to officials of...

  8. The Mitochondrial Transcription Factor TFAM Coordinates the Assembly of Multiple DNA Molecules into Nucleoid-like Structures

    PubMed Central

    Kaufman, Brett A.; Durisic, Nela; Mativetsky, Jeffrey M.; Costantino, Santiago; Hancock, Mark A.; Grutter, Peter

    2007-01-01

    Packaging DNA into condensed structures is integral to the transmission of genomes. The mammalian mitochondrial genome (mtDNA) is a high copy, maternally inherited genome in which mutations cause a variety of multisystem disorders. In all eukaryotic cells, multiple mtDNAs are packaged with protein into spheroid bodies called nucleoids, which are the fundamental units of mtDNA segregation. The mechanism of nucleoid formation, however, remains unknown. Here, we show that the mitochondrial transcription factor TFAM, an abundant and highly conserved High Mobility Group box protein, binds DNA cooperatively with nanomolar affinity as a homodimer and that it is capable of coordinating and fully compacting several DNA molecules together to form spheroid structures. We use noncontact atomic force microscopy, which achieves near cryo-electron microscope resolution, to reveal the structural details of protein–DNA compaction intermediates. The formation of these complexes involves the bending of the DNA backbone, and DNA loop formation, followed by the filling in of proximal available DNA sites until the DNA is compacted. These results indicate that TFAM alone is sufficient to organize mitochondrial chromatin and provide a mechanism for nucleoid formation. PMID:17581862

  9. Data Management Coordinators (DMC)

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    The Regional Data Management Coordinators (DMCs) were identified to serve as the primary contact for each region for all Water Quality Framework activities. They will facilitate and communicate information to the necessary individuals at the region and tra

  10. Coronal Magnetography of Solar Active Regions Using Coordinated SOHO/CDS and VLA Observations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Brosius, Jeffrey W.

    1999-01-01

    The purpose of this project is to apply the coronal magnetographic technique to SOHO (Solar Heliospheric Observatory) /CDS (Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer) EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation) and coordinated VLA microwave observations of solar active regions to derive the strength and structure of the coronal magnetic field. A CDS observing plan was developed for obtaining spectra needed to derive active region differential emission measures (DEMs) required for coronal magnetography. VLA observations were proposed and obtained. SOHO JOP 100 was developed, tested, approved, and implemented to obtain coordinated CDS (Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer)/EIT (Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope)/ VLA (Very Large Array)/ TRACE (Transition Region and Coronal Explorer)/ SXT (Solar X Ray Telescope) observations of active regions on April 12, May 9, May 13, and May 23. Analysis of all four data sets began, with heaviest concentration on COS data. It is found that 200-pixel (14 A in NIS1) wavelength windows are appropriate for extracting broadened Gaussian line profile fit parameters for lines including Fe XIV at 334.2, Fe XVI at 335.4, Fe XVI at 360.8, and Mg IX at 368.1 over the 4 arcmin by 4 arcmin CDS field of view. Extensive efforts were focused on learning and applying were focused on learning and applying CDS software, and including it in new IDL procedures to carry out calculations relating to coronal magnetography. An important step is to extract Gaussian profile fits to all the lines needed to derive the DEM in each spatial pixel of any given active region. The standard CDS absolute intensity calibration software was applied to derived intensity images, revealing that ratios between density-insensitive lines like Fe XVI 360.8/335.4 yield good agreement with theory. However, the resulting absolute intensities of those lines are very high, indicating that revisions to the CDS absolute intensity calibrations remain to be included in the CDS software, an essential step to

  11. Tensor calculus in polar coordinates using Jacobi polynomials

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vasil, Geoffrey M.; Burns, Keaton J.; Lecoanet, Daniel; Olver, Sheehan; Brown, Benjamin P.; Oishi, Jeffrey S.

    2016-11-01

    Spectral methods are an efficient way to solve partial differential equations on domains possessing certain symmetries. The utility of a method depends strongly on the choice of spectral basis. In this paper we describe a set of bases built out of Jacobi polynomials, and associated operators for solving scalar, vector, and tensor partial differential equations in polar coordinates on a unit disk. By construction, the bases satisfy regularity conditions at r = 0 for any tensorial field. The coordinate singularity in a disk is a prototypical case for many coordinate singularities. The work presented here extends to other geometries. The operators represent covariant derivatives, multiplication by azimuthally symmetric functions, and the tensorial relationship between fields. These arise naturally from relations between classical orthogonal polynomials, and form a Heisenberg algebra. Other past work uses more specific polynomial bases for solving equations in polar coordinates. The main innovation in this paper is to use a larger set of possible bases to achieve maximum bandedness of linear operations. We provide a series of applications of the methods, illustrating their ease-of-use and accuracy.

  12. The interpretation of physical activity, exercise, and sedentary behaviours by persons with multiple sclerosis.

    PubMed

    Kinnett-Hopkins, Dominique; Learmonth, Yvonne; Hubbard, Elizabeth; Pilutti, Lara; Roberts, Sarah; Fanning, Jason; Wójcicki, Thomas; McAuley, Edward; Motl, Robert

    2017-11-07

    This study adopted a qualitative research design with directed content analysis and examined the interpretations of physical activity, exercise, and sedentary behaviour by persons with multiple sclerosis. Fifty three persons with multiple sclerosis who were enrolled in an exercise trial took part in semi-structured interviews regarding personal interpretations of physical activity, exercise, and sedentary behaviours. Forty three percent of participants indicated a consistent understanding of physical activity, 42% of participants indicated a consistent understanding of exercise, and 83% of participants indicated a consistent understanding of sedentary behaviour with the standard definitions. There was evidence of definitional ambiguity (i.e., 57, 58, and 11% of the sample for physical activity, exercise, and sedentary behaviour, respectively); 6% of the sample inconsistently defined sedentary behaviour with standard definitions. Some participants described physical activity in a manner that more closely aligned with exercise and confused sedentary behaviour with exercise or sleeping/napping. Results highlight the need to provide and utilise consistent definitions for accurate understanding, proper evaluation and communication of physical activity, exercise, and sedentary behaviours among persons with multiple sclerosis. The application of consistent definitions may minimise ambiguity, alleviate the equivocality of findings in the literature, and translate into improved communication about these behaviours in multiple sclerosis. Implications for Rehabilitation The symptoms of multiple sclerosis can be managed through participation in physical activity and exercise. Persons with multiple sclerosis are not engaging in sufficient levels of physical activity and exercise for health benefits. Rehabilitation professionals should use established definitions of physical activity, exercise, and sedentary behaviours when communicating about these behaviours among persons with

  13. Maritime Search and Rescue via Multiple Coordinated UAS

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-06-12

    performed by a set of UAS. Our investigation covers the detection of multiple mobile objects by a heterogeneous collection of UAS. Three methods (two...account for contingencies such as airspace deconfliction. Results are produced using simulation to verify the capability of the proposed method and to...compare the various par- titioning methods . Results from this simulation show that great gains in search efficiency can be made when the search space is

  14. Obstacle stepping involves spinal anticipatory activity associated with quadrupedal limb coordination.

    PubMed

    Michel, J; van Hedel, H J A; Dietz, V

    2008-04-01

    Obstacle avoidance steps are associated with a facilitation of spinal reflexes in leg muscles. Here we have examined the involvement of both leg and arm muscles. Subjects walking with reduced vision on a treadmill were acoustically informed about an approaching obstacle and received feedback about task performance. Reflex responses evoked by tibial nerve stimulation were observed in all arm and leg muscles examined in this study. They were enhanced before the execution of obstacle avoidance compared with normal steps and showed an exponential adaptation in contralateral arm flexor muscles corresponding to the improvement of task performance. This enhancement was absent when the body was partially supported during the task. During the execution of obstacle steps, electromyographic activity in the arm muscles mimicked the preceding reflex behaviour with respect to enhancement and adaptation. Our results demonstrate an anticipatory quadrupedal limb coordination with an involvement of proximal arm muscles in the acquisition and performance of this precision locomotor task. This is presumably achieved by an up-regulated activity of coupled cervico-thoracal interneuronal circuits.

  15. In vivo Study on Depressant Effects and Muscle Coordination Activity of Galphimia glauca Stem Methanol Extract

    PubMed Central

    Garige, Baba Shankar Rao; Keshetti, Srisailam; Vattikuti, Uma Maheshwara Rao

    2016-01-01

    Background: Galphimia glauca is an evergreen shrub found across peninsular India, belonging to family Malpighiaceae. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess the in vivo depressant effects and muscle coordination activity of G. glauca stem methanol extract (GGSME). Materials and Methods: The stem methanol extract was administered in Swiss albino mice in 1 day to study the central nervous system (CNS) depressant and muscle coordination activity employing animal models such as sodium pentobarbital-induced sleep test, hole-board test, open field test, pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced convulsions, picrotoxin-induced convulsions, grip strengthening test in mice, and Rota-rod test. Results: The LD50 of GGSME was found to be >2000 mg/kg body weight (b.w.). Mice treated with stem methanol extract at 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg, b.w. doses extended the sleeping time induced by sodium pentobarbital (40 mg/kg. b.w., i.p.). The stem methanol extract at 400 mg/kg dose showed a significant (P ≤ 0.001) dose-dependent decrease in the number of rears and head dipping number in the hole-board test. The extract exhibited a significant (P ≤ 0.001) effect on the ambulatory behavior of mice in the open field test and also extended the onset of seizures induced by PTZ (90 mg/kg b.w., i.p.) and picrotoxin (10 mg/kg, b.w., i.p.). The extract also exhibited significant (P ≤ 0.001) effects on muscle coordination in rota-rod and grip strengthening test in mice. Conclusion: The study results conclude that the GGSME has a potential CNS depressant and muscle relaxant effects compared to the standard drugs. SUMMARY Anxiety is implicated in the number of psychiatric disordersIn vivo depressant activity is studied employing animal models like Sodium pentobarbital-.induced sleep test, Hole-board test, Open field test, Pentylenetetrazole induced convulsions and Picrotoxin-induced convulsions tests.Muscle coordination activity is studied employing animal models like Grip strengthening

  16. In vivo Study on Depressant Effects and Muscle Coordination Activity of Galphimia glauca Stem Methanol Extract.

    PubMed

    Garige, Baba Shankar Rao; Keshetti, Srisailam; Vattikuti, Uma Maheshwara Rao

    2016-01-01

    Galphimia glauca is an evergreen shrub found across peninsular India, belonging to family Malpighiaceae . The objective of this study was to assess the in vivo depressant effects and muscle coordination activity of G. glauca stem methanol extract (GGSME). The stem methanol extract was administered in Swiss albino mice in 1 day to study the central nervous system (CNS) depressant and muscle coordination activity employing animal models such as sodium pentobarbital-induced sleep test, hole-board test, open field test, pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced convulsions, picrotoxin-induced convulsions, grip strengthening test in mice, and Rota-rod test. The LD 50 of GGSME was found to be >2000 mg/kg body weight (b.w.). Mice treated with stem methanol extract at 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg, b.w. doses extended the sleeping time induced by sodium pentobarbital (40 mg/kg. b.w., i.p.). The stem methanol extract at 400 mg/kg dose showed a significant ( P ≤ 0.001) dose-dependent decrease in the number of rears and head dipping number in the hole-board test. The extract exhibited a significant ( P ≤ 0.001) effect on the ambulatory behavior of mice in the open field test and also extended the onset of seizures induced by PTZ (90 mg/kg b.w., i.p.) and picrotoxin (10 mg/kg, b.w., i.p.). The extract also exhibited significant ( P ≤ 0.001) effects on muscle coordination in rota-rod and grip strengthening test in mice. The study results conclude that the GGSME has a potential CNS depressant and muscle relaxant effects compared to the standard drugs. Anxiety is implicated in the number of psychiatric disorders In vivo depressant activity is studied employing animal models like Sodium pentobarbital-.induced sleep test, Hole-board test, Open field test, Pentylenetetrazole induced convulsions and Picrotoxin-induced convulsions tests.Muscle coordination activity is studied employing animal models like Grip strengthening test in mice and Rota-.rod test.The GABAergic system plays a

  17. Coordinating Council. Second Meeting: International Acquisitions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1990-01-01

    The theme of this NASA Scientific and Technical Information Program Coordinating Council was International Acquisitions. Included are both visuals for presentations and reports on discussions related to the topics. Presentations were made on the following topics: Coordination council organization international plan, STI global network, International aerospace climate, Foreign exchange program, Foreign activities RMS & AIAA, NASA translation program, A.F. machine translation system, and CIRC cooperation.

  18. Dopamine D1 receptor activation maintains motor coordination in injured rats but does not accelerate the recovery of the motor coordination deficit.

    PubMed

    Avila-Luna, Alberto; Gálvez-Rosas, Arturo; Alfaro-Rodríguez, Alfonso; Reyes-Legorreta, Celia; Garza-Montaño, Paloma; González-Piña, Rigoberto; Bueno-Nava, Antonio

    2018-01-15

    The sensorimotor cortex and the striatum are interconnected by the corticostriatal pathway, suggesting that cortical injury alters the striatal function that is associated with skilled movements and motor learning, which are functions that may be modulated by dopamine (DA). In this study, we explored motor coordination and balance in order to investigate whether the activation of D 1 receptors (D 1 Rs) modulates functional recovery after cortical injury. The results of the beam-walking test showed motor deficit in the injured group at 24, 48 and 96h post-injury, and the recovery time was observed at 192h after cortical injury. In the sham and injured rats, systemic administration of the D 1 R antagonist SCH-23390 (1mg/kg) alone at 24, 48, 96 and 192h significantly (P<0.01) increased the motor deficit, while administration of the D 1 R agonist SKF-38393 alone (2, 3 and 4mg/kg) at 24, 48, 96 and 192h post-injury did not produce a significant difference; however, the co-administration of SKF-38393 and SCH-23390 prevented the antagonist-induced increase in the motor deficit. The cortical+striatal injury showed significantly increased the motor deficit at 24, 48, 96 and 192h post-injury (P<0.01) but did not show recovery at 192h. In conclusion, the administration of the D 1 R agonist did not accelerate the motor recovery, but the activation of D 1 Rs maintained motor coordination, confirming that an intact striatum may be necessary for achieving recovery. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Shared periodic performer movements coordinate interactions in duo improvisations

    PubMed Central

    Jakubowski, Kelly; Moran, Nikki; Keller, Peter E.

    2018-01-01

    Human interaction involves the exchange of temporally coordinated, multimodal cues. Our work focused on interaction in the visual domain, using music performance as a case for analysis due to its temporally diverse and hierarchical structures. We made use of two improvising duo datasets—(i) performances of a jazz standard with a regular pulse and (ii) non-pulsed, free improvizations—to investigate whether human judgements of moments of interaction between co-performers are influenced by body movement coordination at multiple timescales. Bouts of interaction in the performances were manually annotated by experts and the performers’ movements were quantified using computer vision techniques. The annotated interaction bouts were then predicted using several quantitative movement and audio features. Over 80% of the interaction bouts were successfully predicted by a broadband measure of the energy of the cross-wavelet transform of the co-performers’ movements in non-pulsed duos. A more complex model, with multiple predictors that captured more specific, interacting features of the movements, was needed to explain a significant amount of variance in the pulsed duos. The methods developed here have key implications for future work on measuring visual coordination in musical ensemble performances, and can be easily adapted to other musical contexts, ensemble types and traditions. PMID:29515867

  20. Shared periodic performer movements coordinate interactions in duo improvisations.

    PubMed

    Eerola, Tuomas; Jakubowski, Kelly; Moran, Nikki; Keller, Peter E; Clayton, Martin

    2018-02-01

    Human interaction involves the exchange of temporally coordinated, multimodal cues. Our work focused on interaction in the visual domain, using music performance as a case for analysis due to its temporally diverse and hierarchical structures. We made use of two improvising duo datasets-(i) performances of a jazz standard with a regular pulse and (ii) non-pulsed, free improvizations-to investigate whether human judgements of moments of interaction between co-performers are influenced by body movement coordination at multiple timescales. Bouts of interaction in the performances were manually annotated by experts and the performers' movements were quantified using computer vision techniques. The annotated interaction bouts were then predicted using several quantitative movement and audio features. Over 80% of the interaction bouts were successfully predicted by a broadband measure of the energy of the cross-wavelet transform of the co-performers' movements in non-pulsed duos. A more complex model, with multiple predictors that captured more specific, interacting features of the movements, was needed to explain a significant amount of variance in the pulsed duos. The methods developed here have key implications for future work on measuring visual coordination in musical ensemble performances, and can be easily adapted to other musical contexts, ensemble types and traditions.

  1. Oxytocin enhances inter-brain synchrony during social coordination in male adults

    PubMed Central

    Mu, Yan; Guo, Chunyan

    2016-01-01

    Recent brain imaging research has revealed oxytocin (OT) effects on an individual's brain activity during social interaction but tells little about whether and how OT modulates the coherence of inter-brain activity related to two individuals' coordination behavior. We developed a new real-time coordination game that required two individuals of a dyad to synchronize with a partner (coordination task) or with a computer (control task) by counting in mind rhythmically. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded simultaneously from a dyad to examine OT effects on inter-brain synchrony of neural activity during interpersonal coordination. Experiment 1 found that dyads showed smaller interpersonal time lags of counting and greater inter-brain synchrony of alpha-band neural oscillations during the coordination (vs control) task and these effects were reliably observed in female but not male dyads. Moreover, the increased alpha-band inter-brain synchrony predicted better interpersonal behavioral synchrony across all participants. Experiment 2, using a double blind, placebo-controlled between-subjects design, revealed that intranasal OT vs placebo administration in male dyads improved interpersonal behavioral synchrony in both the coordination and control tasks but specifically enhanced alpha-band inter-brain neural oscillations during the coordination task. Our findings provide first evidence that OT enhances inter-brain synchrony in male adults to facilitate social coordination. PMID:27510498

  2. Learning alternative movement coordination patterns using reinforcement feedback.

    PubMed

    Lin, Tzu-Hsiang; Denomme, Amber; Ranganathan, Rajiv

    2018-05-01

    One of the characteristic features of the human motor system is redundancy-i.e., the ability to achieve a given task outcome using multiple coordination patterns. However, once participants settle on using a specific coordination pattern, the process of learning to use a new alternative coordination pattern to perform the same task is still poorly understood. Here, using two experiments, we examined this process of how participants shift from one coordination pattern to another using different reinforcement schedules. Participants performed a virtual reaching task, where they moved a cursor to different targets positioned on the screen. Our goal was to make participants use a coordination pattern with greater trunk motion, and to this end, we provided reinforcement by making the cursor disappear if the trunk motion during the reach did not cross a specified threshold value. In Experiment 1, we compared two reinforcement schedules in two groups of participants-an abrupt group, where the threshold was introduced immediately at the beginning of practice; and a gradual group, where the threshold was introduced gradually with practice. Results showed that both abrupt and gradual groups were effective in shifting their coordination patterns to involve greater trunk motion, but the abrupt group showed greater retention when the reinforcement was removed. In Experiment 2, we examined the basis of this advantage in the abrupt group using two additional control groups. Results showed that the advantage of the abrupt group was because of a greater number of practice trials with the desired coordination pattern. Overall, these results show that reinforcement can be successfully used to shift coordination patterns, which has potential in the rehabilitation of movement disorders.

  3. Integrating Communication Skills into Functional Routines & Activities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stremel, Kathleen

    This training module on integrating communication skills into functional routines and activities is from the Mississippi Early Education Program for Children with Multiple Disabilities, a program designed to train Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part H service coordinators and service providers to use family centered strategies. The…

  4. Encoding and Retrieval During Bimanual Rhythmic Coordination

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shockley, Kevin; Turvey, Michael T.

    2005-01-01

    In 2 experiments, bimanual 1:1 rhythmic coordination was performed concurrently with encoding or retrieval of word lists. Effects of divided attention (DA) on coordination were indexed by changes in mean relative phase and recurrence measures of shared activity between the 2 limbs. Effects of DA on memory were indexed by deficits in recall…

  5. Synchronization and coordination of sequences in two neural ensembles

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Venaille, Antoine; Varona, Pablo; Rabinovich, Mikhail I.

    2005-06-01

    There are many types of neural networks involved in the sequential motor behavior of animals. For high species, the control and coordination of the network dynamics is a function of the higher levels of the central nervous system, in particular the cerebellum. However, in many cases, especially for invertebrates, such coordination is the result of direct synaptic connections between small circuits. We show here that even the chaotic sequential activity of small model networks can be coordinated by electrotonic synapses connecting one or several pairs of neurons that belong to two different networks. As an example, we analyzed the coordination and synchronization of the sequential activity of two statocyst model networks of the marine mollusk Clione. The statocysts are gravity sensory organs that play a key role in postural control of the animal and the generation of a complex hunting motor program. Each statocyst network was modeled by a small ensemble of neurons with Lotka-Volterra type dynamics and nonsymmetric inhibitory interactions. We studied how two such networks were synchronized by electrical coupling in the presence of an external signal which lead to winnerless competition among the neurons. We found that as a function of the number and the strength of connections between the two networks, it is possible to coordinate and synchronize the sequences that each network generates with its own chaotic dynamics. In spite of the chaoticity, the coordination of the signals is established through an activation sequence lock for those neurons that are active at a particular instant of time.

  6. The Risk of Reduced Physical Activity in Children with Probable Developmental Coordination Disorder: A Prospective Longitudinal Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Green, Dido; Lingam, Raghu; Mattocks, Calum; Riddoch, Chris; Ness, Andy; Emond, Alan

    2011-01-01

    The aim of the current study was to test the hypothesis that children with probable Developmental Coordination Disorder have an increased risk of reduced moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), using data from a large population based study. Prospectively collected data from 4331 children (boys = 2065, girls = 2266) who had completed motor…

  7. A coordinate-based ALE functional MRI meta-analysis of brain activation during verbal fluency tasks in healthy control subjects

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Background The processing of verbal fluency tasks relies on the coordinated activity of a number of brain areas, particularly in the frontal and temporal lobes of the left hemisphere. Recent studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the neural networks subserving verbal fluency functions have yielded divergent results especially with respect to a parcellation of the inferior frontal gyrus for phonemic and semantic verbal fluency. We conducted a coordinate-based activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis on brain activation during the processing of phonemic and semantic verbal fluency tasks involving 28 individual studies with 490 healthy volunteers. Results For phonemic as well as for semantic verbal fluency, the most prominent clusters of brain activation were found in the left inferior/middle frontal gyrus (LIFG/MIFG) and the anterior cingulate gyrus. BA 44 was only involved in the processing of phonemic verbal fluency tasks, BA 45 and 47 in the processing of phonemic and semantic fluency tasks. Conclusions Our comparison of brain activation during the execution of either phonemic or semantic verbal fluency tasks revealed evidence for spatially different activation in BA 44, but not other regions of the LIFG/LMFG (BA 9, 45, 47) during phonemic and semantic verbal fluency processing. PMID:24456150

  8. Bipartite functions of the CREB co-activators selectively direct alternative splicing or transcriptional activation

    PubMed Central

    Amelio, Antonio L; Caputi, Massimo; Conkright, Michael D

    2009-01-01

    The CREB regulated transcription co-activators (CRTCs) regulate many biological processes by integrating and converting environmental inputs into transcriptional responses. Although the mechanisms by which CRTCs sense cellular signals are characterized, little is known regarding how CRTCs contribute to the regulation of cAMP inducible genes. Here we show that these dynamic regulators, unlike other co-activators, independently direct either pre-mRNA splice-site selection or transcriptional activation depending on the cell type or promoter context. Moreover, in other scenarios, the CRTC co-activators coordinately regulate transcription and splicing. Mutational analyses showed that CRTCs possess distinct functional domains responsible for regulating either pre-mRNA splicing or transcriptional activation. Interestingly, the CRTC1–MAML2 oncoprotein lacks the splicing domain and is incapable of altering splice-site selection despite robustly activating transcription. The differential usage of these distinct domains allows CRTCs to selectively mediate multiple facets of gene regulation, indicating that co-activators are not solely restricted to coordinating alternative splicing with increase in transcriptional activity. PMID:19644446

  9. Mental health difficulties in children with developmental coordination disorder.

    PubMed

    Lingam, Raghu; Jongmans, Marian J; Ellis, Matthew; Hunt, Linda P; Golding, Jean; Emond, Alan

    2012-04-01

    To explore the associations between probable developmental coordination disorder (DCD) defined at age 7 years and mental health difficulties at age 9 to 10 years. We analyzed of prospectively collected data (N = 6902) from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. "Probable" DCD was defined by using Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision criteria as those children below the 15th centile of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Coordination Test, with functional limitations in activities of daily living or handwriting, excluding children with neurologic difficulties or an IQ <70. Mental health was measured by using the child-reported Short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire and the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Multiple logistic regression models, with the use of multiple imputation to account for missing data, assessed the associations between probable DCD and mental health difficulties. Adjustments were made for environmental confounding factors, and potential mediating factors such as verbal IQ, associated developmental traits, bullying, self-esteem, and friendships. Children with probable DCD (N = 346) had an increased odds of self-reported depression, odds ratio: 2.08 (95% confidence interval: 1.36-3.19) and parent-reported mental health difficulties odds ratio: 4.23 (95% confidence interval: 3.10-5.77). The odds of mental health difficulties significantly decreased after accounting for verbal IQ, social communication, bullying, and self-esteem. Children with probable DCD had an increased risk of mental health difficulties that, in part, were mediated through associated developmental difficulties, low verbal IQ, poor self-esteem, and bullying. Prevention and treatment of mental health difficulties should be a key element of intervention for children with DCD.

  10. The role of health information technology in advancing care management and coordination in accountable care organizations.

    PubMed

    Wu, Frances M; Shortell, Stephen M; Rundall, Thomas G; Bloom, Joan R

    To be successful, accountable care organizations (ACOs) must effectively manage patient care. Health information technology (HIT) can support care delivery by providing various degrees of coordination. Few studies have examined the role of HIT functionalities or the role of different levels of coordination enabled by HIT on care management processes. We examine HIT functionalities in ACOs, categorized by the level of coordination they enable in terms of information and work flow, to determine which specific HIT functionalities and levels of coordination are most strongly associated with care management processes. Retrospective cross-sectional analysis was done using 2012 data from the National Survey of Accountable Care Organizations. HIT functionalities are categorized into coordination levels: information capture, the lowest level, which coordinates through standardization; information provision, which supports unidirectional activities; and information exchange, which reflects the highest level of coordination allowing for bidirectional exchange. The Care Management Process index (CMP index) includes 13 questions about the extent to which care is planned, monitored, and supported by providers and patients. Multiple regressions adjusting for organizational and ACO contractual factors are used to assess relationships between HIT functionalities and the CMP index. HIT functionality coordinating the most complex interdependences (information exchange) was associated with a 0.41 standard deviation change in the CMP index (β = .41, p < .001), but the associations for information capture (β = -.01, p = .97) and information provision (β = .15, p = .48) functionalities were not significant. The current study has shed some light on the relationship between HIT and care management processes by specifying the coordination roles that HIT may play and, in particular, the importance of information exchange functionalities. Although these represent early findings, further

  11. Coordinative Voltage Control Strategy with Multiple Resources for Distribution Systems of High PV Penetration: Preprint

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zhu, Xiangqi; Zhang, Yingchen

    This paper presents an optimal voltage control methodology with coordination among different voltage-regulating resources, including controllable loads, distributed energy resources such as energy storage and photovoltaics (PV), and utility voltage-regulating devices such as voltage regulators and capacitors. The proposed methodology could effectively tackle the overvoltage and voltage regulation device distortion problems brought by high penetrations of PV to improve grid operation reliability. A voltage-load sensitivity matrix and voltage-regulator sensitivity matrix are used to deploy the resources along the feeder to achieve the control objectives. Mixed-integer nonlinear programming is used to solve the formulated optimization control problem. The methodology has beenmore » tested on the IEEE 123-feeder test system, and the results demonstrate that the proposed approach could actively tackle the voltage problem brought about by high penetrations of PV and improve the reliability of distribution system operation.« less

  12. Movement coordination of the lumbar spine and hip during a picking up activity in low back pain subjects.

    PubMed

    Shum, Gary L K; Crosbie, Jack; Lee, Raymond Y W

    2007-06-01

    The effect of low back pain, with or without nerve root signs, on the joint coordination and kinematics of the lumbar spine and hips during everyday activities, such as picking up an object from the floor, are largely unknown. An experimental study was designed to compare lumbar spine and hip joint kinematics and coordination in subjects with and without sub-acute low back pain, while picking up an object in a sitting position. A three-dimensional real-time electromagnetic tracking device was used to measure movements of the lumbar spine and hips. Sixty participants with subacute low back pain, with or without straight leg raise signs, and twenty healthy asymptomatic participants were recruited. The ranges of motions of lumbar spine and hips were determined. Movement coordination between the two regions was examined by cross-correlation. Results showed that mobility was significantly reduced in subjects with back pain, who compensated for limited motion through various strategies. The contribution of the lumbar spine relative to that of the hip was, however, found to be similar in all groups. The lumbar spine-hip joint coordination was substantially altered in subjects with back pain, in particular, those with a positive straight leg raise sign. We conclude that changes in the lumbar and hip kinematics were related to back pain and limitation in straight leg raise. Lumbar-hip coordination was mainly affected by the presence of positive straight leg raise sign when picking up an object in a sitting position.

  13. Cellulose microfibril deposition: coordinated activity at the plant plasma membrane.

    PubMed

    Lindeboom, J; Mulder, B M; Vos, J W; Ketelaar, T; Emons, A M C

    2008-08-01

    Plant cell wall production is a membrane-bound process. Cell walls are composed of cellulose microfibrils, embedded inside a matrix of other polysaccharides and glycoproteins. The cell wall matrix is extruded into the existing cell wall by exocytosis. This same process also inserts the cellulose synthase complexes into the plasma membrane. These complexes, the nanomachines that produce the cellulose microfibrils, move inside the plasma membrane leaving the cellulose microfibrils in their wake. Cellulose microfibril angle is an important determinant of cell development and of tissue properties and as such relevant for the industrial use of plant material. Here, we provide an integrated view of the events taking place in the not more than 100 nm deep area in and around the plasma membrane, correlating recent results provided by the distinct field of plant cell biology. We discuss the coordinated activities of exocytosis, endocytosis, and movement of cellulose synthase complexes while producing cellulose microfibrils and the link of these processes to the cortical microtubules.

  14. Editor's Introduction and Review: Coordination and Context in Cognitive Science.

    PubMed

    Kello, Christopher T

    2018-01-01

    The role of coordination in cognitive science has been on the rise in recent years, in terms of coordination among neurons, coordination among sensory and motor systems, and coordination among individuals. Research has shown that coordination patterns corresponding to cognitive activities depend on the various contexts in which the underlying interactions are situated. The present issue of Topics in Cognitive Science centers on studies of coordination that address the role of context in shaping or interpreting dynamical patterns of human behavior. This introductory article reviews some of the prior literature leading up to current and future research on coordination and context in cognitive science. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  15. Oxytocin enhances inter-brain synchrony during social coordination in male adults.

    PubMed

    Mu, Yan; Guo, Chunyan; Han, Shihui

    2016-12-01

    Recent brain imaging research has revealed oxytocin (OT) effects on an individual's brain activity during social interaction but tells little about whether and how OT modulates the coherence of inter-brain activity related to two individuals' coordination behavior. We developed a new real-time coordination game that required two individuals of a dyad to synchronize with a partner (coordination task) or with a computer (control task) by counting in mind rhythmically. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded simultaneously from a dyad to examine OT effects on inter-brain synchrony of neural activity during interpersonal coordination. Experiment 1 found that dyads showed smaller interpersonal time lags of counting and greater inter-brain synchrony of alpha-band neural oscillations during the coordination (vs control) task and these effects were reliably observed in female but not male dyads. Moreover, the increased alpha-band inter-brain synchrony predicted better interpersonal behavioral synchrony across all participants. Experiment 2, using a double blind, placebo-controlled between-subjects design, revealed that intranasal OT vs placebo administration in male dyads improved interpersonal behavioral synchrony in both the coordination and control tasks but specifically enhanced alpha-band inter-brain neural oscillations during the coordination task. Our findings provide first evidence that OT enhances inter-brain synchrony in male adults to facilitate social coordination. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  16. Semi-active control of a cable-stayed bridge under multiple-support excitations.

    PubMed

    Dai, Ze-Bing; Huang, Jin-Zhi; Wang, Hong-Xia

    2004-03-01

    This paper presents a semi-active strategy for seismic protection of a benchmark cable-stayed bridge with consideration of multiple-support excitations. In this control strategy, Magnetorheological (MR) dampers are proposed as control devices, a LQG-clipped-optimal control algorithm is employed. An active control strategy, shown in previous researches to perform well at controlling the benchmark bridge when uniform earthquake motion was assumed, is also used in this study to control this benchmark bridge with consideration of multiple-support excitations. The performance of active control system is compared to that of the presented semi-active control strategy. Because the MR fluid damper is a controllable energy- dissipation device that cannot add mechanical energy to the structural system, the proposed control strategy is fail-safe in that bounded-input, bounded-output stability of the controlled structure is guaranteed. The numerical results demonstrated that the performance of the presented control design is nearly the same as that of the active control system; and that the MR dampers can effectively be used to control seismically excited cable-stayed bridges with multiple-support excitations.

  17. Eurocan plus report: feasibility study for coordination of national cancer research activities.

    PubMed

    2008-01-01

    The EUROCAN+PLUS Project, called for by the European Parliament, was launched in October 2005 as a feasibility study for coordination of national cancer research activities in Europe. Over the course of the next two years, the Project process organized over 60 large meetings and countless smaller meetings that gathered in total over a thousand people, the largest Europe-wide consultation ever conducted in the field of cancer research.Despite a strong tradition in biomedical science in Europe, fragmentation and lack of sustainability remain formidable challenges for implementing innovative cancer research and cancer care improvement. There is an enormous duplication of research effort in the Member States, which wastes time, wastes money and severely limits the total intellectual concentration on the wide cancer problem. There is a striking lack of communication between some of the biggest actors on the European scene, and there are palpable tensions between funders and those researchers seeking funds.It is essential to include the patients' voice in the establishment of priority areas in cancer research at the present time. The necessity to have dialogue between funders and scientists to establish the best mechanisms to meet the needs of the entire community is evident. A top priority should be the development of translational research (in its widest form), leading to the development of effective and innovative cancer treatments and preventive strategies. Translational research ranges from bench-to-bedside innovative cancer therapies and extends to include bringing about changes in population behaviours when a risk factor is established.The EUROCAN+PLUS Project recommends the creation of a small, permanent and independent European Cancer Initiative (ECI). This should be a model structure and was widely supported at both General Assemblies of the project. The ECI should assume responsibility for stimulating innovative cancer research and facilitating processes

  18. Evaluating Physical Activity Using Accelerometry in Children at Risk of Developmental Coordination Disorder in the Presence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baerg, Sally; Cairney, John; Hay, John; Rempel, Lynn; Mahlberg, Nadilein; Faught, Brent E.

    2011-01-01

    Physical activity (PA) is compromised in children and adolescents with developmental coordination disorder (DCD). Approximately half of all children with DCD suffer from attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD); a cohort often considered more physically active than typically developing youth. Accelerometry is an effective method of assessing…

  19. A crossover randomised and controlled trial of the impact of active video games on motor coordination and perceptions of physical ability in children at risk of Developmental Coordination Disorder.

    PubMed

    Straker, L; Howie, E; Smith, A; Jensen, L; Piek, J; Campbell, A

    2015-08-01

    Impaired motor development can significantly affect a child's life and may result in an increased risk of a range of physical and psychological disorders. Active video game (AVG) interventions have been demonstrated to enhance motor skills in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD); however a home-based intervention has not been assessed. The primary aim of this study was to compare the changes in motor coordination between a 16 week period of AVG use, with 16 weeks of normal activities (NAG). The secondary aim was to compare the child and parent perceptions of their physical performance between the AVG and NAG conditions. Twenty-one 9-12 year olds (10 males) were confirmed to be at risk of DCD (⩽ 16th percentile Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2nd edition (MABC-2) and ⩽ 15th percentile Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCDQ)) and participated in this crossover randomised and controlled trial. Data was collected at study entry, after the first 16 week condition and following the final 16 week condition, including; (1) the MABC-2, (2) three-dimensional motion analysis of single leg balance and finger-nose tasks, and (3) parent perception of physical skills. Participant perception of physical skills was collected only after the first and second conditions. There was no significant difference between AVG and NAG for any of the primary variables including the MABC-2, balance centre-of-mass path distance and finger-nose path distance. There was no significant intervention effect for secondary measures of motor coordination; however the children perceived their motor skills to be significantly enhanced as a result of the AVG intervention in comparison to the period of no intervention. A 16 week home based AVG intervention did not enhance motor skills in children with DCD, although they perceived their physical skills to be significantly improved. Australia and New Zealand Clinical trials Registry (ACTRN 12611000400965

  20. Interventions for coordination of walking following stroke: systematic review.

    PubMed

    Hollands, Kristen L; Pelton, Trudy A; Tyson, Sarah F; Hollands, Mark A; van Vliet, Paulette M

    2012-03-01

    Impairments in gait coordination may be a factor in falls and mobility limitations after stroke. Therefore, rehabilitation targeting gait coordination may be an effective way to improve walking post-stroke. This review sought to examine current treatments that target impairments of gait coordination, the theoretical basis on which they are derived and the effects of such interventions. Few high quality RCTs with a low risk of bias specifically targeting and measuring restoration of coordinated gait were found. Consequently, we took a pragmatic approach to describing and quantifying the available evidence and included non-randomised study designs and limited the influence of heterogeneity in experimental design and control comparators by restricting meta-analyses to pre- and post-test comparisons of experimental interventions only. Results show that physiotherapy interventions significantly improved gait function and coordination. Interventions involving repetitive task-specific practice and/or auditory cueing appeared to be the most promising approaches to restore gait coordination. The fact that overall improvements in gait coordination coincided with increased walking speed lends support to the hypothesis that targeting gait coordination gait may be a way of improving overall walking ability post-stroke. However, establishing the mechanism for improved locomotor control requires a better understanding of the nature of both neuroplasticity and coordination deficits in functional tasks after stroke. Future research requires the measurement of impairment, activity and cortical activation in an effort to establish the mechanism by which functional gains are achieved. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  1. Multiplicative and additive modulation of neuronal tuning with population activity affects encoded information

    PubMed Central

    Arandia-Romero, Iñigo; Tanabe, Seiji; Drugowitsch, Jan; Kohn, Adam; Moreno-Bote, Rubén

    2016-01-01

    Numerous studies have shown that neuronal responses are modulated by stimulus properties, and also by the state of the local network. However, little is known about how activity fluctuations of neuronal populations modulate the sensory tuning of cells and affect their encoded information. We found that fluctuations in ongoing and stimulus-evoked population activity in primate visual cortex modulate the tuning of neurons in a multiplicative and additive manner. While distributed on a continuum, neurons with stronger multiplicative effects tended to have less additive modulation, and vice versa. The information encoded by multiplicatively-modulated neurons increased with greater population activity, while that of additively-modulated neurons decreased. These effects offset each other, so that population activity had little effect on total information. Our results thus suggest that intrinsic activity fluctuations may act as a `traffic light' that determines which subset of neurons are most informative. PMID:26924437

  2. [Coordination among healthcare levels: systematization of tools and measures].

    PubMed

    Terraza Núñez, Rebeca; Vargas Lorenzo, Ingrid; Vázquez Navarrete, María Luisa

    2006-01-01

    Improving healthcare coordination is a priority in many healthcare systems, particularly in chronic health problems in which a number of professionals and services intervene. There is an abundance of coordination strategies and mechanisms that should be systematized so that they can be used in the most appropriate context. The present article aims to analyse healthcare coordination and its instruments using the organisational theory. Coordination mechanisms can be classified according to two basic processes used to coordinate activities: programming and feedback. The optimal combination of mechanisms will depend on three factors: the degree to which healthcare activities are differentiated, the volume and type of interdependencies, and the level of uncertainty. Historically, healthcare services have based coordination on skills standardization and, most recently, on processes standardization, through clinical guidelines, maps, and plans. Their utilisation is unsatisfactory in chronic diseases involving intervention by several professionals with reciprocal interdependencies, variability in patients' response to medical interventions, and a large volume of information to be processed. In this case, mechanisms based on feedback, such as working groups, linking professionals and vertical information systems, are more effective. To date, evaluation of healthcare coordination has not been conducted systematically, using structure, process and results indicators. The different strategies and instruments have been applied mainly to long-term care and mental health and one of the challenges to healthcare coordination is to extend and evaluate their use throughout the healthcare continuum.

  3. CASPT2 study of inverse sandwich-type dinuclear Cr(I) and Fe(I) complexes of the dinitrogen molecule: significant differences in spin multiplicity and coordination structure between these two complexes.

    PubMed

    Nakagaki, Masayuki; Sakaki, Shigeyoshi

    2014-02-20

    Inverse sandwich-type complexes (ISTCs), (μ-N2)[M(AIP)]2 (AIPH = (Z)-1-amino-3-imino-prop-1-ene; M = Cr and Fe), were investigated with the CASPT2 method. In the ISTC of Cr, the ground state takes a singlet spin multiplicity. However, the singlet to nonet spin states are close in energy to each other. The thermal average of effective magnetic moments (μeff) of these spin multiplicities is close to the experimental value. The η(2)-side-on coordination structure of N2 is calculated to be more stable than the η(1)-end-on coordination one. This is because the d-orbital of Cr forms a strong dπ-π* bonding interaction with the π* orbital of N2 in molecular plane. In the ISTC of Fe, on the other hand, the ground state takes a septet spin multiplicity, which agrees well with the experimentally reported μeff value. The η(1)-end-on structure of N2 is more stable than the η(2)-side-on structure. In the η(1)-end-on structure, two doubly occupied d-orbitals of Fe can form two dπ-π* bonding interactions. The negative spin density is found on the bridging N2 ligand in the Fe complex but is not in the Cr complex. All these interesting differences between ISTCs of Cr and Fe are discussed on the basis of the electronic structure and bonding nature.

  4. Information needs of physicians, care coordinators, and families to support care coordination of children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN).

    PubMed

    Ranade-Kharkar, Pallavi; Weir, Charlene; Norlin, Chuck; Collins, Sarah A; Scarton, Lou Ann; Baker, Gina B; Borbolla, Damian; Taliercio, Vanina; Del Fiol, Guilherme

    2017-09-01

    Identify and describe information needs and associated goals of physicians, care coordinators, and families related to coordinating care for medically complex children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN). We conducted 19 in-depth interviews with physicians, care coordinators, and parents of CYSHCN following the Critical Decision Method technique. We analyzed the interviews for information needs posed as questions using a systematic content analysis approach and categorized the questions into information need goal types and subtypes. The Critical Decision Method interviews resulted in an average of 80 information needs per interview. We categorized them into 6 information need goal types: (1) situation understanding, (2) care networking, (3) planning, (4) tracking/monitoring, (5) navigating the health care system, and (6) learning, and 32 subtypes. Caring for CYSHCN generates a large amount of information needs that require significant effort from physicians, care coordinators, parents, and various other individuals. CYSHCN are often chronically ill and face developmental challenges that translate into intense demands on time, effort, and resources. Care coordination for CYCHSN involves multiple information systems, specialized resources, and complex decision-making. Solutions currently offered by health information technology fall short in providing support to meet the information needs to perform the complex care coordination tasks. Our findings present significant opportunities to improve coordination of care through multifaceted and fully integrated informatics solutions. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Medical Informatics Association. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com

  5. Care coordination gaps due to lack of interoperability in the United States: a qualitative study and literature review.

    PubMed

    Samal, Lipika; Dykes, Patricia C; Greenberg, Jeffrey O; Hasan, Omar; Venkatesh, Arjun K; Volk, Lynn A; Bates, David W

    2016-04-22

    Health information technology (HIT) could improve care coordination by providing clinicians remote access to information, improving legibility, and allowing asynchronous communication, among other mechanisms. We sought to determine, from a clinician perspective, how care is coordinated and to what extent HIT is involved when transitioning patients between emergency departments, acute care hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health agencies in settings across the United States. We performed a qualitative study with clinicians and information technology professionals from six regions of the U.S. which were chosen as national leaders in HIT. We analyzed data through a two person consensus approach, assigning responses to each of nine care coordination activities. We also conducted a literature review of MEDLINE®, CINAHL®, and Embase, analyzing results of studies that examined interventions to improve information transfer during transitions of care. We enrolled 29 respondents from 17 organizations and conducted six focus groups. Respondents reported how HIT is currently used for care coordination activities. HIT is currently used to monitor patients and to align systems-level resources with population needs. However, we identified multiple areas where the lack of interoperability leads to inefficient processes and missing data. Additionally, the literature review identified ten intervention studies that address information transfer, seven of which employed HIT and three of which utilized other communication methods such as telephone calls, faxed records, and nurse case management. Significant care coordination gaps exist due to the lack of interoperability across the United States. We must design, evaluate, and incentivize the use of HIT for care coordination. We should focus on the domains where we found the largest gaps: information transfer, systems to monitor patients, tools to support patients' self-management goals, and tools to link patients and

  6. Results of Special Accident Study Teams/ASAP Coordination Conference

    DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

    1974-07-01

    The second Special Accident Study Teams / ASAP Coordination Conference was held in Washington, D.C. on June 12-13, 1974 to continue coordination of activities and to report recent findings. The objectives of the conference were: (1) To report on prog...

  7. Joint Attention without Gaze Following: Human Infants and Their Parents Coordinate Visual Attention to Objects through Eye-Hand Coordination

    PubMed Central

    Yu, Chen; Smith, Linda B.

    2013-01-01

    The coordination of visual attention among social partners is central to many components of human behavior and human development. Previous research has focused on one pathway to the coordination of looking behavior by social partners, gaze following. The extant evidence shows that even very young infants follow the direction of another's gaze but they do so only in highly constrained spatial contexts because gaze direction is not a spatially precise cue as to the visual target and not easily used in spatially complex social interactions. Our findings, derived from the moment-to-moment tracking of eye gaze of one-year-olds and their parents as they actively played with toys, provide evidence for an alternative pathway, through the coordination of hands and eyes in goal-directed action. In goal-directed actions, the hands and eyes of the actor are tightly coordinated both temporally and spatially, and thus, in contexts including manual engagement with objects, hand movements and eye movements provide redundant information about where the eyes are looking. Our findings show that one-year-olds rarely look to the parent's face and eyes in these contexts but rather infants and parents coordinate looking behavior without gaze following by attending to objects held by the self or the social partner. This pathway, through eye-hand coupling, leads to coordinated joint switches in visual attention and to an overall high rate of looking at the same object at the same time, and may be the dominant pathway through which physically active toddlers align their looking behavior with a social partner. PMID:24236151

  8. Preliminary Evidence that Self-Efficacy Predicts Physical Activity in Multiple Sclerosis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Motl, Robert W.; McAuley, Edward; Doerksen, Shawna; Hu, Liang; Morris, Katherine S.

    2009-01-01

    Individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) are less physically active than nondiseased people. One method for increasing physical activity levels involves the identification of factors that correlate with physical activity and that are modifiable by a well designed intervention. This study examined two types of self-efficacy as cross-sectional and…

  9. Driving competences and neuropsychological factors associated to driving counseling in multiple sclerosis.

    PubMed

    Badenes, Dolors; Garolera, Maite; Casas, Laura; Cejudo-Bolivar, Juan Carlos; de Francisco, Jorge; Zaragoza, Silvia; Calzado, Noemi; Aguilar, Miquel

    2014-05-01

    Multiple Sclerosis (MS) significantly impacts daily living activities, including car driving. To investigate driving difficulties experienced with MS, we compared 50 MS patients with minor or moderate disability and 50 healthy controls (HC) using computerized driving tests (the ASDE driver test and the Useful Field of View (UFOV) test) and neuropsychological tests. Inclusion criteria included being active drivers. We evaluated whether cognitive deterioration in MS is associated with the results of driving tests by comparing MS patients without cognitive deterioration with HC. The results indicated that the MS patients performed worse than the HCs in attention, information processing, working memory and visuomotor coordination tasks. Furthermore, MS patients with cognitive impairments experienced more difficulties in the driving tests than did the non-impaired MS patients. Motor dysfunction associated with MS also played an important role in this activity. The results of this study suggest that MS should be assessed carefully and that special emphasis should be placed on visuomotor coordination and executive functions because patients with minor motor disability and subtle cognitive impairments can pass measures predictive of driving safety.

  10. Brain Interaction during Cooperation: Evaluating Local Properties of Multiple-Brain Network.

    PubMed

    Sciaraffa, Nicolina; Borghini, Gianluca; Aricò, Pietro; Di Flumeri, Gianluca; Colosimo, Alfredo; Bezerianos, Anastasios; Thakor, Nitish V; Babiloni, Fabio

    2017-07-21

    Subjects' interaction is the core of most human activities. This is the reason why a lack of coordination is often the cause of missing goals, more than individual failure. While there are different subjective and objective measures to assess the level of mental effort required by subjects while facing a situation that is getting harder, that is, mental workload, to define an objective measure based on how and if team members are interacting is not so straightforward. In this study, behavioral, subjective and synchronized electroencephalographic data were collected from couples involved in a cooperative task to describe the relationship between task difficulty and team coordination, in the sense of interaction aimed at cooperatively performing the assignment. Multiple-brain connectivity analysis provided information about the whole interacting system. The results showed that averaged local properties of a brain network were affected by task difficulty. In particular, strength changed significantly with task difficulty and clustering coefficients strongly correlated with the workload itself. In particular, a higher workload corresponded to lower clustering values over the central and parietal brain areas. Such results has been interpreted as less efficient organization of the network when the subjects' activities, due to high workload tendencies, were less coordinated.

  11. Distinct Inter-Joint Coordination during Fast Alternate Keystrokes in Pianists with Superior Skill.

    PubMed

    Furuya, Shinichi; Goda, Tatsushi; Katayose, Haruhiro; Miwa, Hiroyoshi; Nagata, Noriko

    2011-01-01

    Musical performance requires motor skills to coordinate the movements of multiple joints in the hand and arm over a wide range of tempi. However, it is unclear whether the coordination of movement across joints would differ for musicians with different skill levels and how inter-joint coordination would vary in relation to music tempo. The present study addresses these issues by examining the kinematics and muscular activity of the hand and arm movements of professional and amateur pianists who strike two keys alternately with the thumb and little finger at various tempi. The professionals produced a smaller flexion velocity at the thumb and little finger and greater elbow pronation and supination velocity than did the amateurs. The experts also showed smaller extension angles at the metacarpo-phalangeal joint of the index and middle fingers, which were not being used to strike the keys. Furthermore, muscular activity in the extrinsic finger muscles was smaller for the experts than for the amateurs. These findings indicate that pianists with superior skill reduce the finger muscle load during keystrokes by taking advantage of differences in proximal joint motion and hand postural configuration. With an increase in tempo, the experts showed larger and smaller increases in elbow velocity and finger muscle co-activation, respectively, compared to the amateurs, highlighting skill level-dependent differences in movement strategies for tempo adjustment. Finally, when striking as fast as possible, individual differences in the striking tempo among players were explained by their elbow velocities but not by their digit velocities. These findings suggest that pianists who are capable of faster keystrokes benefit more from proximal joint motion than do pianists who are not capable of faster keystrokes. The distinct movement strategy for tempo adjustment in pianists with superior skill would therefore ensure a wider range of musical expression.

  12. Distinct Inter-Joint Coordination during Fast Alternate Keystrokes in Pianists with Superior Skill

    PubMed Central

    Furuya, Shinichi; Goda, Tatsushi; Katayose, Haruhiro; Miwa, Hiroyoshi; Nagata, Noriko

    2011-01-01

    Musical performance requires motor skills to coordinate the movements of multiple joints in the hand and arm over a wide range of tempi. However, it is unclear whether the coordination of movement across joints would differ for musicians with different skill levels and how inter-joint coordination would vary in relation to music tempo. The present study addresses these issues by examining the kinematics and muscular activity of the hand and arm movements of professional and amateur pianists who strike two keys alternately with the thumb and little finger at various tempi. The professionals produced a smaller flexion velocity at the thumb and little finger and greater elbow pronation and supination velocity than did the amateurs. The experts also showed smaller extension angles at the metacarpo-phalangeal joint of the index and middle fingers, which were not being used to strike the keys. Furthermore, muscular activity in the extrinsic finger muscles was smaller for the experts than for the amateurs. These findings indicate that pianists with superior skill reduce the finger muscle load during keystrokes by taking advantage of differences in proximal joint motion and hand postural configuration. With an increase in tempo, the experts showed larger and smaller increases in elbow velocity and finger muscle co-activation, respectively, compared to the amateurs, highlighting skill level-dependent differences in movement strategies for tempo adjustment. Finally, when striking as fast as possible, individual differences in the striking tempo among players were explained by their elbow velocities but not by their digit velocities. These findings suggest that pianists who are capable of faster keystrokes benefit more from proximal joint motion than do pianists who are not capable of faster keystrokes. The distinct movement strategy for tempo adjustment in pianists with superior skill would therefore ensure a wider range of musical expression. PMID:21660290

  13. Automated optimal coordination of multiple-DOF neuromuscular actions in feedforward neuroprostheses.

    PubMed

    Lujan, J Luis; Crago, Patrick E

    2009-01-01

    This paper describes a new method for designing feedforward controllers for multiple-muscle, multiple-DOF, motor system neural prostheses. The design process is based on experimental measurement of the forward input/output properties of the neuromechanical system and numerical optimization of stimulation patterns to meet muscle coactivation criteria, thus resolving the muscle redundancy (i.e., overcontrol) and the coupled DOF problems inherent in neuromechanical systems. We designed feedforward controllers to control the isometric forces at the tip of the thumb in two directions during stimulation of three thumb muscles as a model system. We tested the method experimentally in ten able-bodied individuals and one patient with spinal cord injury. Good control of isometric force in both DOFs was observed, with rms errors less than 10% of the force range in seven experiments and statistically significant correlations between the actual and target forces in all ten experiments. Systematic bias and slope errors were observed in a few experiments, likely due to the neuromuscular fatigue. Overall, the tests demonstrated the ability of a general design approach to satisfy both control and coactivation criteria in multiple-muscle, multiple-axis neuromechanical systems, which is applicable to a wide range of neuromechanical systems and stimulation electrodes.

  14. Work Coordination Engine

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zendejas, Silvino; Bui, Tung; Bui, Bach; Malhotra, Shantanu; Chen, Fannie; Kim, Rachel; Allen, Christopher; Luong, Ivy; Chang, George; Sadaqathulla, Syed

    2009-01-01

    The Work Coordination Engine (WCE) is a Java application integrated into the Service Management Database (SMDB), which coordinates the dispatching and monitoring of a work order system. WCE de-queues work orders from SMDB and orchestrates the dispatching of work to a registered set of software worker applications distributed over a set of local, or remote, heterogeneous computing systems. WCE monitors the execution of work orders once dispatched, and accepts the results of the work order by storing to the SMDB persistent store. The software leverages the use of a relational database, Java Messaging System (JMS), and Web Services using Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) technologies to implement an efficient work-order dispatching mechanism capable of coordinating the work of multiple computer servers on various platforms working concurrently on different, or similar, types of data or algorithmic processing. Existing (legacy) applications can be wrapped with a proxy object so that no changes to the application are needed to make them available for integration into the work order system as "workers." WCE automatically reschedules work orders that fail to be executed by one server to a different server if available. From initiation to completion, the system manages the execution state of work orders and workers via a well-defined set of events, states, and actions. It allows for configurable work-order execution timeouts by work-order type. This innovation eliminates a current processing bottleneck by providing a highly scalable, distributed work-order system used to quickly generate products needed by the Deep Space Network (DSN) to support space flight operations. WCE is driven by asynchronous messages delivered via JMS indicating the availability of new work or workers. It runs completely unattended in support of the lights-out operations concept in the DSN.

  15. 15 CFR 930.34 - Federal and State agency coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-01-01

    ... RESOURCE MANAGEMENT FEDERAL CONSISTENCY WITH APPROVED COASTAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS Consistency for Federal... use or resource. To facilitate State agency review, Federal agencies should coordinate with the State... coordination of Federal agency activities which affect any coastal use or resource. State agency notification...

  16. Shared investment projects and forecasting errors: setting framework conditions for coordination and sequencing data quality activities.

    PubMed

    Leitner, Stephan; Brauneis, Alexander; Rausch, Alexandra

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, we investigate the impact of inaccurate forecasting on the coordination of distributed investment decisions. In particular, by setting up a computational multi-agent model of a stylized firm, we investigate the case of investment opportunities that are mutually carried out by organizational departments. The forecasts of concern pertain to the initial amount of money necessary to launch and operate an investment opportunity, to the expected intertemporal distribution of cash flows, and the departments' efficiency in operating the investment opportunity at hand. We propose a budget allocation mechanism for coordinating such distributed decisions The paper provides guidance on how to set framework conditions, in terms of the number of investment opportunities considered in one round of funding and the number of departments operating one investment opportunity, so that the coordination mechanism is highly robust to forecasting errors. Furthermore, we show that-in some setups-a certain extent of misforecasting is desirable from the firm's point of view as it supports the achievement of the corporate objective of value maximization. We then address the question of how to improve forecasting quality in the best possible way, and provide policy advice on how to sequence activities for improving forecasting quality so that the robustness of the coordination mechanism to errors increases in the best possible way. At the same time, we show that wrong decisions regarding the sequencing can lead to a decrease in robustness. Finally, we conduct a comprehensive sensitivity analysis and prove that-in particular for relatively good forecasters-most of our results are robust to changes in setting the parameters of our multi-agent simulation model.

  17. Shared Investment Projects and Forecasting Errors: Setting Framework Conditions for Coordination and Sequencing Data Quality Activities

    PubMed Central

    Leitner, Stephan; Brauneis, Alexander; Rausch, Alexandra

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, we investigate the impact of inaccurate forecasting on the coordination of distributed investment decisions. In particular, by setting up a computational multi-agent model of a stylized firm, we investigate the case of investment opportunities that are mutually carried out by organizational departments. The forecasts of concern pertain to the initial amount of money necessary to launch and operate an investment opportunity, to the expected intertemporal distribution of cash flows, and the departments’ efficiency in operating the investment opportunity at hand. We propose a budget allocation mechanism for coordinating such distributed decisions The paper provides guidance on how to set framework conditions, in terms of the number of investment opportunities considered in one round of funding and the number of departments operating one investment opportunity, so that the coordination mechanism is highly robust to forecasting errors. Furthermore, we show that—in some setups—a certain extent of misforecasting is desirable from the firm’s point of view as it supports the achievement of the corporate objective of value maximization. We then address the question of how to improve forecasting quality in the best possible way, and provide policy advice on how to sequence activities for improving forecasting quality so that the robustness of the coordination mechanism to errors increases in the best possible way. At the same time, we show that wrong decisions regarding the sequencing can lead to a decrease in robustness. Finally, we conduct a comprehensive sensitivity analysis and prove that—in particular for relatively good forecasters—most of our results are robust to changes in setting the parameters of our multi-agent simulation model. PMID:25803736

  18. Age-Related Differences in Multiple Task Monitoring

    PubMed Central

    Todorov, Ivo; Del Missier, Fabio; Mäntylä, Timo

    2014-01-01

    Coordinating multiple tasks with narrow deadlines is particularly challenging for older adults because of age related decline in cognitive control functions. We tested the hypothesis that multiple task performance reflects age- and gender-related differences in executive functioning and spatial ability. Young and older adults completed a multitasking session with four monitoring tasks as well as separate tasks measuring executive functioning and spatial ability. For both age groups, men exceeded women in multitasking, measured as monitoring accuracy. Individual differences in executive functioning and spatial ability were independent predictors of young adults' monitoring accuracy, but only spatial ability was related to sex differences. For older adults, age and executive functioning, but not spatial ability, predicted multitasking performance. These results suggest that executive functions contribute to multiple task performance across the adult life span and that reliance on spatial skills for coordinating deadlines is modulated by age. PMID:25215609

  19. Age-related differences in multiple task monitoring.

    PubMed

    Todorov, Ivo; Del Missier, Fabio; Mäntylä, Timo

    2014-01-01

    Coordinating multiple tasks with narrow deadlines is particularly challenging for older adults because of age related decline in cognitive control functions. We tested the hypothesis that multiple task performance reflects age- and gender-related differences in executive functioning and spatial ability. Young and older adults completed a multitasking session with four monitoring tasks as well as separate tasks measuring executive functioning and spatial ability. For both age groups, men exceeded women in multitasking, measured as monitoring accuracy. Individual differences in executive functioning and spatial ability were independent predictors of young adults' monitoring accuracy, but only spatial ability was related to sex differences. For older adults, age and executive functioning, but not spatial ability, predicted multitasking performance. These results suggest that executive functions contribute to multiple task performance across the adult life span and that reliance on spatial skills for coordinating deadlines is modulated by age.

  20. Jaw-phonatory coordination in chronic developmental stuttering.

    PubMed

    Loucks, Torrey M J; De Nil, Luc F; Sasisekaran, Jayanthi

    2007-01-01

    A deficiency in sensorimotor integration in a person who stutters may be a factor in the pathophysiology of developmental stuttering. To test oral sensorimotor function in adults who stutter, we used a task that requires the coordination of a jaw-opening movement with phonation onset. The task was adapted from previous limb coordination studies, which show that movement coordination depends on intact proprioception. We hypothesized that adult stutterers would show deficient jaw-phonatory coordination relative to control participants. The task required initiation of phonation as a jaw-opening movement passed through a narrow spatial target. Target amplitude and jaw movement speed were varied. The stuttering group showed significantly higher movement error and spatial variability in jaw-phonatory coordination compared to the control group, but group differences in movement velocity or duration were not found. The aberrant jaw-phonatory coordination of the stuttering participants suggests that stuttering is associated with an oral proprioceptive limitation, although, the findings are also consistent with a motor control deficit. As a result of this activity, reader will (1) learn about a hypothesis and evidence supporting the view that a sensorimotor deficit contributes to chronic developmental stuttering and (2) will obtain information about the role of proprioception in multi-articulatory coordination and how it can be tested using an oral-phonatory coordination task.

  1. The Mediator complex: a master coordinator of transcription and cell lineage development.

    PubMed

    Yin, Jing-wen; Wang, Gang

    2014-03-01

    Mediator is a multiprotein complex that is required for gene transcription by RNA polymerase II. Multiple subunits of the complex show specificity in relaying information from signals and transcription factors to the RNA polymerase II machinery, thus enabling control of the expression of specific genes. Recent studies have also provided novel mechanistic insights into the roles of Mediator in epigenetic regulation, transcriptional elongation, termination, mRNA processing, noncoding RNA activation and super enhancer formation. Based on these specific roles in gene regulation, Mediator has emerged as a master coordinator of development and cell lineage determination. Here, we describe the most recent advances in understanding the mechanisms of Mediator function, with an emphasis on its role during development and disease.

  2. Poisson Coordinates.

    PubMed

    Li, Xian-Ying; Hu, Shi-Min

    2013-02-01

    Harmonic functions are the critical points of a Dirichlet energy functional, the linear projections of conformal maps. They play an important role in computer graphics, particularly for gradient-domain image processing and shape-preserving geometric computation. We propose Poisson coordinates, a novel transfinite interpolation scheme based on the Poisson integral formula, as a rapid way to estimate a harmonic function on a certain domain with desired boundary values. Poisson coordinates are an extension of the Mean Value coordinates (MVCs) which inherit their linear precision, smoothness, and kernel positivity. We give explicit formulas for Poisson coordinates in both continuous and 2D discrete forms. Superior to MVCs, Poisson coordinates are proved to be pseudoharmonic (i.e., they reproduce harmonic functions on n-dimensional balls). Our experimental results show that Poisson coordinates have lower Dirichlet energies than MVCs on a number of typical 2D domains (particularly convex domains). As well as presenting a formula, our approach provides useful insights for further studies on coordinates-based interpolation and fast estimation of harmonic functions.

  3. Temporal coordination of olfactory cortex sharp-wave activity with up- and downstates in the orbitofrontal cortex during slow-wave sleep.

    PubMed

    Onisawa, Naomi; Manabe, Hiroyuki; Mori, Kensaku

    2017-01-01

    During slow-wave sleep, interareal communications via coordinated, slow oscillatory activities occur in the large-scale networks of the mammalian neocortex. Because olfactory cortex (OC) areas, which belong to paleocortex, show characteristic sharp-wave (SPW) activity during slow-wave sleep, we examined whether OC SPWs in freely behaving rats occur in temporal coordination with up- and downstates of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) slow oscillation. Simultaneous recordings of local field potentials and spike activities in the OC and OFC showed that during the downstate in the OFC, the OC also exhibited downstate with greatly reduced neuronal activity and suppression of SPW generation. OC SPWs occurred during two distinct phases of the upstate of the OFC: early-phase SPWs occurred at the start of upstate shortly after the down-to-up transition in the OFC, whereas late-phase SPWs were generated at the end of upstate shortly before the up-to-down transition. Such temporal coordination between neocortical up- and downstates and olfactory system SPWs was observed between the prefrontal cortex areas (OFC and medial prefrontal cortex) and the OC areas (anterior piriform cortex and posterior piriform cortex). These results suggest that during slow-wave sleep, OC and OFC areas communicate preferentially in specific time windows shortly after the down-to-up transition and shortly before the up-to-down transition. Simultaneous recordings of local field potentials and spike activities in the anterior piriform cortex (APC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) during slow-wave sleep showed that APC sharp waves tended to occur during two distinct phases of OFC upstate: early phase, shortly after the down-to-up transition, and late phase, shortly before the up-to-down transition, suggesting that during slow-wave sleep, olfactory cortex and OFC areas communicate preferentially in the specific time windows. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

  4. Temporal coordination of olfactory cortex sharp-wave activity with up- and downstates in the orbitofrontal cortex during slow-wave sleep

    PubMed Central

    Onisawa, Naomi; Mori, Kensaku

    2016-01-01

    During slow-wave sleep, interareal communications via coordinated, slow oscillatory activities occur in the large-scale networks of the mammalian neocortex. Because olfactory cortex (OC) areas, which belong to paleocortex, show characteristic sharp-wave (SPW) activity during slow-wave sleep, we examined whether OC SPWs in freely behaving rats occur in temporal coordination with up- and downstates of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) slow oscillation. Simultaneous recordings of local field potentials and spike activities in the OC and OFC showed that during the downstate in the OFC, the OC also exhibited downstate with greatly reduced neuronal activity and suppression of SPW generation. OC SPWs occurred during two distinct phases of the upstate of the OFC: early-phase SPWs occurred at the start of upstate shortly after the down-to-up transition in the OFC, whereas late-phase SPWs were generated at the end of upstate shortly before the up-to-down transition. Such temporal coordination between neocortical up- and downstates and olfactory system SPWs was observed between the prefrontal cortex areas (OFC and medial prefrontal cortex) and the OC areas (anterior piriform cortex and posterior piriform cortex). These results suggest that during slow-wave sleep, OC and OFC areas communicate preferentially in specific time windows shortly after the down-to-up transition and shortly before the up-to-down transition. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Simultaneous recordings of local field potentials and spike activities in the anterior piriform cortex (APC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) during slow-wave sleep showed that APC sharp waves tended to occur during two distinct phases of OFC upstate: early phase, shortly after the down-to-up transition, and late phase, shortly before the up-to-down transition, suggesting that during slow-wave sleep, olfactory cortex and OFC areas communicate preferentially in the specific time windows. PMID:27733591

  5. New nonlinear control algorithms for multiple robot arms

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tarn, T. J.; Bejczy, A. K.; Yun, X.

    1988-01-01

    Multiple coordinated robot arms are modeled by considering the arms as closed kinematic chains and as a force-constrained mechanical system working on the same object simultaneously. In both formulations, a novel dynamic control method is discussed. It is based on feedback linearization and simultaneous output decoupling technique. By applying a nonlinear feedback and a nonlinear coordinate transformation, the complicated model of the multiple robot arms in either formulation is converted into a linear and output decoupled system. The linear system control theory and optimal control theory are used to design robust controllers in the task space. The first formulation has the advantage of automatically handling the coordination and load distribution among the robot arms. In the second formulation, it was found that by choosing a general output equation it became possible simultaneously to superimpose the position and velocity error feedback with the force-torque error feedback in the task space.

  6. A novel one-dimensional manganese(II) coordination polymer containing both dicyanamide and pyrazinamide ligands: Synthesis, spectroscopic investigations, X-ray studies and evaluation of biological activities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tabrizi, Leila; Chiniforoshan, Hossein; McArdle, Patrick

    2015-03-01

    A novel 1D coordination polymer {[Mn(μ1,5-dca)2(PZA)2](PZA)2}n, 1, has been synthesized and characterized by single crystal X-ray crystallography. The coordination mode of dicyanamide (dca) and pyrazinamide (PZA) ligands was inferred by IR spectroscopy. The compound 1 was evaluated for in vitro antimycobacterial and antitumor activities. It demonstrated better in vitro activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis than pyrazinamide and its MIC value was determined. Complex 1 was also screened for its in vitro antitumor activity towards LM3 and LP07 murine cancer cell lines. In addition, the antibacterial activity of complex 1 has been tested against Gram(+) and Gram(-) bacteria and it has shown promising broad range anti-bacterial activity.

  7. Methodological Caveats in the Detection of Coordinated Replay between Place Cells and Grid Cells.

    PubMed

    Trimper, John B; Trettel, Sean G; Hwaun, Ernie; Colgin, Laura Lee

    2017-01-01

    At rest, hippocampal "place cells," neurons with receptive fields corresponding to specific spatial locations, reactivate in a manner that reflects recently traveled trajectories. These "replay" events have been proposed as a mechanism underlying memory consolidation, or the transfer of a memory representation from the hippocampus to neocortical regions associated with the original sensory experience. Accordingly, it has been hypothesized that hippocampal replay of a particular experience should be accompanied by simultaneous reactivation of corresponding representations in the neocortex and in the entorhinal cortex, the primary interface between the hippocampus and the neocortex. Recent studies have reported that coordinated replay may occur between hippocampal place cells and medial entorhinal cortex grid cells, cells with multiple spatial receptive fields. Assessing replay in grid cells is problematic, however, as the cells exhibit regularly spaced spatial receptive fields in all environments and, therefore, coordinated replay between place cells and grid cells may be detected by chance. In the present report, we adapted analytical approaches utilized in recent studies of grid cell and place cell replay to determine the extent to which coordinated replay is spuriously detected between grid cells and place cells recorded from separate rats. For a subset of the employed analytical methods, coordinated replay was detected spuriously in a significant proportion of cases in which place cell replay events were randomly matched with grid cell firing epochs of equal duration. More rigorous replay evaluation procedures and minimum spike count requirements greatly reduced the amount of spurious findings. These results provide insights into aspects of place cell and grid cell activity during rest that contribute to false detection of coordinated replay. The results further emphasize the need for careful controls and rigorous methods when testing the hypothesis that place

  8. Methodological Caveats in the Detection of Coordinated Replay between Place Cells and Grid Cells

    PubMed Central

    Trimper, John B.; Trettel, Sean G.; Hwaun, Ernie; Colgin, Laura Lee

    2017-01-01

    At rest, hippocampal “place cells,” neurons with receptive fields corresponding to specific spatial locations, reactivate in a manner that reflects recently traveled trajectories. These “replay” events have been proposed as a mechanism underlying memory consolidation, or the transfer of a memory representation from the hippocampus to neocortical regions associated with the original sensory experience. Accordingly, it has been hypothesized that hippocampal replay of a particular experience should be accompanied by simultaneous reactivation of corresponding representations in the neocortex and in the entorhinal cortex, the primary interface between the hippocampus and the neocortex. Recent studies have reported that coordinated replay may occur between hippocampal place cells and medial entorhinal cortex grid cells, cells with multiple spatial receptive fields. Assessing replay in grid cells is problematic, however, as the cells exhibit regularly spaced spatial receptive fields in all environments and, therefore, coordinated replay between place cells and grid cells may be detected by chance. In the present report, we adapted analytical approaches utilized in recent studies of grid cell and place cell replay to determine the extent to which coordinated replay is spuriously detected between grid cells and place cells recorded from separate rats. For a subset of the employed analytical methods, coordinated replay was detected spuriously in a significant proportion of cases in which place cell replay events were randomly matched with grid cell firing epochs of equal duration. More rigorous replay evaluation procedures and minimum spike count requirements greatly reduced the amount of spurious findings. These results provide insights into aspects of place cell and grid cell activity during rest that contribute to false detection of coordinated replay. The results further emphasize the need for careful controls and rigorous methods when testing the hypothesis that

  9. A load-based mechanism for inter-leg coordination in insects

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    Animals rely on an adaptive coordination of legs during walking. However, which specific mechanisms underlie coordination during natural locomotion remains largely unknown. One hypothesis is that legs can be coordinated mechanically based on a transfer of body load from one leg to another. To test this hypothesis, we simultaneously recorded leg kinematics, ground reaction forces and muscle activity in freely walking stick insects (Carausius morosus). Based on torque calculations, we show that load sensors (campaniform sensilla) at the proximal leg joints are well suited to encode the unloading of the leg in individual steps. The unloading coincides with a switch from stance to swing muscle activity, consistent with a load reflex promoting the stance-to-swing transition. Moreover, a mechanical simulation reveals that the unloading can be ascribed to the loading of a specific neighbouring leg, making it exploitable for inter-leg coordination. We propose that mechanically mediated load-based coordination is used across insects analogously to mammals. PMID:29187626

  10. Attributions and self-efficacy for physical activity in multiple sclerosis.

    PubMed

    Nickel, D; Spink, K; Andersen, M; Knox, K

    2014-01-01

    Self-efficacy is an important predictor of health-related physical activity in multiple sclerosis (MS). While past experiences are believed to influence efficacy beliefs, the explanations individuals provide for these experiences also may be critical. Our objective was to test the hypothesis that perceived success or failure to accumulate 150 min of physical activity in the previous week would moderate the relationship between the attributional dimension of stability and self-efficacy to exercise in the future. Forty-two adults with MS participated in this cross-sectional descriptive study. Participants completed questions assessing physical activity, perceived outcome for meeting the recommended level of endurance activity, attributions for the outcome, and exercise self-efficacy. Results from hierarchical multiple regression revealed a significant main effect for perceived outcome predicting self-efficacy that was qualified by a significant interaction. The final model, which included perceived outcome, stability, and the interaction term, predicted 37% of the variance in exercise self-efficacy, F (3, 38) = 7.27, p = .001. Our findings suggest that the best prediction of self-efficacy in the MS population may include the interaction of specific attributional dimensions with success/failure at meeting the recommended physical activity dose. Attributions may be another target for interventions aimed at increasing the physical activity in MS.

  11. Genetics Home Reference: multiple system atrophy

    MedlinePlus

    ... inability to hold the body upright and balanced (postural instability). The other type of multiple system atrophy , ... cells in parts of the nervous system that control movement, balance and coordination, and autonomic functioning. The ...

  12. Practices of Return-to-Work Coordinators Working in Large Organizations.

    PubMed

    Durand, Marie-José; Nastasia, Iuliana; Coutu, Marie-France; Bernier, Michael

    2017-03-01

    Purpose Although the role of return-to-work coordinators (RTW coordinators) is associated with reducing long-term disabilities, little has been written about their practices. The objective of this study was to clearly identify their tasks and activities and the stakeholders with whom they collaborate. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a web-based self-administered questionnaire. Participant inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) working for a large organization with 500 or more employees; (2) being responsible for managing disabilities and coordinating the return-to-work process; and (3) having been involved in coordinating the return to work of at least one person in the past year. Results 195 RTW coordinators completed the questionnaire. The three tasks or activities rated as most important were applying laws, policies, and regulations related to work absences and return to work; contacting the absent worker; and planning the return to work. A nursing or occupational health and safety training background significantly influenced the RTW coordinators' practices. In addition, RTW coordinators collaborated mainly with workers and their supervisors. Conclusion Despite a wide variety of contexts and diverging definitions of competencies, a set of common RTW coordination practices appears to exist across industrialized countries. RTW coordinators with a training background in the health field seem better able to assimilate the various dimensions of work disability. Moreover, concerted action was found to be minimal and a far cry from recommendations. The practices defined could serve as a benchmark for describing RTW coordinators' responsibilities in greater detail and allow for cross-organization and cross-country comparisons.

  13. Coordination of Individual and Organizational Planning for Natural Hazards (Invited)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Krantz, D. H.

    2013-12-01

    Decision making consists of constructing or selecting a plan. This is true at many levels of decision making: individuals or households, small groups, larger organizations, and governments. In each case, plans are constructed or selected taking account of the decision maker's prioritized set of active goals and the decision maker's beliefs about the probability or the extent to which each goal will be attained through a given plan. Planning for mitigation of or response to natural hazards can be improved if the plans of the many decision makers at multiple levels are coordinated. Government planning should ideally be informed by knowledge about the plans of businesses and non-profit organizations as well as knowledge about individual, household, and neighborhood plans. Similarly, plans at the individual and organizational levels should be informed by knowledge of others' plans at the same and at higher and lower levels of aggregation. Coordination can be impaired by differences in goals, differences in beliefs about the instrumentality of plans toward given goals, and also by ignorance of others' goals and plans. Good coordination requires incentives that promote sharing of plans, horizontally and vertically, and that alleviate conflicts in goals and conflicts in beliefs that will inevitably surface once plans are shared. Thus, four different kinds of decision aids are needed to improve natural hazard planning: mechanisms that support horizontal dissemination of plans, mechanisms that support vertical dissemination, mechanisms for examining goal conflicts and reducing these through plans that take others' goals into account, and mechanisms for examining belief conflicts.

  14. Developmental Trampoline Activities for Individuals with Multiple Handicapping Conditions.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomas, Bill

    1979-01-01

    The use of trampoline activities with multiple handicapped students is discussed. Management considerations in safety are noted, and developmental trampoline skills are listed beginning with bouncing for stimulation. Progression to limited independence and finally independent jumping is described. The position statement of the American Alliance…

  15. 33 CFR 238.10 - Coordination with other Federal agencies.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ..., reporting officers shall comply with the 1965 Agreement between the Soil Conservation Service and the Corps... Department of Commerce, in order to coordinate flood control improvements with storm sewer system improvements and to avoid program overlap. Coordination of planning activities with A-95 clearinghouses will...

  16. 33 CFR 238.10 - Coordination with other Federal agencies.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ..., reporting officers shall comply with the 1965 Agreement between the Soil Conservation Service and the Corps... Department of Commerce, in order to coordinate flood control improvements with storm sewer system improvements and to avoid program overlap. Coordination of planning activities with A-95 clearinghouses will...

  17. [Physical rehabilitation in multiple sclerosis: general principles and high-tech approaches].

    PubMed

    Peresedova, A V; Chernikova, L A; Zavalishin, I A

    2013-01-01

    In a chronic and disabling disease like multiple sclerosis, rehabilitation programs are of major importance for the preservation of physical, physiological, social and professional functioning and improvement of quality of life. Currently, it is generally assumed that physical activity is an important component of non-pharmacological rehabilitation in multiple sclerosis. Properly organized exercise is a safe and efficient way to induce improvements in a number of physiological functions. A multidisciplinary rehabilitative approach should be recommended. The main recommendations for the use of exercise for patients with multiple sclerosis have been listed. An important aspect of the modern physical rehabilitation in multiple sclerosis is the usage of high-tech methods. The published results of robot-assisted training to improve the hand function and walking impairment have been represented. An important trend in the rehabilitation of patients with multiple sclerosis is the reduction of postural disorders through training balance coordination. The role of transcranial magnetic stimulation in spasticity reducing is being investigated. The use of telemedicine capabilities is quite promising. Due to the fact that the decline in physical activity can lead to the deterioration of many aspects of physiological functions and, ultimately, to mobility decrease, further research of the role of physical rehabilitation as an important therapeutic approach in preventing the progression of disability in multiple sclerosis is required.

  18. From Coordination Cages to a Stable Crystalline Porous Hydrogen-Bonded Framework

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ju, Zhanfeng; Liu, Guoliang; Chen, Yu-Sheng

    2017-03-20

    A stable framework has been constructed through multiple charge-assisted H-bonds between cationic coordination cages and chloride ions. The framework maintained its original structure upon desolvation, which has been established by single-crystal structure analysis. This is the first fully characterized stable porous framework based on coordination cages after desolvation, with a moderately high Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area of 1201 m2 g-1. This work will not only give a light to construct stable porous frameworks based on coordination cages and thus broaden their applications, but will also provide a new avenue to the assembly of other porous materials such as porous organicmore » cages and hydrogen-bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) through non covalent bonds.« less

  19. Perceptuo-motor compatibility governs multisensory integration in bimanual coordination dynamics.

    PubMed

    Zelic, Gregory; Mottet, Denis; Lagarde, Julien

    2016-02-01

    The brain has the remarkable ability to bind together inputs from different sensory origin into a coherent percept. Behavioral benefits can result from such ability, e.g., a person typically responds faster and more accurately to cross-modal stimuli than to unimodal stimuli. To date, it is, however, largely unknown whether such multisensory benefits, shown for discrete reactive behaviors, generalize to the continuous coordination of movements. The present study addressed multisensory integration from the perspective of bimanual coordination dynamics, where the perceptual activity no longer triggers a single response but continuously guides the motor action. The task consisted in coordinating anti-symmetrically the continuous flexion-extension of the index fingers, while synchronizing with an external pacer. Three different configurations of metronome were tested, for which we examined whether a cross-modal pacing (audio-tactile beats) improved the stability of the coordination in comparison with unimodal pacing condition (auditory or tactile beats). We found a more stable bimanual coordination for cross-modal pacing, but only when the metronome configuration directly matched the anti-symmetric coordination pattern. We conclude that multisensory integration can benefit the continuous coordination of movements; however, this is constrained by whether the perceptual and motor activities match in space and time.

  20. Supporting Communication and Coordination in Collaborative Sensemaking.

    PubMed

    Mahyar, Narges; Tory, Melanie

    2014-12-01

    When people work together to analyze a data set, they need to organize their findings, hypotheses, and evidence, share that information with their collaborators, and coordinate activities amongst team members. Sharing externalizations (recorded information such as notes) could increase awareness and assist with team communication and coordination. However, we currently know little about how to provide tool support for this sort of sharing. We explore how linked common work (LCW) can be employed within a `collaborative thinking space', to facilitate synchronous collaborative sensemaking activities in Visual Analytics (VA). Collaborative thinking spaces provide an environment for analysts to record, organize, share and connect externalizations. Our tool, CLIP, extends earlier thinking spaces by integrating LCW features that reveal relationships between collaborators' findings. We conducted a user study comparing CLIP to a baseline version without LCW. Results demonstrated that LCW significantly improved analytic outcomes at a collaborative intelligence task. Groups using CLIP were also able to more effectively coordinate their work, and held more discussion of their findings and hypotheses. LCW enabled them to maintain awareness of each other's activities and findings and link those findings to their own work, preventing disruptive oral awareness notifications.

  1. Toll-like receptor 4 mediates lipopolysaccharide-induced muscle catabolism via coordinate activation of ubiquitin-proteasome and autophagy-lysosome pathways

    PubMed Central

    Doyle, Alexander; Zhang, Guohua; Abdel Fattah, Elmoataz A.; Eissa, N. Tony; Li, Yi-Ping

    2011-01-01

    Cachectic muscle wasting is a frequent complication of many inflammatory conditions, due primarily to excessive muscle catabolism. However, the pathogenesis and intervention strategies against it remain to be established. Here, we tested the hypothesis that Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is a master regulator of inflammatory muscle catabolism. We demonstrate that TLR4 activation by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces C2C12 myotube atrophy via up-regulating autophagosome formation and the expression of ubiquitin ligase atrogin-1/MAFbx and MuRF1. TLR4-mediated activation of p38 MAPK is necessary and sufficient for the up-regulation of atrogin1/MAFbx and autophagosomes, resulting in myotube atrophy. Similarly, LPS up-regulates muscle autophagosome formation and ubiquitin ligase expression in mice. Importantly, autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine completely abolishes LPS-induced muscle proteolysis, while proteasome inhibitor lactacystin partially blocks it. Furthermore, TLR4 knockout or p38 MAPK inhibition abolishes LPS-induced muscle proteolysis. Thus, TLR4 mediates LPS-induced muscle catabolism via coordinate activation of the ubiquitin-proteasome and the autophagy-lysosomal pathways.—Doyle, A., Zhang, G., Abdel Fattah, E. A., Eissa, N. T., Li, Y.-P. Toll-like receptor 4 mediates lipopolysaccharide-induced muscle catabolism via coordinate activation of ubiquitin-proteasome and autophagy-lysosome pathways. PMID:20826541

  2. Conceptual Coordination Bridges Information Processing and Neurophysiology

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Clancey, William J.; Norrig, Peter (Technical Monitor)

    2000-01-01

    Information processing theories of memory and skills can be reformulated in terms of how categories are physically and temporally related, a process called conceptual coordination. Dreaming can then be understood as a story understanding process in which two mechanisms found in everyday comprehension are missing: conceiving sequences (chunking categories in time as a categorization) and coordinating across modalities (e.g., relating the sound of a word and the image of its meaning). On this basis, we can readily identify isomorphisms between dream phenomenology and neurophysiology, and explain the function of dreaming as facilitating future coordination of sequential, cross-modal categorization (i.e., REM sleep lowers activation thresholds, "unlearning").

  3. [The nurse coordinator in the French health system].

    PubMed

    Le Bœuf, Dominique

    2016-06-01

    Participating in the coordination of care in order to provide global patient management is an integral part of nursing activities. The term nurse coordinator, however, encompasses diverse realities. Legally defined within in-home nursing care services, it remains vague in all other care organisations which call upon these nursing competencies. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  4. Developmental coordination disorder, generalized self-efficacy toward physical activity, and participation in organized and free play activities.

    PubMed

    Cairney, John; Hay, John A; Faught, Brent E; Wade, Terrance J; Corna, Laurie; Flouris, Andreas

    2005-10-01

    To test a theoretical model linking developmental coordination disorder (DCD) to reduced physical activity (PA) through the mediating influence of generalized self-efficacy regarding PA. This was a cross-sectional investigation of students in grades 4 through 8 from 5 elementary schools in the Niagara region of Ontario, Canada (n=590). Motor proficiency was evaluated using the short-form Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency. Generalized self-efficacy was assessed using the Children's Self-Perceptions of Adequacy in and Predilection for Physical Activity scale, and PA levels were evaluated using a 61-item Participation Questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used to test the influence of generalized self-efficacy on the relationship between DCD and PA. In this sample, 7.5% (n=44) of the children met the requirements for probable DCD. The effect of DCD on PA was mediated by generalized self-efficacy. In this model, 28% of the variance in children's PA was predicted by generalized self-efficacy and DCD. Our results suggest that children with DCD are less likely to be physically active and that generalized self-efficacy can account for a considerable proportion of this relationship. The implications for appropriate interventions to increase PA among children with DCD are discussed.

  5. The Development of Motor Coordination in Drosophila Embryos

    PubMed Central

    Crisp, Sarah; Evers, Jan Felix; Fiala, André; Bate, Michael

    2012-01-01

    We use non-invasive muscle imaging to study onset of motor activity and emergence of coordinated movement in Drosophila embryos. Earliest movements are myogenic and neurally controlled muscle contractions first appear with the onset of bursting activity 17 hours after egg laying. Initial episodes of activity are poorly organised and coordinated crawling sequences only begin to appear after a further hour of bursting. Thus network performance improves during this first period of activity. The embryo continues to exhibit bursts of crawling like sequences until shortly before hatching, while other reflexes also mature. Bursting does not begin as a reflex response to sensory input but appears to reflect the onset of spontaneous activity in the motor network. It does not require GABA-ergic transmission, and using a light activated channel to excite the network we demonstrate activity dependent depression that may cause burst termination. PMID:18927150

  6. On a new coordinate system with astrophysical application: Spiral coordinates

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Campos, L. M. B. C.; Gil, P. J. S.

    In this presentation are introduced spiral coordinates, which are a particular case of conformal coordinates, i.e. orthogonal curvelinear coordinates with equal factors along all coordinate axis. The spiral coordinates in the plane have as coordinate curves two families of logarithmic spirals, making a constant angle, respectively phi and pi / 2-phi, with all radial lines, where phi is a parameter. They can be obtained from a complex function, representing a spiral potential flow, due to the superposition of a source/sink with a vortex; the parameter phi in this case specifies the ratio of the ass flux of source/sink to the circulation of the vortex. Regardless of hydrodynamical or other interpretations, spiral coordinates are particulary convenient in situation where physical quantities vary only along a logarithmicspiral. The example chosen is the propagation of Alfven waves along a logarithmic spiral, as an approximation to Parker's spiral. The equation of dissipative MHD are written in spiral coordinates, and eliminated to specify the Alfven wave equation in spiral coordinates; the latter is solved exactly in terms of Bessel functions, and the results analyzed for values of the parameters corresponding to the solar wind.

  7. 45 CFR 287.140 - With whom should the Tribe coordinate in the operation of its work activities and services?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 2 2014-10-01 2012-10-01 true With whom should the Tribe coordinate in the operation of its work activities and services? 287.140 Section 287.140 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare OFFICE OF FAMILY ASSISTANCE (ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS), ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND...

  8. 45 CFR 287.140 - With whom should the Tribe coordinate in the operation of its work activities and services?

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... 45 Public Welfare 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false With whom should the Tribe coordinate in the operation of its work activities and services? 287.140 Section 287.140 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare OFFICE OF FAMILY ASSISTANCE (ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS), ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN AND...

  9. Enhancement of ORR catalytic activity by multiple heteroatom-doped carbon materials.

    PubMed

    Kim, Dae-wook; Li, Oi Lun; Saito, Nagahiro

    2015-01-07

    Heteroatom-doped carbon matrices have been attracting significant attention due to their superior electrochemical stability, light weight and low cost. Hence, in this study, various types of heteroatom, including single dopants of N, B and P and multiple dopants of B-N and P-N with a carbon matrix were synthesized by an innovative method named the solution plasma process. The heteroatom was doped into the carbon matrix during the discharge process by continuous dissociation and recombination of precursors. The chemical bonding structure, ORR activity and electrochemical performance were compared in detail for each single dopant and multiple dopants. According to the Raman spectra, the carbon structures were deformed by the doped heteroatoms in the carbon matrix. In comparison with N-doped structures (NCNS), the ORR potential of PN-doped structures (PNCNS) was positively shifted from -0.27 V to -0.24 V. It was observed that doping with N decreased the bonding between P and C in the matrix. The multiple doping induced additional active sites for ORR which further enhanced ORR activity and stability. Therefore, PNCNS is a promising metal-free catalyst for ORR at the cathode in a fuel cell.

  10. A Group Motor Skills Program for Children with Coordination Difficulties: Effect on Fundamental Movement Skills and Physical Activity Participation.

    PubMed

    Kane, Kyra J; Staples, Kerri L

    2016-01-01

    Children with coordination difficulties are at risk of low levels of physical activity (PA) participation. This intervention examined the effects of a multidisciplinary program that emphasized parent participation on motor skill performance and PA. Ten boys (5-7 years) completed a group program consisting of conditioning exercises and activities designed to address child-selected goals. Motor proficiency and PA participation were assessed before and after the program using the Test of Gross Motor Development (TGMD-2) and triaxial accelerometers, respectively. Rating scales captured child and parent perceptions of performance for each child's goals. TGMD-2 subtest raw scores, age equivalent and percentile scores improved, along with parent ratings of their child's performance. Six children reported skill improvements. On average, moderate to vigorous PA improved by 10 min per day although these gains were not significant. Time spent in sedentary activities was unchanged. None of the children met the Canadian PA and sedentary behaviour guidelines. The results support effectiveness of a group program to improve gross motor performance and levels of PA in children with coordination difficulties. Gains in both of these domains also have the potential to impact quality of life and reduce health risks associated with inactivity.

  11. A Role of Phase-Resetting in Coordinating Large Scale Neural Networks During Attention and Goal-Directed Behavior

    PubMed Central

    Voloh, Benjamin; Womelsdorf, Thilo

    2016-01-01

    Short periods of oscillatory activation are ubiquitous signatures of neural circuits. A broad range of studies documents not only their circuit origins, but also a fundamental role for oscillatory activity in coordinating information transfer during goal directed behavior. Recent studies suggest that resetting the phase of ongoing oscillatory activity to endogenous or exogenous cues facilitates coordinated information transfer within circuits and between distributed brain areas. Here, we review evidence that pinpoints phase resetting as a critical marker of dynamic state changes of functional networks. Phase resets: (1) set a “neural context” in terms of narrow band frequencies that uniquely characterizes the activated circuits; (2) impose coherent low frequency phases to which high frequency activations can synchronize, identifiable as cross-frequency correlations across large anatomical distances; (3) are critical for neural coding models that depend on phase, increasing the informational content of neural representations; and (4) likely originate from the dynamics of canonical E-I circuits that are anatomically ubiquitous. These multiple signatures of phase resets are directly linked to enhanced information transfer and behavioral success. We survey how phase resets re-organize oscillations in diverse task contexts, including sensory perception, attentional stimulus selection, cross-modal integration, Pavlovian conditioning, and spatial navigation. The evidence we consider suggests that phase-resets can drive changes in neural excitability, ensemble organization, functional networks, and ultimately, overt behavior. PMID:27013986

  12. Longitudinal change in physical activity and its correlates in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

    PubMed

    Motl, Robert W; McAuley, Edward; Sandroff, Brian M

    2013-08-01

    Physical activity is beneficial for people with multiple sclerosis (MS), but this population is largely inactive. There is minimal information on change in physical activity and its correlates for informing the development of behavioral interventions. This study examined change in physical activity and its symptomatic, social-cognitive, and ambulatory or disability correlates over a 2.5-year period of time in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. On 6 occasions, each separated by 6 months, people (N=269) with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis completed assessments of symptoms, self-efficacy, walking impairment, disability, and physical activity. The participants wore an accelerometer for 7 days. The change in study variables over 6 time points was examined with unconditional latent growth curve modeling. The association among changes in study variables over time was examined using conditional latent growth curve modeling, and the associations were expressed as standardized path coefficients (β). There were significant linear changes in self-reported and objectively measured physical activity, self-efficacy, walking impairment, and disability over the 2.5-year period; there were no changes in fatigue, depression, and pain. The changes in self-reported and objective physical activity were associated with change in self-efficacy (β=.49 and β=.61, respectively), after controlling for other variables and confounders. The primary limitations of the study were the generalizability of results among those with progressive multiple sclerosis and inclusion of a single variable from social-cognitive theory. Researchers should consider designing interventions that target self-efficacy for the promotion and maintenance of physical activity in this population.

  13. Free energy from molecular dynamics with multiple constraints

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    den Otter, W. K.; Briels, W. J.

    In molecular dynamics simulations of reacting systems, the key step to determining the equilibrium constant and the reaction rate is the calculation of the free energy as a function of the reaction coordinate. Intuitively the derivative of the free energy is equal to the average force needed to constrain the reaction coordinate to a constant value, but the metric tensor effect of the constraint on the sampled phase space distribution complicates this relation. The appropriately corrected expression for the potential of mean constraint force method (PMCF) for systems in which only the reaction coordinate is constrained was published recently. Here we will consider the general case of a system with multiple constraints. This situation arises when both the reaction coordinate and the 'hard' coordinates are constrained, and also in systems with several reaction coordinates. The obvious advantage of this method over the established thermodynamic integration and free energy perturbation methods is that it avoids the cumbersome introduction of a full set of generalized coordinates complementing the constrained coordinates. Simulations of n -butane and n -pentane in vacuum illustrate the method.

  14. Predicting Use of Nurse Care Coordination by Older Adults With Chronic Conditions.

    PubMed

    Vanderboom, Catherine E; Holland, Diane E; Mandrekar, Jay; Lohse, Christine M; Witwer, Stephanie G; Hunt, Vicki L

    2017-07-01

    To be effective, nurse care coordination must be targeted at individuals who will use the service. The purpose of this study was to identify variables that predicted use of care coordination by primary care patients. Data on the potential predictor variables were obtained from patient interviews, the electronic health record, and an administrative database of 178 adults eligible for care coordination. Use of care coordination was obtained from an administrative database. A multivariable logistic regression model was developed using a bootstrap sampling approach. Variables predicting use of care coordination were dependence in both activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL; odds ratio [OR] = 5.30, p = .002), independent for ADL but dependent for IADL (OR = 2.68, p = .01), and number of prescription medications (OR = 1.12, p = .002). Consideration of these variables may improve identification of patients to target for care coordination.

  15. Implementation of a Relay Coordination System for the Mars Network

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Allard, Daniel A.

    2010-01-01

    Mars network relay operations involve the coordination of lander and orbiter teams through long-term and short-term planning, tactical changes and post-pass analysis. Much of this coordination is managed through email traffic and point-to-point file data exchanges. It is often difficult to construct a complete and accurate picture of the relay situation at any given moment, as there is no centralized store of correlated relay data. The Mars Relay Operations Service (MaROS) is being implemented to address the problem of relay coordination for current and next-generation relay missions. The service is provided for the purpose of coordinating communications sessions between landed spacecraft assets and orbiting spacecraft assets at Mars. The service centralizes a set of functions previously distributed across multiple spacecraft operations teams, and as such greatly improves visibility into the end-to-end strategic coordination process. Most of the process revolves around the scheduling of communications sessions between the spacecraft during periods of time when a landed asset on Mars is geometrically visible by an orbiting spacecraft. These "relay" sessions are used to transfer data both to and from the landed asset via the orbiting asset on behalf of Earth-based spacecraft operators. This paper will discuss the relay coordination problem space, overview the architecture and design selected to meet system requirements, and describe the first phase of system implementation

  16. A bipedal DNA Brownian motor with coordinated legs.

    PubMed

    Omabegho, Tosan; Sha, Ruojie; Seeman, Nadrian C

    2009-04-03

    A substantial challenge in engineering molecular motors is designing mechanisms to coordinate the motion between multiple domains of the motor so as to bias random thermal motion. For bipedal motors, this challenge takes the form of coordinating the movement of the biped's legs so that they can move in a synchronized fashion. To address this problem, we have constructed an autonomous DNA bipedal walker that coordinates the action of its two legs by cyclically catalyzing the hybridization of metastable DNA fuel strands. This process leads to a chemically ratcheted walk along a directionally polar DNA track. By covalently cross-linking aliquots of the walker to its track in successive walking states, we demonstrate that this Brownian motor can complete a full walking cycle on a track whose length could be extended for longer walks. We believe that this study helps to uncover principles behind the design of unidirectional devices that can function without intervention. This device should be able to fulfill roles that entail the performance of useful mechanical work on the nanometer scale.

  17. Regional variation in interhemispheric coordination of intrinsic hemodynamic fluctuations.

    PubMed

    Stark, David E; Margulies, Daniel S; Shehzad, Zarrar E; Reiss, Philip; Kelly, A M Clare; Uddin, Lucina Q; Gee, Dylan G; Roy, Amy K; Banich, Marie T; Castellanos, F Xavier; Milham, Michael P

    2008-12-17

    Electrophysiological studies have long demonstrated a high degree of correlated activity between the left and right hemispheres, however little is known about regional variation in this interhemispheric coordination. Whereas cognitive models and neuroanatomical evidence suggest differences in coordination across primary sensory-motor cortices versus higher-order association areas, these have not been characterized. Here, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data acquired from 62 healthy volunteers to examine interregional correlation in spontaneous low-frequency hemodynamic fluctuations. Using a probabilistic atlas, we correlated probability-weighted time series from 112 regions comprising the entire cerebrum. We then examined regional variation in correlated activity between homotopic regions, contrasting primary sensory-motor cortices, unimodal association areas, and heteromodal association areas. Consistent with previous studies, robustly correlated spontaneous activity was noted between all homotopic regions, which was significantly higher than that between nonhomotopic (heterotopic and intrahemispheric) regions. We further demonstrated substantial regional variation in homotopic interhemispheric correlations that was highly consistent across subjects. Specifically, there was a gradient of interhemispheric correlation, with highest correlations across primary sensory-motor cortices (0.758, SD=0.152), significantly lower correlations across unimodal association areas (0.597, SD=0.230) and still lower correlations across heteromodal association areas (0.517, SD=0.226). These results demonstrate functional differences in interhemispheric coordination related to the brain's hierarchical subdivisions. Synchrony across primary cortices may reflect networks engaged in bilateral sensory integration and motor coordination, whereas lower coordination across heteromodal association areas is consistent with functional lateralization of these regions

  18. 7 CFR 624.5 - Coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-01-01

    ... AGRICULTURE WATER RESOURCES EMERGENCY WATERSHED PROTECTION § 624.5 Coordination. (a) If the President declares... Presidentially-declared natural disasters. (b) When an NRCS State Conservationist determines that a watershed... agencies involved with emergency activities, as appropriate. (c) In the case where the watershed impairment...

  19. 7 CFR 624.5 - Coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-01-01

    ... AGRICULTURE WATER RESOURCES EMERGENCY WATERSHED PROTECTION § 624.5 Coordination. (a) If the President declares... Presidentially-declared natural disasters. (b) When an NRCS State Conservationist determines that a watershed... agencies involved with emergency activities, as appropriate. (c) In the case where the watershed impairment...

  20. 7 CFR 624.5 - Coordination.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-01-01

    ... AGRICULTURE WATER RESOURCES EMERGENCY WATERSHED PROTECTION § 624.5 Coordination. (a) If the President declares... Presidentially-declared natural disasters. (b) When an NRCS State Conservationist determines that a watershed... agencies involved with emergency activities, as appropriate. (c) In the case where the watershed impairment...

  1. Activities of daily living in children with developmental coordination disorder: dressing, personal hygiene, and eating skills.

    PubMed

    Summers, Janet; Larkin, Dawne; Dewey, Deborah

    2008-04-01

    In order to understand how age, culture, and problems in motor coordination impact the performance of activities of daily living, we used focus groups and in-depth interviews with Australian and Canadian parents to examine activities of daily living of younger (5-7 years of age) and older (8-9 years of age) children with and without DCD. By comparison with their typically developing age group, children with DCD had more difficulty with dressing, personal hygiene, and eating skills. Difficulties with postural control and fine-motor skills were reported to contribute to poorer performance of activities of daily living. As expected, competence in the performance of activities of daily living improved in the older children with and without DCD and there were few differences in the performance of daily living tasks between typical children in Australia and Canada. Overall, the motor difficulties of children with DCD had a significant impact on performance of a wide range of daily activities.

  2. Coordinated Interaction between Hippocampal Sharp-Wave Ripples and Anterior Cingulate Unit Activity

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    Hippocampal–cortical interaction during sleep promotes transformation of memory for long-term storage in the cortex. In particular, hippocampal sharp-wave ripple-associated neural activation is important for this transformation during slow-wave sleep. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been shown to be crucial for expression and likely storage of long-term memory. However, little is known about how ACC activity is influenced by hippocampal ripple activity during sleep. We report here about coordinated interactions between hippocampal ripple activity and ACC neural firings. By recording from the ACC and hippocampal CA1 simultaneously in mice, we found that almost all ACC neurons showed increased activity before hippocampal ripple activity; moreover, a subpopulation (17%) displayed a further activation immediately after ripple activity. This postripple activation of ACC neurons correlated positively with ripple amplitude, and the same neurons were excited upon electrical stimulation of the CA1. Interestingly, the preripple activation of ACC neurons was present during the sleep state, but not during the awake state. These results suggest intimate interactions between hippocampal sharp-wave ripples and ACC neurons in a state-dependent manner. Importantly, sharp-wave ripples and associated activation appear to regulate activity of a small population of ACC neurons, a process that may play a critical role in memory consolidation. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The hippocampus communicates with the cortex for memory transformation. Memories of previous experiences become less dependent on the hippocampus and increasingly dependent on cortical areas, such as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). However, little evidence is available to directly support this hippocampus-to-cortex information transduction hypothesis of memory consolidation. Here we show that a subpopulation of ACC neurons becomes active just after hippocampal ripple activity, and that electrical stimulation of

  3. Structural analysis of the coordination of dinitrogen to transition metal complexes.

    PubMed

    Peigné, Benjamin; Aullón, Gabriel

    2015-06-01

    Transition-metal complexes show a wide variety of coordination modes for the nitrogen molecule. A structural database study has been undertaken for dinitrogen complexes, and geometrical parameters around the L(n)M-N2 unit are retrieved from the Cambridge Structural Database. These data were classified in families of compounds, according to metal properties, to determine the degree of lengthening for the dinitrogen bonding. The importance of the nature of the metal center, such as coordination number and electronic configuration, is reported. Our study reveals poor activation by coordination of dinitrogen in mononuclear complexes, always having end-on coordination. However, partial weakening of nitrogen-nitrogen bonding is found for end-on binuclear complexes, whereas side-on complexes can be completely activated.

  4. Close the gap for vision: The key is to invest on coordination.

    PubMed

    Hsueh, Ya-seng Arthur; Dunt, David; Anjou, Mitchell D; Boudville, Andrea; Taylor, Hugh

    2013-12-01

    The study aims to estimate costs required for coordination and case management activities support access to treatment for the three most common eye conditions among Indigenous Australians, cataract, refractive error and diabetic retinopathy. Coordination activities were identified using in-depth interviews, focus groups and face-to-face consultations. Data were collected at 21 sites across Australia. The estimation of costs used salary data from relevant government websites and was organised by diagnosis and type of coordination activity. Urban and remote regions of Australia. Needs-based provision support services to facilitate access to eye care for cataract, refractive error and diabetic retinopathy to Indigenous Australians. Cost (AUD$ in 2011) of equivalent full time (EFT) coordination staff. The annual coordination workforce required for the three eye conditions was 8.3 EFT staff per 10 000 Indigenous Australians. The annual cost of eye care coordination workforce is estimated to be AUD$21 337 012 in 2011. This innovative, 'activity-based' model identified the workforce required to support the provision of eye care for Indigenous Australians and estimated their costs. The findings are of clear value to government funders and other decision makers. The model can potentially be used to estimate staffing and associated costs for other Indigenous and non-Indigenous health needs. © 2013 The Authors. Australian Journal of Rural Health © National Rural Health Alliance Inc.

  5. Near-unity thermally activated delayed fluorescence efficiency in three- and four-coordinate Au(i) complexes with diphosphine ligands.

    PubMed

    Osawa, Masahisa; Aino, Masa-Aki; Nagakura, Takaki; Hoshino, Mikio; Tanaka, Yuya; Akita, Munetaka

    2018-05-14

    The synthesis and photoluminescence properties of three-coordinate Au(i) complexes with rigid diphosphine ligands LMe {1,2-bis[bis(2-methylphenyl)phosphino]benzene}, LEt {1,2-bis[bis(2-ethylphenyl)phosphino]benzene}, and LiPr {1,2-bis[bis(2-isopropylphenyl)phosphino]benzene} are investigated. The LMe and LEt ligands afford two types of complexes: dinuclear complexes [μ-LMe(AuCl)2] (1d) and [μ-LEt(AuCl)2] (2d) with an Au(i)-Au(i) bond and mononuclear three-coordinate Au(i) complexes LMeAuCl (1) and LEtAuCl (2). On the other hand, the bulkiest ligand, LiPr, affords three-coordinate Au(i) complexes, LiPrAuCl (3) and LiPrAuI (4), but no dinuclear complexes. X-ray analysis suggests that both 3 and 4 possess a highly distorted trigonal planar geometry. Moreover, luminescence data reveal that at room temperature, 3 and 4 exhibit yellow-green thermally activated delayed fluorescence in the crystalline state with maximum emission wavelengths at 558 and 549 nm, respectively. The emission yields are close to unity. Quantum chemical calculations suggest that the emission of 4 originates from the (σ + X) → π* excited state that possesses strong intraligand charge-transfer character. The luminescent properties of four-coordinate Au(i) complex (5) possessing a tetrahedral geometry are discussed on the basis of the emission spectra and decay times measured in a temperature range of 309-77 K.

  6. FA(I):A(+) and FA(II):Cu(+) laser activity and photographic sensitization at the low coordinated surfaces of AgBr ab initio calculations.

    PubMed

    Shalabi, A S

    2002-08-01

    The twofold potentials of F(A)(I):Au(+) and F(A)(II)Cu(+) color centers at the low coordinated surfaces of AgBr thin films in providing tunable laser activity and photographic sensitization were investigated using ab initio methods of molecular electronic structure calculations. Clusters of variable size were embedded in simulated Coulomb fields that closely approximated the Madelung fields of the host surfaces, and the nearest neighbor ions to the F(A) defect site were allowed to relax to equilibrium in each case. Based on the calculated Stokes shifted optical transition bands and horizontal shifts along the configuration coordinate diagrams, both F(A)(I):Au(+) and F(A)(II):Cu(+) color centers were found to be laser active. The laser activity faded quickly as the bromide ion coordination decreased from 5 (flat) to 4 (edge) to 3 (corner) and as the size of the impurity cation increased from Cu(+) to Au(+). The latter relation was explainable in terms of the axial perturbation of the impurity cation. The smallest calculated Stokes-shift at the corner surface suggested that emission had the same oscillator strength as absorption. All relaxed excited states RESs of the defect containing surfaces were deep below the lower edges of the conduction bands of the defect free ground state surfaces, indicating that F(A)(I):Au(+) and F(A)(II):Cu(+) are suitable laser defects. The probability of orientational destruction of the two centers attributed to the assumed RES saddle point ion configurations along the <110> axis was found to be directly proportional to the size of the impurity cation, with activation energy barriers of about 0.655-3.294 eV for Cu(+), and about 1.887-3.404 eV for Au(+). The possibility of exciton (energy) transfer from the sites of higher coordination to those of lower coordination is demonstrated. The more laser active F(A)(II):Cu(+) center was more easily formed than the less laser active F(A)(I):Au(+) center. The Glasner-Tompkins empirical relation

  7. Teamwork methods for accountable care: relational coordination and TeamSTEPPS®.

    PubMed

    Gittell, Jody Hoffer; Beswick, Joanne; Goldmann, Don; Wallack, Stanley S

    2015-01-01

    To deliver greater value in the accountable care context, the Institute of Medicine argues for a culture of teamwork at multiple levels--across professional and organizational siloes and with patients and their families and communities. The logic of performance improvement is that data are needed to target interventions and to assess their impact. We argue that efforts to build teamwork will benefit from teamwork measures that provide diagnostic information regarding the current state and teamwork interventions that can respond to the opportunities identified in the current state. We identify teamwork measures and teamwork interventions that are validated and that can work across multiple levels of teamwork. We propose specific ways to combine them for optimal effectiveness. We review measures of teamwork documented by Valentine, Nembhard, and Edmondson and select those that they identified as satisfying the four criteria for psychometric validation and as being unbounded and therefore able to measure teamwork across multiple levels. We then consider teamwork interventions that are widely used in the U.S. health care context, are well validated based on their association with outcomes, and are capable of working at multiple levels of teamwork. We select the top candidate in each category and propose ways to combine them for optimal effectiveness. We find relational coordination is a validated multilevel teamwork measure and TeamSTEPPS® is a validated multilevel teamwork intervention and propose specific ways for the relational coordination measure to enhance the TeamSTEPPS intervention. Health care systems and change agents seeking to respond to the challenges of accountable care can use TeamSTEPPS as a validated multilevel teamwork intervention methodology, enhanced by relational coordination as a validated multilevel teamwork measure with diagnostic capacity to pinpoint opportunities for improving teamwork along specific dimensions (e.g., shared knowledge

  8. Simultaneous profiling of activity patterns in multiple neuronal subclasses.

    PubMed

    Parrish, R Ryley; Grady, John; Codadu, Neela K; Trevelyan, Andrew J; Racca, Claudia

    2018-06-01

    Neuronal networks typically comprise heterogeneous populations of neurons. A core objective when seeking to understand such networks, therefore, is to identify what roles these different neuronal classes play. Acquiring single cell electrophysiology data for multiple cell classes can prove to be a large and daunting task. Alternatively, Ca 2+ network imaging provides activity profiles of large numbers of neurons simultaneously, but without distinguishing between cell classes. We therefore developed a strategy for combining cellular electrophysiology, Ca 2+ network imaging, and immunohistochemistry to provide activity profiles for multiple cell classes at once. This involves cross-referencing easily identifiable landmarks between imaging of the live and fixed tissue, and then using custom MATLAB functions to realign the two imaging data sets, to correct for distortions of the tissue introduced by the fixation or immunohistochemical processing. We illustrate the methodology for analyses of activity profiles during epileptiform events recorded in mouse brain slices. We further demonstrate the activity profile of a population of parvalbumin-positive interneurons prior, during, and following a seizure-like event. Current approaches to Ca 2+ network imaging analyses are severely limited in their ability to subclassify neurons, and often rely on transgenic approaches to identify cell classes. In contrast, our methodology is a generic, affordable, and flexible technique to characterize neuronal behaviour with respect to classification based on morphological and neurochemical identity. We present a new approach for analysing Ca 2+ network imaging datasets, and use this to explore the parvalbumin-positive interneuron activity during epileptiform events. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Describing care coordination of gynecologic oncology in western healthcare settings: a rapid review.

    PubMed

    Grant, Sean; Motala, Aneesa; Chrystal, Joya G; Shanman, Roberta; Zuchowski, Jessica; Zephyrin, Laurie; Cordasco, Kristina M

    2018-05-23

    Caring for women with gynecologic malignancies requires multidisciplinary communication and coordination across multiple providers. This article discusses a rapid review of the literature on characteristics of care coordination for gynecologic malignancies. Five electronic databases (from inception through March 2015) were searched for empirical studies on coordinated care models for female adults with gynecologic malignancies. A single reviewer extracted and synthesized information on how care was coordinated, how care teams made decisions, who performed what tasks, how care teams communicated information to coordinate care, and potential impact of the characteristic on delivering coordinated care. From 26 included studies, predominant characteristics of coordinated care were identified: multidisciplinary teams, patient navigators, scheduled follow-ups, survivorship care plans, and colocated services. Decision-making was best documented for studies that utilized teams that had periodic scheduled meetings with set agendas and consistent procedures. Providers' roles in coordinating care were numerous, reflecting professional backgrounds: oncologists had most authority in making treatment decisions; radiologists and pathologists shared vital biomedical information; and nurses coordinated care and communicated with patients. Communication tools and strategies across studies included having shared medical records, integrated treatment plans, and telephone-based or teleconferencing communication. There was limited information available on the impact of characteristics and accompanying strategies or tools. Several characteristics of care coordination models for gynecologic cancers have been published in the literature. Further investigation is needed to understand the relative effectiveness of these ways to coordinate care.

  10. EXEL; Experience for Children in Learning. Parent-Directed Activities to Develop: Oral Expression, Visual Discrimination, Auditory Discrimination, Motor Coordination.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Behrmann, Polly; Millman, Joan

    The activities collected in this handbook are planned for parents to use with their children in a learning experience. They can also be used in the classroom. Sections contain games designed to develop visual discrimination, auditory discrimination, motor coordination and oral expression. An objective is given for each game, and directions for…

  11. Information theoretic measures of network coordination in high-frequency scalp EEG reveal dynamic patterns associated with seizure termination

    PubMed Central

    Stamoulis, Catherine; Schomer, Donald L.; Chang, Bernard S.

    2013-01-01

    How a seizure terminates is still under-studied and, despite its clinical importance, remains an obscure phase of seizure evolution. Recent studies of seizure-related scalp EEGs at frequencies >100 Hz suggest that neural activity, in the form of oscillations and/or neuronal network interactions, may play an important role in preictal/ictal seizure evolution [2, 31]. However, the role of high-frequency activity in seizure termination, is unknown, if it exists at all. Using information theoretic measures of network coordination, this study investigated ictal and immediate postictal neurodynamic interactions encoded in scalp EEGs from a relatively small sample of 8 patients with focal epilepsy and multiple seizures originating in temporal and/or frontal brain regions, at frequencies ≤100 Hz and >100 Hz, respectively. Despite some heterogeneity in the dynamics of these interactions, consistent patterns were also estimated. Specifically, in several seizures, linear or non-linear increase in high-frequency neuronal coordination during ictal intervals, coincided with a corresponding decrease in coordination at frequencies <100 Hz, suggesting a potential interference role of high-frequency activity, to disrupt abnormal ictal synchrony at lower frequencies. These changes in network synchrony started at least 20–30 sec prior to seizure offset, depending on the seizure duration. Opposite patterns were estimated at frequencies ≤100 Hz in several seizures. These results raise the possibility that high-frequency interference may occur in the form of progressive network coordination during the ictal interval, which continues during the postictal interval. This may be one of several possible mechanisms that facilitate seizure termination. In fact, inhibition of pairwise interactions between EEGs by other signals in their spatial neighborhood, quantified by negative interaction information, was estimated at frequencies ≤100 Hz, at least in some seizures. PMID:23608198

  12. Information theoretic measures of network coordination in high-frequency scalp EEG reveal dynamic patterns associated with seizure termination.

    PubMed

    Stamoulis, Catherine; Schomer, Donald L; Chang, Bernard S

    2013-08-01

    How a seizure terminates is still under-studied and, despite its clinical importance, remains an obscure phase of seizure evolution. Recent studies of seizure-related scalp EEGs at frequencies >100 Hz suggest that neural activity, in the form of oscillations and/or neuronal network interactions, may play an important role in preictal/ictal seizure evolution (Andrade-Valenca et al., 2011; Stamoulis et al., 2012). However, the role of high-frequency activity in seizure termination, is unknown, if it exists at all. Using information theoretic measures of network coordination, this study investigated ictal and immediate postictal neurodynamic interactions encoded in scalp EEGs from a relatively small sample of 8 patients with focal epilepsy and multiple seizures originating in temporal and/or frontal brain regions, at frequencies ≤ 100 Hz and >100 Hz, respectively. Despite some heterogeneity in the dynamics of these interactions, consistent patterns were also estimated. Specifically, in several seizures, linear or non-linear increase in high-frequency neuronal coordination during ictal intervals, coincided with a corresponding decrease in coordination at frequencies <100 Hz, suggesting a potential interference role of high-frequency activity, to disrupt abnormal ictal synchrony at lower frequencies. These changes in network synchrony started at least 20-30s prior to seizure offset, depending on the seizure duration. Opposite patterns were estimated at frequencies ≤ 100 Hz in several seizures. These results raise the possibility that high-frequency interference may occur in the form of progressive network coordination during the ictal interval, which continues during the postictal interval. This may be one of several possible mechanisms that facilitate seizure termination. In fact, inhibition of pairwise interactions between EEGs by other signals in their spatial neighborhood, quantified by negative interaction information, was estimated at frequencies ≤ 100 Hz

  13. Coordinate based random effect size meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies.

    PubMed

    Tench, C R; Tanasescu, Radu; Constantinescu, C S; Auer, D P; Cottam, W J

    2017-06-01

    Low power in neuroimaging studies can make them difficult to interpret, and Coordinate based meta-analysis (CBMA) may go some way to mitigating this issue. CBMA has been used in many analyses to detect where published functional MRI or voxel-based morphometry studies testing similar hypotheses report significant summary results (coordinates) consistently. Only the reported coordinates and possibly t statistics are analysed, and statistical significance of clusters is determined by coordinate density. Here a method of performing coordinate based random effect size meta-analysis and meta-regression is introduced. The algorithm (ClusterZ) analyses both coordinates and reported t statistic or Z score, standardised by the number of subjects. Statistical significance is determined not by coordinate density, but by a random effects meta-analyses of reported effects performed cluster-wise using standard statistical methods and taking account of censoring inherent in the published summary results. Type 1 error control is achieved using the false cluster discovery rate (FCDR), which is based on the false discovery rate. This controls both the family wise error rate under the null hypothesis that coordinates are randomly drawn from a standard stereotaxic space, and the proportion of significant clusters that are expected under the null. Such control is necessary to avoid propagating and even amplifying the very issues motivating the meta-analysis in the first place. ClusterZ is demonstrated on both numerically simulated data and on real data from reports of grey matter loss in multiple sclerosis (MS) and syndromes suggestive of MS, and of painful stimulus in healthy controls. The software implementation is available to download and use freely. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. How Students Learn from Multiple Contexts and Definitions: Proper Time as a Coordination Class

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Levrini, Olivia; diSessa, Andrea A.

    2008-01-01

    This article provides an empirical analysis of a single classroom episode in which students reveal difficulties with the concept of proper time in special relativity but slowly make progress in improving their understanding. The theoretical framework used is "coordination class theory," which is an evolving model of concepts and conceptual change.…

  15. Efficient HOMO-LUMO separation by multiple resonance effect toward ultrapure blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hatakeyama, Takuji; Ikuta, Toshiaki; Shiren, Kazushi; Nakajima, Kiichi; Nomura, Shintaro; Ni, Jingping

    2016-09-01

    Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) play an important role in the new generation of flat-panel displays. Conventional OLEDs employing fluorescent materials together with triplet-triplet annihilation suffer from a relatively low internal quantum efficiency (IQE) of 62.5%. On the other hand, the IQE of OLEDs employing phosphorescent or thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials can reach 100%. However, these materials exhibit very broad peaks with a full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of 70-100 nm and cannot satisfy the color-purity requirements for displays. Therefore, the latest commercial OLED displays employ blue fluorescent materials with a relatively low IQE, and efficient blue emitters with a small FWHM are highly needed. In our manuscript, we present organic molecules that exhibit ultrapure blue fluorescence based on TADF. These molecules consist of three benzene rings connected by one boron and two nitrogen atoms, which establish a rigid polycyclic framework and significant localization of the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals by a multiple resonance effect. An OLED device based on the new emitter exhibits ultrapure blue emission at 467 nm with an FWHM of 28 nm, Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates of (0.12, 0.13), and an IQE of 100%, which represent record-setting performance for blue OLED devices.

  16. Effect of Cu(II) coordination compounds on the activity of antioxidant enzymes catalase and superoxide dismutase in patients with colorectal cancer.

    PubMed

    Kubiak, Katarzyna; Malinowska, Katarzyna; Langer, Ewa; Dziki, Łukasz; Dziki, Adam; Majsterek, Ireneusz

    2011-03-01

    Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a serious medical and economical problem of our times. It is the most common gastrointestinal cancer in the world. In Poland, the treatment and detection of CRC are poorly developed and the pathogenesis is still unclear. One hypothesis suggests a role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the pathogenesis of CRC. Experimental studies in recent years confirm the participation of ROS in the initiation and promotion of CRC. The aim of the study was to examine the effect of the following coordination compounds coordination compounds: dinitrate (V) tetra(3,4,5-trimethyl-N1-pyrazole-κN2) copper(II), dichloro di(3,4,5-trimethyl-N1-pyrazole-κN2) copper(II), dinitrate (V) di(1,4,5-trimethyl-N1-pyrazole-κN2) copper(II), dichloro di(1,3,4,5-tetramethyl-N1-pyrazole-κN2) copper(II) on the activity of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD, ZnCu-SOD) and catalase (CAT) in a group of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and in the control group consisting of patients with minor gastrointestinal complaints. The study was conducted in 20 patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer at the age of 66.5±10.2 years (10 men and 10 women) versus the control group of 20 people (10 men and 10 women) aged 57.89±17.10 years without cancer lesions in the biological material - hemolysate prepared in a proportion of 1ml of water per 1 ml of blood. CAT activity was measured by the Beers method (1952), while SOD activity was measured by the Misra and Fridovich method (1972). We found that patients with CRC showed a statistically significant decrease of SOD and CAT activity (CAT - 12,75±1.97 U/g Hb, SOD - 1111.52±155.52 U/g Hb) in comparison with the control group (CAT - 19.65±2,17 U/g Hb, SOD - 2046.26±507.22 U/g Hb). Simultaneously, we observed that the investigated coordination compounds of Cu(II) significantly increased the antioxidant activity of CAT and SOD in patients with CRC (mean: CAT 25.23±4.86 U/g Hb, SOD - 3075.96±940.20 U/g Hb). Patients with

  17. Self-Organization in Coordination-Driven Self-Assembly

    PubMed Central

    Northrop, Brian H.; Zheng, Yao-Rong; Chi, Ki-Whan; Stang, Peter J.

    2009-01-01

    Conspectus Self-assembly allows for the preparation of highly complex molecular and supramolecular systems from relatively simple starting materials. Typically, self-assembled supramolecules are constructed by combining complementary pairs of two highly symmetric molecular components, thus limiting the chances of forming unwanted side products. Combining asymmetric molecular components or multiple complementary sets of molecules in one complex mixture can produce myriad different ordered and disordered supramolecular assemblies. Alternatively, spontaneous self-organization phenomena can promote the formation of specific product(s) out of a collection of multiple possibilities. Self-organization processes are common throughout much of nature and are especially common in biological systems. Recently, researchers have studied self-organized self-assembly in purely synthetic systems. This Account describes our investigations of self-organization in the coordination-driven self-assembly of platinum(II)-based metallosupramolecules. The modularity of the coordination-driven approach to self-assembly has allowed us to systematically study a wide variety of different factors that can control the extent of supramolecular self-organization. In particular, we have evaluated the effects of the symmetry and polarity of ambidentate donor subunits, differences in geometrical parameters (e.g. the size, angularity, and dimensionality) of Pt(II)-based acceptors and organic donors, the influence of temperature and solvent, and the effects of intermolecular steric interactions and hydrophobic interactions on self-organization. Our studies have shown that the extent of self-organization in the coordination-driven self-assembly of both 2D polygons and 3D polyhedra ranges from no organization (a statistical mixture of multiple products), to amplified organization (wherein a particular product or products are favored over others), and all the way to the absolute self-organization of

  18. Computational evaluation of sub-nanometer cluster activity of singly exposed copper atom with various coordinative environment in catalytic CO2 transformation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shanmugam, Ramasamy; Thamaraichelvan, Arunachalam; Ganesan, Tharumeya Kuppusamy; Viswanathan, Balasubramanian

    2017-02-01

    Metal cluster, at sub-nanometer level has a unique property in the activation of small molecules, in contrast to that of bulk surface. In the present work, singly exposed active site of copper metal cluster at sub-nanometer level was designed to arrive at the energy minimised configurations, binding energy, electrostatic potential map, frontier molecular orbitals and partial density of states. The ab initio molecular dynamics was carried out to probe the catalytic nature of the cluster. Further, the stability of the metal cluster and its catalytic activity in the electrochemical reduction of CO2 to CO were evaluated by means of computational hydrogen electrode via calculation of the free energy profile using DFT/B3LYP level of theory in vacuum. The activity of the cluster is ascertained from the fact that the copper atom, present in a two coordinative environment, performs a more selective conversion of CO2 to CO at an applied potential of -0.35 V which is comparatively lower than that of higher coordinative sites. The present study helps to design any sub-nano level metal catalyst for electrochemical reduction of CO2 to various value added chemicals.

  19. Functional coordination of muscles underlying changes in behavioural dynamics.

    PubMed

    Vernooij, Carlijn A; Rao, Guillaume; Perdikis, Dionysios; Huys, Raoul; Jirsa, Viktor K; Temprado, Jean-Jacques

    2016-06-10

    The dynamical systems approach addresses Bernstein's degrees of freedom problem by assuming that the neuro-musculo-skeletal system transiently assembles and dismantles its components into functional units (or synergies) to meet task demands. Strikingly, little is known from a dynamical point of view about the functioning of the muscular sub-system in this process. To investigate the interaction between the dynamical organisation at muscular and behavioural levels, we searched for specific signatures of a phase transition in muscular coordination when a transition is displayed at the behavioural level. Our results provide evidence that, during Fitts' task when behaviour switches to a different dynamical regime, muscular activation displays typical signatures of a phase transition; a reorganisation in muscular coordination patterns accompanied by a peak in the variability of muscle activation. This suggests that consistent changes occur in coordination processes across the different levels of description (i.e., behaviour and muscles). Specifically, in Fitts' task, target size acts as a control parameter that induces a destabilisation and a reorganisation of coordination patterns at different levels of the neuro-musculo-skeletal system.

  20. Multiple co morbid conditions in patient with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2017-10-26

    conditions in patient \\\\·ith Mast Cell Activation Syndron1e Sb. GRANT NUMBER Sc. PROGRAM.ELEMENT NUMBER 6. AUTHOR(S) Sd. PROJECT NUMBER Maj Sofia...13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 14. ABSTRACT Multiple co-n1orhid conditions in patient \\Vith Mast Cell Activation Syndrotne Sofia M. Szari.MD. and James...Defense. !NTR()D{JCT!ON: Mast cell activation disorders {MCAD) have been associated \\Vilh Connective Tissue Disorders (CTD) and orthostatic

  1. Social motor coordination during adult-child interactions.

    PubMed

    Pfeiffer, Rita; Wallace, Mark; Lense, Miriam

    2018-05-04

    Social motor coordination (SMC) pertains to the timing of contingent movements during social interactions and is of high relevance for successful social and musical interactions. Semi-automated, objective methods are increasingly being used to analyze SMC, though it is unclear if these methods are feasible in naturalistic settings with young children. The purpose of the current preliminary study was to explore SMC in adult-child dyads during semi-structured social interactions. Thirteen dyads (mean age of children = 36 months) participated in a predictable turn-taking task from a social communication assessment, and a semi-automated frame-difference approach was used to capture movement activity. Relative timing and activity approaches revealed that, while there is some evidence of co-occurring movement, the dyad predominantly exhibited patterns of responsive movement activity (e.g., turn taking or alternating movement) consistent with the activity's structure. Future work may extend these approaches to social musical interactions in order to examine movement coordination and prosocial behavior during joint music-making activities with young children. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

  2. Position and force control of coordinated multiple arms

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hayati, Samad A.

    1988-01-01

    A technique is presented for controlling multiple manipulators which are holding a single object and therefore form a closed kinematic chain. The object, which may or may not be in contact with a rigid environment, is assumed to be held rigidly by n robot end-effectors. The derivation is based on setting up constraint equations which reduce the 6 x n degrees of freedom of n manipulators each having six joints. Additional constraint equations are considered when one or more degrees of freedom of the object are reduced due to external constraints. Utilizing the operational space dynamic equations, a decoupling controller is designed to control both the position and the interaction forces of the object with the environment. Simulation results for the control of a pair of two-link manipulators are presented.

  3. Suitability of public use secondary data sets to study multiple activities.

    PubMed

    Putnam, Michelle; Morrow-Howell, Nancy; Inoue, Megumi; Greenfield, Jennifer C; Chen, Huajuan; Lee, YungSoo

    2014-10-01

    The aims of this study were to inventory activity items within and across U.S. public use data sets, to identify gaps in represented activity domains and challenges in interpreting domains, and to assess the potential for studying multiple activity engagement among older adults using existing data. We engaged in content analysis of activity measures of 5U.S. public use data sets with nationally representative samples of older adults. Data sets included the Health & Retirement Survey (HRS), Americans' Changing Lives Survey (ACL), Midlife in the United States Survey (MIDUS), the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics survey (PSID). Two waves of each data set were analyzed. We identified 13 distinct activity domains across the 5 data sets, with substantial differences in representation of those domains among the data sets, and variance in the number and type of activity measures included in each. Our findings indicate that although it is possible to study multiple activity engagement within existing data sets, fuller sets of activity measures need to be developed in order to evaluate the portfolio of activities older adults engage in and the relationship of these portfolios to health and wellness outcomes. Importantly, clearer conceptual models of activity broadly conceived are required to guide this work. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. Reliability of Classifying Multiple Sclerosis Disease Activity Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging in a Multiple Sclerosis Clinic

    PubMed Central

    Altay, Ebru Erbayat; Fisher, Elizabeth; Jones, Stephen E.; Hara-Cleaver, Claire; Lee, Jar-Chi; Rudick, Richard A.

    2013-01-01

    Objective To assess the reliability of new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lesion counts by clinicians in a multiple sclerosis specialty clinic. Design An observational study. Setting A multiple sclerosis specialty clinic. Patients Eighty-five patients with multiple sclerosis participating in a National Institutes of Health–supported longitudinal study were included. Intervention Each patient had a brain MRI scan at entry and 6 months later using a standardized protocol. Main Outcome Measures The number of new T2 lesions, newly enlarging T2 lesions, and gadolinium-enhancing lesions were measured on the 6-month MRI using a computer-based image analysis program for the original study. For this study, images were reanalyzed by an expert neuroradiologist and 3 clinician raters. The neuroradiologist evaluated the original image pairs; the clinicians evaluated image pairs that were modified to simulate clinical practice. New lesion counts were compared across raters, as was classification of patients as MRI active or inactive. Results Agreement on lesion counts was highest for gadolinium-enhancing lesions, intermediate for new T2 lesions, and poor for enlarging T2 lesions. In 18% to 25% of the cases, MRI activity was classified differently by the clinician raters compared with the neuroradiologist or computer program. Variability among the clinical raters for estimates of new T2 lesions was affected most strongly by the image modifications that simulated low image quality and different head position. Conclusions Between-rater variability in new T2 lesion counts may be reduced by improved standardization of image acquisitions, but this approach may not be practical in most clinical environments. Ultimately, more reliable, robust, and accessible image analysis methods are needed for accurate multiple sclerosis disease-modifying drug monitoring and decision making in the routine clinic setting. PMID:23599930

  5. Cdk1 activity acts as a quantitative platform for coordinating cell cycle progression with periodic transcription

    PubMed Central

    Banyai, Gabor; Baïdi, Feriel; Coudreuse, Damien; Szilagyi, Zsolt

    2016-01-01

    Cell proliferation is regulated by cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) and requires the periodic expression of particular gene clusters in different cell cycle phases. However, the interplay between the networks that generate these transcriptional oscillations and the core cell cycle machinery remains largely unexplored. In this work, we use a synthetic regulable Cdk1 module to demonstrate that periodic expression is governed by quantitative changes in Cdk1 activity, with different clusters directly responding to specific activity levels. We further establish that cell cycle events neither participate in nor interfere with the Cdk1-driven transcriptional program, provided that cells are exposed to the appropriate Cdk1 activities. These findings contrast with current models that propose self-sustained and Cdk1-independent transcriptional oscillations. Our work therefore supports a model in which Cdk1 activity serves as a quantitative platform for coordinating cell cycle transitions with the expression of critical genes to bring about proper cell cycle progression. PMID:27045731

  6. The effect of care coordination on pediatric dental patient attendance.

    PubMed

    Casaverde, Nina B; Douglass, Joanna M

    2007-01-01

    The objectives of this retrospective study were to determine if care coordination improved appointment-keeping behavior, and identify factors associated with patient attendance at an urban Medicaid dental clinic. Children with sedation appointments received care coordination comprising telephone reminders, education regarding the appointment, and were mailed reminders or home visits if necessary. Collected chart audit data included age, behavior, appointment history and caries status. After several months, care coordination services were extended to routine, nonsedation appointments. Sedation and routine appointment controls were matched by appointment date and selected from the previous year. Attendance information was obtained from appointment and patient records. Sixty-one sedation appointments and 698 routine appointments were analyzed along with 61 and 931 control appointments, respectively. Sedation patients with care coordination had an attendance rate of 59% compared to 53% in the control group (P>.05). Routine patients with care coordination had an attendance rate of 70% compared to 62% in the control group (P<.001).) Data trends suggest that the children least likely to attend their appointments are those with: (1) high caries scores; (2) poor behavior; (3) long wait times between appointments; (4) multiple missed appointments; and (5) lack of a serviceable phone. Care coordination can improve attendance at an urban Medicaid dental clinic, but improvements are modest. Prospective studies are needed to better delineate which interventions and which patient predictors result in the most improvement in attendance-keeping behavior.

  7. Technology Leaders Wanted: Acknowledging the Leadership Role of a Technology Coordinator

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sugar, William; Holloman, Harold

    2009-01-01

    Technology currently plays a crucial role in impacting teaching practices within schools. Similarly, a technology coordinator performs several tasks within a school environment and plays multiple roles that influence teaching and learning each day. Described as a "position with a protocol," Frazier and Bailey (2004) noted that effective technology…

  8. Double layer zinc-UDP coordination polymers: structure and properties.

    PubMed

    Qiu, Qi-Ming; Gu, Leilei; Ma, Hongwei; Yan, Li; Liu, Minghua; Li, Hui

    2018-05-17

    A homochiral Zn-UDP coordination polymer with an alternating parallel ABAB sequence was constructed and studied by X-ray single crystal diffraction analysis. Its crystal structure shows that there are potentially open sites in the 2D layers. The activation of the sites makes the coordination polymer a fluorescent sensor for novel heterogeneous detection of amino acids.

  9. Orientation-Enhanced Parallel Coordinate Plots.

    PubMed

    Raidou, Renata Georgia; Eisemann, Martin; Breeuwer, Marcel; Eisemann, Elmar; Vilanova, Anna

    2016-01-01

    Parallel Coordinate Plots (PCPs) is one of the most powerful techniques for the visualization of multivariate data. However, for large datasets, the representation suffers from clutter due to overplotting. In this case, discerning the underlying data information and selecting specific interesting patterns can become difficult. We propose a new and simple technique to improve the display of PCPs by emphasizing the underlying data structure. Our Orientation-enhanced Parallel Coordinate Plots (OPCPs) improve pattern and outlier discernibility by visually enhancing parts of each PCP polyline with respect to its slope. This enhancement also allows us to introduce a novel and efficient selection method, the Orientation-enhanced Brushing (O-Brushing). Our solution is particularly useful when multiple patterns are present or when the view on certain patterns is obstructed by noise. We present the results of our approach with several synthetic and real-world datasets. Finally, we conducted a user evaluation, which verifies the advantages of the OPCPs in terms of discernibility of information in complex data. It also confirms that O-Brushing eases the selection of data patterns in PCPs and reduces the amount of necessary user interactions compared to state-of-the-art brushing techniques.

  10. 40 CFR 8.12 - Coordination of reviews from other Parties.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Coordination of reviews from other Parties. 8.12 Section 8.12 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GENERAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF NONGOVERNMENTAL ACTIVITIES IN ANTARCTICA § 8.12 Coordination of reviews from other...

  11. Biocultural Predictors of Motor Coordination Among Prepubertal Boys and Girls.

    PubMed

    Luz, Leonardo G O; Valente-Dos-Santos, João; Luz, Tatiana D D; Sousa-E-Silva, Paulo; Duarte, João P; Machado-Rodrigues, Aristides; Seabra, André; Santos, Rute; Cumming, Sean P; Coelho-E-Silva, Manuel J

    2018-02-01

    This study aimed to predict motor coordination from a matrix of biocultural factors for 173 children (89 boys, 84 girls) aged 7-9 years who were assessed with the Körperkoordinationtest für Kinder test battery. Socioeconomic variables included built environment, area of residence, mother's educational level, and mother's physical activity level (using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire [short version]). The behavioral domain was marked by participation in organized sports and habitual physical activity measured by accelerometers ( ActiGraph GT1M). Indicators of biological development included somatic maturation and body mass index. Among males, the best logistic regression model to explain motor coordination (Nagelkerke R 2   = 50.8; χ 2  = 41.166; p < .001) emerged from age-group (odds ratio [OR]: 0.007-0.065), late maturation (OR = 0.174), normal body weight status (OR = 0.116), mother's educational level (OR = 0.129), and urban area of residence (OR = 0.236). Among girls, the best logistic regression to explain motor coordination (Nagelkerke R 2   = 40.8; χ 2  = 29.933; p < .01) derived from age (OR: 0.091-0.384), normal body mass index (OR = 0.142), participation in organized sport (OR = 0.121), and mother's physical activity level (OR = 0.183). This sex-specific, ecological approach to motor coordination proficiency may help promote physical activity during prepubertal years through familiar determinants.

  12. Boys with developmental coordination disorder: loneliness and team sports participation.

    PubMed

    Poulsen, Anne A; Ziviani, Jenny M; Cuskelly, Monica; Smith, Rachel

    2007-01-01

    This study investigated the mediational role of team sports and other leisure occupations for boys ages 10 to 13 years in the relationship between physical coordination ability and perceptions of loneliness. Sixty boys with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and 113 comparison boys without DCD completed a self-report measure of loneliness. Parents recorded information on leisure involvement over 7 days. Boys with DCD recorded significantly higher loneliness and lower participation rates in all group physical activities, whether structured (e.g., team sports) or unstructured (e.g., informal outdoor play) than boys without DCD. An inverse relationship between physical coordination ability and loneliness was mediated by participation in team sports. No other leisure pursuits were found to be significant mediators. Childhood physical coordination difficulties were significantly associated with loneliness. Participation in team sports acted as one potential mechanism mediating the inverse relationship between physical coordination ability and loneliness in boys. Occupational therapists can act as advocates to support boys with DCD who choose to participate in team sports. Further investigations are recommended to determine aspects of team sports environments that promote an optimal fit among child, activity, and environment.

  13. Coordination of hand shape.

    PubMed

    Pesyna, Colin; Pundi, Krishna; Flanders, Martha

    2011-03-09

    The neural control of hand movement involves coordination of the sensory, motor, and memory systems. Recent studies have documented the motor coordinates for hand shape, but less is known about the corresponding patterns of somatosensory activity. To initiate this line of investigation, the present study characterized the sense of hand shape by evaluating the influence of differences in the amount of grasping or twisting force, and differences in forearm orientation. Human subjects were asked to use the left hand to report the perceived shape of the right hand. In the first experiment, six commonly grasped items were arranged on the table in front of the subject: bottle, doorknob, egg, notebook, carton, and pan. With eyes closed, subjects used the right hand to lightly touch, forcefully support, or imagine holding each object, while 15 joint angles were measured in each hand with a pair of wired gloves. The forces introduced by supporting or twisting did not influence the perceptual report of hand shape, but for most objects, the report was distorted in a consistent manner by differences in forearm orientation. Subjects appeared to adjust the intrinsic joint angles of the left hand, as well as the left wrist posture, so as to maintain the imagined object in its proper spatial orientation. In a second experiment, this result was largely replicated with unfamiliar objects. Thus, somatosensory and motor information appear to be coordinated in an object-based, spatial-coordinate system, sensitive to orientation relative to gravitational forces, but invariant to grasp forcefulness.

  14. Coordination changes and auto-hydroxylation of FIH-1: uncoupled O2-activation in a human hypoxia sensor

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Yuan-Han; Comeaux, Lindsay M.; Herbst, Robert W.; Saban, Evren; Kennedy, David C.; Maroney, Michael J.; Knapp, Michael J.

    2008-01-01

    Hypoxia sensing is the generic term for pO2-sensing in humans and other higher organisms. These cellular responses to pO2 are largely controlled by enzymes that belong to the Fe(II) α-ketoglutarate (αKG) dependent dioxygenase superfamily, including the human enzyme called the Factor Inhibiting HIF (FIH-1), which couples O2-activation to the hydroxylation of the Hypoxia Inducible Factor α (HIFα). Uncoupled O2-activation by human FIH-1 was studied by exposing the resting form of FIH-1, (αKG+Fe)FIH-1, to air in the absence of HIFα. Uncoupling lead to two distinct enzyme oxidations, one a purple chromophore (λmax = 583 nm) arising from enzyme auto-hydroxylation of Trp296, forming an Fe(III)–O–Trp296 chromophore (Y.-H. Chen, L. M. Comeaux, S. J. Eyles, M. J. Knapp, Chem. Commun. (2008) DOI:10.1039/B809099H); the other a yellow chromophore due to Fe(III) in the active site, which under some conditions also contained variable levels of an oxygenated surface residue, (oxo)Met275. The kinetics of purple FIH-1 formation were independent of Fe(II) and αKG concentrations, however product yield was saturable with increasing [αKG] and required excess Fe(II). Yellow FIH-1 was formed from (succinate+Fe)FIH-1, or by glycerol addition to (αKG+Fe)FIH-1, suggesting that glycerol could intercept the active oxidant from the FIH-1 active site and prevent hydroxylation. Both purple and yellow FIH-1 contained high-spin, rhombic Fe(III) centers, as shown by low temperature EPR. XAS indicated distorted octahedral Fe(III) geometries, with subtle differences in inner-shell ligands for yellow and purple FIH-1. EPR of Co(II)-substituted FIH-1, (αKG+Co)FIH-1, indicated a mixture of 5-coordinate and 6-coordinate enzyme forms, suggesting that resting FIH-1 can readily undergo uncoupled O2-activation by loss of an H2O ligand from the metal center. PMID:18805587

  15. Achievements and barriers in the organ donation process: a critical analysis of donation coordinators' discourse.

    PubMed

    Mercado-Martínez, Francisco J; Díaz-Medina, Blanca A; Hernández-Ibarra, Eduardo

    2013-09-01

    Donation coordinators play an important role in the success or failure of organ donation and transplant programs. Nevertheless, these professionals' perspectives and practices have hardly been explored, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. To examine donation coordinators' discourse on the organ donation process and the barriers they perceive. A critical qualitative study was carried out in Guadalajara, Mexico. Twelve donation coordinators from public and private hospitals participated. DATA GATHERING AND ANALYSIS: Data were gathered by using semistructured interviews and critical discourse analysis. Participants indicated that partial results have been achieved in deceased organ donation. Concomitantly, multiple obstacles have adversely affected the process and outcomes: at the structural level, the fragmentation of the health system and the scarcity of financial and material resources; at the relational level, nonegalitarian relationships between coordinators and hospital personnel; at the ideational level, the transplant domain and its specialists overshadow the donation domain and its coordinators. Negative images are associated with donation coordinators. Organ donation faces structural, relational, and ideational barriers; hence, complex interventions should be undertaken. Donation coordinators also should be recognized by the health system.

  16. Coronary Heart Disease Risk between Active and Inactive Women with Multiple Sclerosis.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Slawta, Jennifer N.; McCubbin, Jeffrey A.; Wilcox, Anthony R.; Fox, Susan D.; Nalle, Darek J.; Anderson, Gail

    2002-01-01

    Investigated whether abdominal fat accumulation and levels of triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and glucose differed between 123 active and inactive women with multiple sclerosis (MS). Results indicated that low-to-moderate leisure time physical activity significantly related to less abdominal fat accumulation, lower triglyceride…

  17. Design and Cosimulation of Hierarchical Architecture for Demand Response Control and Coordination

    DOE PAGES

    Bhattarai, Bishnu P.; Levesque, Martin; Bak-Jensen, Birgitte; ...

    2016-12-07

    Demand response (DR) plays a key role for optimum asset utilization and to avoid or delay the need of new infrastructure investment. However, coordinated execution of multiple DRs is desired to maximize the DR benefits. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical DR architecture (HDRA) to control and coordinate the performance of various DR categories such that the operation of every DR category is backed-up by time delayed action of the others. A reliable, cost-effective communication infrastructure based on ZigBee, WiMAX, and fibers is designed to facilitate the HDRA execution. The performance of the proposed HDRA is demonstrated from themore » power system and communication perspectives in a cosimulation environment applied to a 0.4 kV/400 kVA real distribution network considering electric vehicles as a potential DR resource (DRR). The power simulation is performed employing a real time digital simulator whereas the communication simulation is performed using OMNeT++. Finally, the HDRA performance demonstrated the maximum utilization of available DR potential by facilitating simultaneous execution of multiple DRs and enabling participation of single DRR for multiple grid applications.« less

  18. Design and Cosimulation of Hierarchical Architecture for Demand Response Control and Coordination

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bhattarai, Bishnu P.; Levesque, Martin; Bak-Jensen, Birgitte

    Demand response (DR) plays a key role for optimum asset utilization and to avoid or delay the need of new infrastructure investment. However, coordinated execution of multiple DRs is desired to maximize the DR benefits. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical DR architecture (HDRA) to control and coordinate the performance of various DR categories such that the operation of every DR category is backed-up by time delayed action of the others. A reliable, cost-effective communication infrastructure based on ZigBee, WiMAX, and fibers is designed to facilitate the HDRA execution. The performance of the proposed HDRA is demonstrated from themore » power system and communication perspectives in a cosimulation environment applied to a 0.4 kV/400 kVA real distribution network considering electric vehicles as a potential DR resource (DRR). The power simulation is performed employing a real time digital simulator whereas the communication simulation is performed using OMNeT++. Finally, the HDRA performance demonstrated the maximum utilization of available DR potential by facilitating simultaneous execution of multiple DRs and enabling participation of single DRR for multiple grid applications.« less

  19. Neural Bases Of Food Perception: Coordinate-Based Meta-Analyses Of Neuroimaging Studies In Multiple Modalities

    PubMed Central

    Huerta, Claudia I; Sarkar, Pooja R; Duong, Timothy Q.; Laird, Angela R; Fox, Peter T

    2013-01-01

    Objective The purpose of this study was to compare the results of the three food-cue paradigms most commonly used for functional neuroimaging studies to determine: i) commonalities and differences in the neural response patterns by paradigm; and, ii) the relative robustness and reliability of responses to each paradigm. Design and Methods functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies using standardized stereotactic coordinates to report brain responses to food cues were identified using on-line databases. Studies were grouped by food-cue modality as: i) tastes (8 studies); ii) odors (8 studies); and, iii) images (11 studies). Activation likelihood estimation (ALE) was used to identify statistically reliable regional responses within each stimulation paradigm. Results Brain response distributions were distinctly different for the three stimulation modalities, corresponding to known differences in location of the respective primary and associative cortices. Visual stimulation induced the most robust and extensive responses. The left anterior insula was the only brain region reliably responding to all three stimulus categories. Conclusions These findings suggest visual food-cue paradigm as promising candidate for imaging studies addressing the neural substrate of therapeutic interventions. PMID:24174404

  20. Screening the ToxCast Phase 1 chemical library for inhibition of deiodinase type 1 activity

    EPA Science Inventory

    Thyroid hormone (TH) homeostasis is dependent upon coordination of multiple key events including iodide uptake, hormone synthesis, metabolism and elimination, to maintain proper TH signaling. Deiodinase enzymes catalyze iodide release from THs to interconvert THs between active a...

  1. Strength, Multijoint Coordination, and Sensorimotor Processing Are Independent Contributors to Overall Balance Ability

    PubMed Central

    Lawrence, Emily L.; Cesar, Guilherme M.; Bromfield, Martha R.; Peterson, Richard; Valero-Cuevas, Francisco J.; Sigward, Susan M.

    2015-01-01

    For young adults, balance is essential for participation in physical activities but is often disrupted following lower extremity injury. Clinical outcome measures such as single limb balance (SLB), Y-balance (YBT), and the single limb hop and balance (SLHB) tests are commonly used to quantify balance ability following injury. Given the varying demands across tasks, it is likely that such outcome measures provide useful, although task-specific, information. But the extent to which they are independent and contribute to understanding the multiple contributors to balance is not clear. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the associations among these measures as they relate to the different contributors to balance. Thirty-seven recreationally active young adults completed measures including Vertical Jump, YBT, SLB, SLHB, and the new Lower Extremity Dexterity test. Principal components analysis revealed that these outcome measures could be thought of as quantifying the strength, multijoint coordination, and sensorimotor processing contributors to balance. Our results challenge the practice of using a single outcome measure to quantify the naturally multidimensional mechanisms for everyday functions such as balance. This multidimensional approach to, and interpretation of, multiple contributors to balance may lead to more effective, specialized training and rehabilitation regimens. PMID:26665007

  2. FGF8 coordinates tissue elongation and cell epithelialization during early kidney tubulogenesis

    PubMed Central

    Atsuta, Yuji; Takahashi, Yoshiko

    2015-01-01

    When a tubular structure forms during early embryogenesis, tubular elongation and lumen formation (epithelialization) proceed simultaneously in a spatiotemporally coordinated manner. We here demonstrate, using the Wolffian duct (WD) of early chicken embryos, that this coordination is regulated by the expression of FGF8, which shifts posteriorly during body axis elongation. FGF8 acts as a chemoattractant on the leader cells of the elongating WD and prevents them from epithelialization, whereas static (‘rear’) cells that receive progressively less FGF8 undergo epithelialization to form a lumen. Thus, FGF8 acts as a binary switch that distinguishes tubular elongation from lumen formation. The posteriorly shifting FGF8 is also known to regulate somite segmentation, suggesting that multiple types of tissue morphogenesis are coordinately regulated by macroscopic changes in body growth. PMID:26130757

  3. Content-specific coordination of listeners' to speakers' EEG during communication.

    PubMed

    Kuhlen, Anna K; Allefeld, Carsten; Haynes, John-Dylan

    2012-01-01

    Cognitive neuroscience has recently begun to extend its focus from the isolated individual mind to two or more individuals coordinating with each other. In this study we uncover a coordination of neural activity between the ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG) of two people-a person speaking and a person listening. The EEG of one set of twelve participants ("speakers") was recorded while they were narrating short stories. The EEG of another set of twelve participants ("listeners") was recorded while watching audiovisual recordings of these stories. Specifically, listeners watched the superimposed videos of two speakers simultaneously and were instructed to attend either to one or the other speaker. This allowed us to isolate neural coordination due to processing the communicated content from the effects of sensory input. We find several neural signatures of communication: First, the EEG is more similar among listeners attending to the same speaker than among listeners attending to different speakers, indicating that listeners' EEG reflects content-specific information. Secondly, listeners' EEG activity correlates with the attended speakers' EEG, peaking at a time delay of about 12.5 s. This correlation takes place not only between homologous, but also between non-homologous brain areas in speakers and listeners. A semantic analysis of the stories suggests that listeners coordinate with speakers at the level of complex semantic representations, so-called "situation models". With this study we link a coordination of neural activity between individuals directly to verbally communicated information.

  4. Content-specific coordination of listeners' to speakers' EEG during communication

    PubMed Central

    Kuhlen, Anna K.; Allefeld, Carsten; Haynes, John-Dylan

    2012-01-01

    Cognitive neuroscience has recently begun to extend its focus from the isolated individual mind to two or more individuals coordinating with each other. In this study we uncover a coordination of neural activity between the ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG) of two people—a person speaking and a person listening. The EEG of one set of twelve participants (“speakers”) was recorded while they were narrating short stories. The EEG of another set of twelve participants (“listeners”) was recorded while watching audiovisual recordings of these stories. Specifically, listeners watched the superimposed videos of two speakers simultaneously and were instructed to attend either to one or the other speaker. This allowed us to isolate neural coordination due to processing the communicated content from the effects of sensory input. We find several neural signatures of communication: First, the EEG is more similar among listeners attending to the same speaker than among listeners attending to different speakers, indicating that listeners' EEG reflects content-specific information. Secondly, listeners' EEG activity correlates with the attended speakers' EEG, peaking at a time delay of about 12.5 s. This correlation takes place not only between homologous, but also between non-homologous brain areas in speakers and listeners. A semantic analysis of the stories suggests that listeners coordinate with speakers at the level of complex semantic representations, so-called “situation models”. With this study we link a coordination of neural activity between individuals directly to verbally communicated information. PMID:23060770

  5. Cd (II) and holodirected lead (II) 3D-supramolecular coordination polymers based on nicotinic acid: Structure, fluorescence property and photocatalytic activity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Etaiw, Safaa El-din H.; Abd El-Aziz, Dina M.; Marie, Hassan; Ali, Elham

    2018-05-01

    Two new supramolecular coordination polymers namely {[Cd(NA)2(H2O)]}, SCP 1 and {[Pb(NA)2]}, SCP 2, (NA = nicotinate ligand) were synthesized by self-assembly method and structurally characterized by different analytical and spectroscopic methods. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction showed that SCP 1 extend in three dimensions containing bore structure where the 3D- network is constructed via interweaving zigzag chains. The Cd atom coordinates to (O4N2) atoms forming distorted-octahedral configuration. The structure of SCP 2 extend down the projection of the b-axis creating parallel zigzag 1D-chains connected by μ2-O2 atoms and H-bonds forming a holodirected lead (II) hexagonal bi-pyramid configuration. SCP 2 extend to 3D-network via coordinate and hydrogen bonds. The thermal stability, photoluminescence properties, photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue dye (MB) under UV-irradiation and sunlight irradiation were also studied.

  6. Participation in Physical Activity, Fitness, and Risk for Obesity in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: A Cross-cultural Study.

    PubMed

    Cermak, S A; Katz, N; Weintraub, N; Steinhart, S; Raz-Silbiger, S; Munoz, M; Lifshitz, N

    2015-12-01

    Decreased physical activity has been linked to poor fitness and obesity, resulting in increased risk for health concerns. The objective is to study the relationships between children's motor coordination and their physical activity, sedentary behaviour, fitness and weight status in a cross-cultural study in the United States and Israel. Participants included 118 children 6-11 years of age: 53 children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and 65 typical children. The US sample included 31 DCD children and 44 typical children. The Israeli sample included 22 DCD children and 21 typical children. Participants were assessed on Movement Assessment Battery for Children 2, strength test of the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency 2 and Six-minute Walk Test and wore an accelerometer. Parents completed physical activity questionnaires and demographic information. Body mass index was calculated based on height and weight. Testing took place in two sessions. Findings are that in both Israel and the United States, children with DCD demonstrated significantly reduced physical activity, increased sedentary behaviour, poorer fitness and increased overweight compared with typical children. No significant differences were found for country. With relevance to clinical practice, fitness and obesity are major concerns for children with DCD in both countries. Inclusion of occupational therapy in health promotion for this population is critical. Additional studies with testers blind to group, larger samples and other countries are recommended. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  7. Health Information Technology Coordination to Support Patient-centered Care Coordination.

    PubMed

    Steichen, O; Gregg, W

    2015-08-13

    To select papers published in 2014, illustrating how information technology can contribute to and improve patient-centered care coordination. The two section editors performed a literature review from Medline and Web of Science to select a list of candidate best papers on the use of information technology for patient-centered care coordination. These papers were peer-reviewed by external reviewers and three of them were selected as "best papers". The first selected paper reports a qualitative study exploring the gap between current practices of care coordination in various settings and idealized longitudinal care plans. The second selected paper illustrates several unintended consequences of HIT designed to improve care coordination. The third selected paper shows that advanced analytic techniques in medical informatics can be instrumental in studying patient-centered care coordination. The realization of true patient-centered care coordination is dependent upon a number of factors. Standardization of clinical documentation and HIT interoperability across organization and settings is a critical prerequisite for HIT to support patient-centered care coordination. Enabling patient involvement is an efficient means for goal setting and health information sharing. Additionally, unintended consequences of HIT tools (both positive and negative) must be measured and taken into account for quality improvement.

  8. p21 in cancer: intricate networks and multiple activities.

    PubMed

    Abbas, Tarek; Dutta, Anindya

    2009-06-01

    One of the main engines that drives cellular transformation is the loss of proper control of the mammalian cell cycle. The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21 (also known as p21WAF1/Cip1) promotes cell cycle arrest in response to many stimuli. It is well positioned to function as both a sensor and an effector of multiple anti-proliferative signals. This Review focuses on recent advances in our understanding of the regulation of p21 and its biological functions with emphasis on its p53-independent tumour suppressor activities and paradoxical tumour-promoting activities, and their implications in cancer.

  9. Ozone impact minimization through coordinated scheduling of turnaround operations from multiple olefin plants in an ozone nonattainment area

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ge, Sijie; Wang, Sujing; Xu, Qiang; Ho, Thomas

    2018-03-01

    Turnaround operations (start-up and shutdown) are critical operations in olefin plants, which emit large quantities of VOCs, NOx and CO. The emission has great potentials to impact the ozone level in ozone nonattainment areas. This study demonstrates a novel practice to minimize the ozone impact through coordinated scheduling of turnaround operations from multiple olefin plants located in Houston, Texas, an ozone nonattainment area. The study considered two olefin plants scheduled to conduct turnaround operations: one start-up and one shutdown, simultaneously on the same day within a five-hour window. Through dynamic simulations of the turnaround operations using ASPEN Plus Dynamics and air quality simulations using CAMx, the study predicts the ozone impact from the combined effect of the two turnaround operations under different starting-time scenarios. The simulations predict that the ozone impact from planned turnaround operations ranges from a maximum of 11.4 ppb to a minimum of 1.4 ppb. Hence, a reduction of up to 10.0 ppb can be achieved on a single day based on the selected two simulation days. This study demonstrates a cost-effective and environmentally benign ozone control practice for relevant stakeholders, including environmental agencies, regional plant operators, and local communities.

  10. Social Cognitive Correlates of Physical Activity in Inactive Adults with Multiple Sclerosis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dlugonski, Deirdre; Wojcicki, Thomas R.; McAuley, Edward; Motl, Robert W.

    2011-01-01

    Persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) are often physically inactive. This observation has prompted the search for modifiable constructs derived from established theories that act as correlates of physical activity. This study investigated self efficacy, outcome expectations, impediments, and goal setting as correlates of physical activity in…

  11. Circadian enhancers coordinate multiple phases of rhythmic gene transcription in vivo.

    PubMed

    Fang, Bin; Everett, Logan J; Jager, Jennifer; Briggs, Erika; Armour, Sean M; Feng, Dan; Roy, Ankur; Gerhart-Hines, Zachary; Sun, Zheng; Lazar, Mitchell A

    2014-11-20

    Mammalian transcriptomes display complex circadian rhythms with multiple phases of gene expression that cannot be accounted for by current models of the molecular clock. We have determined the underlying mechanisms by measuring nascent RNA transcription around the clock in mouse liver. Unbiased examination of enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) that cluster in specific circadian phases identified functional enhancers driven by distinct transcription factors (TFs). We further identify on a global scale the components of the TF cistromes that function to orchestrate circadian gene expression. Integrated genomic analyses also revealed mechanisms by which a single circadian factor controls opposing transcriptional phases. These findings shed light on the diversity and specificity of TF function in the generation of multiple phases of circadian gene transcription in a mammalian organ.

  12. Social Cognitive Correlates of Physical Activity in Black Individuals With Multiple Sclerosis.

    PubMed

    Kinnett-Hopkins, Dominique; Motl, Robert W

    2016-04-01

    To examine variables from social cognitive theory as correlates of physical activity in black and white individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). Cross-sectional. National survey. Black (n=151) and white (n=185) individuals with MS were recruited through the North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis Registry. Not applicable. The battery of questionnaires included information on demographic and clinical characteristics, physical activity, exercise self-efficacy, function, social support, exercise outcome expectations, and exercise goal setting and planning. Black individuals with MS reported significantly lower levels of physical activity compared with white individuals with MS. Physical activity levels were significantly correlated with self-efficacy, outcome expectations, functional limitations as impediments, and goal setting in black participants with MS. The pattern and magnitude of correlations were comparable with those observed in white participants based on Fisher z tests. Researchers should consider applying behavioral interventions that target social cognitive theory variables for increasing physical activity levels among black individuals with MS. Copyright © 2016 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Screening the ToxCast Phase I Chemical Library for inhibition of Deiodinase Type I enzyme activity

    EPA Science Inventory

    Thyroid hormone (TH) signaling in vertebrates is dependent upon coordination of multiple key events including iodide uptake, hormone synthesis, metabolism and elimination, to maintain proper homeostasis of the hormones. Deiodinase enzymes interconvert THs between less active and...

  14. Autonomous Multi-sensor Coordination: The Science Goal Monitor

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Koratkar, Anuradha; Jung, John; Geiger, Jenny; Grosvenor, Sandy

    2004-01-01

    Next-generation science and exploration systems will employ new observation strategies that will use multiple sensors in a dynamic environment to provide high quality monitoring, self-consistent analyses and informed decision making. The Science Goal Monitor (SGM) is a prototype software tool being developed to explore the nature of automation necessary to enable dynamic observing of earth phenomenon. The tools being developed in SGM improve our ability to autonomously monitor multiple independent sensors and coordinate reactions to better observe the dynamic phenomena. The SGM system enables users to specify events of interest and how to react when an event is detected. The system monitors streams of data to identify occurrences of the key events previously specified by the scientist/user. When an event occurs, the system autonomously coordinates the execution of the users desired reactions between different sensors. The information can be used to rapidly respond to a variety of fast temporal events. Investigators will no longer have to rely on after-the-fact data analysis to determine what happened. Our paper describes a series of prototype demonstrations that we have developed using SGM and NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite and Earth Observing Systems Aqua/Terra spacecrafts MODIS instrument. Our demonstrations show the promise of coordinating data from different sources, analyzing the data for a relevant event, autonomously updating and rapidly obtaining a follow-on relevant image. SGM is being used to investigate forest fires, floods and volcanic eruptions. We are now identifying new earth science scenarios that will have more complex SGM reasoning. By developing and testing a prototype in an operational environment, we are also establishing and gathering metrics to gauge the success of automating science campaigns.

  15. Coexistence of Multiple Attractors in an Active Diode Pair Based Chua’s Circuit

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bao, Bocheng; Wu, Huagan; Xu, Li; Chen, Mo; Hu, Wen

    This paper focuses on the coexistence of multiple attractors in an active diode pair based Chua’s circuit with smooth nonlinearity. With dimensionless equations, dynamical properties, including boundness of system orbits and stability distributions of two nonzero equilibrium points, are investigated, and complex coexisting behaviors of multiple kinds of disconnected attractors of stable point attractors, limit cycles and chaotic attractors are numerically revealed. The results show that unlike the classical Chua’s circuit, the proposed circuit has two stable nonzero node-foci for the specified circuit parameters, thereby resulting in the emergence of multistability phenomenon. Based on two general impedance converters, the active diode pair based Chua’s circuit with an adjustable inductor and an adjustable capacitor is made in hardware, from which coexisting multiple attractors are conveniently captured.

  16. Muscle coordination changes during intermittent cycling sprints.

    PubMed

    Billaut, François; Basset, Fabien A; Falgairette, Guy

    2005-06-03

    Maximal muscle power is reported to decrease during explosive cyclical exercises owing to metabolic disturbances, muscle damage, and adjustments in the efferent neural command. The aim of the present study was to analyze the influence of inter-muscle coordination in fatigue occurrence during 10 intermittent 6-s cycling sprints, with 30-s recovery through electromyographic activity (EMG). Results showed a decrease in peak power output with sprint repetitions (sprint 1 versus sprint 10: -11%, P<0.01) without any significant modifications in the integrated EMG. The timing between the knee extensor and the flexor EMG activation onsets was reduced in sprint 10 (sprint 1 versus sprint 10: -90.2 ms, P<0.05), owing to an earlier antagonist activation with fatigue occurrence. In conclusion, the maximal power output, developed during intermittent cycling sprints of short duration, decreased possibly due to the inability of muscles to maintain maximal force. This reduction in maximal power output occurred in parallel to changes in the muscle coordination pattern after fatigue.

  17. Improving coordination and integration of observations of Arctic change

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Perovich, Donald; Payne, John; Eicken, Hajo

    2012-10-01

    U.S. Arctic Observing Coordination Workshop;Anchorage, Alaska, 20-22 March 2012 The Arctic is undergoing tremendous changes. Permafrost is thawing, ice sheets are melting, and sea ice is thinning and retreating. These changes are impacting ecosystems and human activities. Observing, understanding, and responding to these changes are the central themes of the U.S. Interagency Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH, http://www.arcus.org/search/index.php). SEARCH brings together academic and government agency scientists and stakeholders to prioritize, plan, conduct, and synthesize research focused on Arctic environmental change. The U.S. Arctic Observing Coordination Workshop (http://www.arcus.org/search/meetings/2012/coordination-workshop/) focused on two key themes for cross-disciplinary and cross-agency collaboration: (1) understanding and predicting sea ice changes and their consequences for ecosystems, human activities, and climate and (2) determining consequences of loss and warming of shallow permafrost on Arctic and global systems.

  18. [Towards computer-aided catalyst design: Three effective core potential studies of C-H activation]. Final report

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    NONE

    1998-12-31

    Research in the initial grant period focused on computational studies relevant to the selective activation of methane, the prime component of natural gas. Reaction coordinates for methane activation by experimental models were delineated, as well as the bonding and structure of complexes that effect this important reaction. This research, highlighted in the following sections, also provided the impetus for further development, and application of methods for modeling metal-containing catalysts. Sections of the report describe the following: methane activation by multiple-bonded transition metal complexes; computational lanthanide chemistry; and methane activation by non-imido, multiple-bonded ligands.

  19. Probing C-O bond activation on gas-phase transition metal clusters: Infrared multiple photon dissociation spectroscopy of Fe, Ru, Re, and W cluster CO complexes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lyon, Jonathan T.; Gruene, Philipp; Fielicke, André; Meijer, Gerard; Rayner, David M.

    2009-11-01

    The binding of carbon monoxide to iron, ruthenium, rhenium, and tungsten clusters is studied by means of infrared multiple photon dissociation spectroscopy. The CO stretching mode is used to probe the interaction of the CO molecule with the metal clusters and thereby the activation of the C-O bond. CO is found to adsorb molecularly to atop positions on iron clusters. On ruthenium and rhenium clusters it also binds molecularly. In the case of ruthenium, binding is predominantly to atop sites, however higher coordinated CO binding is also observed for both metals and becomes prevalent for rhenium clusters containing more than nine atoms. Tungsten clusters exhibit a clear size dependence for molecular versus dissociative CO binding. This behavior denotes the crossover to the purely dissociative CO binding on the earlier transition metals such as tantalum.

  20. Multiple-robot drug delivery strategy through coordinated teams of microswimmers

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kei Cheang, U; Kim, Min Jun, E-mail: mkim@coe.drexel.edu; Lee, Kyoungwoo

    2014-08-25

    Untethered robotic microswimmers are very promising to significantly improve various types of minimally invasive surgeries by offering high accuracy at extremely small scales. A prime example is drug delivery, for which a large number of microswimmers is required to deliver sufficient dosages to target sites. For this reason, the controllability of groups of microswimmers is essential. In this paper, we demonstrate simultaneous control of multiple geometrically similar but magnetically different microswimmers using a single global rotating magnetic field. By exploiting the differences in their magnetic properties, we triggered different swimming behaviors from the microswimmers by controlling the frequency and themore » strength of the global field, for example, one swim and the other does not while exposed to the same control input. Our results show that the balance between the applied magnetic torque and the hydrodynamic torque can be exploited for simultaneous control of two microswimmers to swim in opposite directions, with different velocities, and with similar velocities. This work will serve to establish important concepts for future developments of control systems to manipulate multiple magnetically actuated microswimmers and a step towards using swarms of microswimmers as viable workforces for complex operations.« less

  1. Circadian Enhancers Coordinate Multiple Phases of Rhythmic Gene Transcription In Vivo

    PubMed Central

    Fang, Bin; Everett, Logan J.; Jager, Jennifer; Briggs, Erika; Armour, Sean M.; Feng, Dan; Roy, Ankur; Gerhart-Hines, Zachary; Sun, Zheng; Lazar, Mitchell A.

    2014-01-01

    SUMMARY Mammalian transcriptomes display complex circadian rhythms with multiple phases of gene expression that cannot be accounted for by current models of the molecular clock. We have determined the underlying mechanisms by measuring nascent RNA transcription around the clock in mouse liver. Unbiased examination of eRNAs that cluster in specific circadian phases identified functional enhancers driven by distinct transcription factors (TFs). We further identify on a global scale the components of the TF cistromes that function to orchestrate circadian gene expression. Integrated genomic analyses also revealed novel mechanisms by which a single circadian factor controls opposing transcriptional phases. These findings shed new light on the diversity and specificity of TF function in the generation of multiple phases of circadian gene transcription in a mammalian organ. PMID:25416951

  2. Coordinated Fault Tolerance for High-Performance Computing

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Dongarra, Jack; Bosilca, George; et al.

    2013-04-08

    Our work to meet our goal of end-to-end fault tolerance has focused on two areas: (1) improving fault tolerance in various software currently available and widely used throughout the HEC domain and (2) using fault information exchange and coordination to achieve holistic, systemwide fault tolerance and understanding how to design and implement interfaces for integrating fault tolerance features for multiple layers of the software stack—from the application, math libraries, and programming language runtime to other common system software such as jobs schedulers, resource managers, and monitoring tools.

  3. Processing Coordination Ambiguity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Engelhardt, Paul E.; Ferreira, Fernanda

    2010-01-01

    We examined temporarily ambiguous coordination structures such as "put the butter in the bowl and the pan on the towel." Minimal Attachment predicts that the ambiguous noun phrase "the pan" will be interpreted as a noun-phrase coordination structure because it is syntactically simpler than clausal coordination. Constraint-based…

  4. Coordinated reset neuromodulation for Parkinson's disease: Proof-of-concept study

    PubMed Central

    Adamchic, Ilya; Hauptmann, Christian; Barnikol, Utako Brigit; Pawelczyk, Norbert; Popovych, Oleksandr; Barnikol, Thomas Theo; Silchenko, Alexander; Volkmann, Jens; Deuschl, Günter; Meissner, Wassilios G; Maarouf, Mohammad; Sturm, Volker; Freund, Hans-Joachim; Tass, Peter Alexander

    2014-01-01

    Background The discovery of abnormal synchronization of neuronal activity in the basal ganglia in Parkinson's disease (PD) has prompted the development of novel neuromodulation paradigms. Coordinated reset neuromodulation intends to specifically counteract excessive synchronization and to induce cumulative unlearning of pathological synaptic connectivity and neuronal synchrony. Methods In this prospective case series, six PD patients were evaluated before and after coordinated reset neuromodulation according to a standardized protocol that included both electrophysiological recordings and clinical assessments. Results Coordinated reset neuromodulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) applied to six PD patients in an externalized setting during three stimulation days induced a significant and cumulative reduction of beta band activity that correlated with a significant improvement of motor function. Conclusions These results highlight the potential effects of coordinated reset neuromodulation of the STN in PD patients and encourage further development of this approach as an alternative to conventional high-frequency deep brain stimulation in PD. © 2014 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. PMID:24976001

  5. Diversity of activity participation determines bone mineral content in the lower limbs of pre-pubertal children with developmental coordination disorder.

    PubMed

    Fong, S S M; Vackova, D; Choi, A W M; Cheng, Y T Y; Yam, T T T; Guo, X

    2018-04-01

    This study examined the relationships between activity participation and bone mineralization in children with developmental coordination disorder. Limited participation in physical, recreational, social, and skill-based and self-improvement activities contributed to lower bone mineral content. For improved bone health, these children should participate in a variety of activities, not only physical activities. Limited activity participation in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) may have a negative impact on bone mineral accrual. The objectives of this study were to compare bone mineralization and activity participation patterns of pre-pubertal children with DCD and those with typical development, and to determine the association between activity participation patterns and bone mineralization in children with DCD. Fifty-two children with DCD (mean age = 7.51 years) and 61 children with typical development (mean age = 7.22 years) participated in the study. Appendicular and total body (less head) bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) were evaluated by a whole-body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan. Activity participation patterns were assessed using the Children's Assessment of Participation and Enjoyment (CAPE) questionnaire. Children with DCD had lower appendicular and total body BMCs and BMDs than children with typical development overall (p < 0.05). They also had lower CAPE total activity and physical activity diversity scores (p < 0.05). After accounting for the effects of age, sex, height, lean mass, and fat mass, the total activity diversity score remained independently associated with leg BMC in children with DCD, explaining 5.1% of the variance (p = 0.030). However, the physical activity diversity score was no longer associated with leg BMC (p = 0.090). Diversity of activity participation and bone mineralization were lower in pre-pubertal children with DCD. Decreased total activity

  6. Flying Real-Time Network to Coordinate Disaster Relief Activities in Urban Areas †

    PubMed Central

    Micheletto, Matias; Orozco, Javier; Mosse, Daniel

    2018-01-01

    While there have been important advances within wireless communication technology, the provision of communication support during disaster relief activities remains an open issue. The literature in disaster research reports several major restrictions to conducting first response activities in urban areas, given the limitations of telephone networks and radio systems to provide digital communication in the field. In search-and-rescue operations, the communication requirements are increased, since the first responders need to rely on real-time and reliable communication to perform their activities and coordinate their efforts with other teams. Therefore, these limitations open the door to improvisation during disaster relief efforts. In this paper, we argue that flying ad-hoc networks can provide the communication support needed in these scenarios, and propose a new solution towards that goal. The proposal involves the use of flying witness units, implemented using drones, that act as communication gateways between first responders working at different locations of the affected area. The proposal is named the Flying Real-Time Network, and its feasibility to provide communication in a disaster scenario is shown by presenting both a real-time schedulability analysis of message delivery, as well as simulations of the communication support in a physical scenario inspired by a real incident. The obtained results were highly positive and consistent, therefore this proposal represents a step forward towards the solution of this open issue. PMID:29789458

  7. Flying Real-Time Network to Coordinate Disaster Relief Activities in Urban Areas †.

    PubMed

    Micheletto, Matias; Petrucci, Vinicius; Santos, Rodrigo; Orozco, Javier; Mosse, Daniel; Ochoa, Sergio F; Meseguer, Roc

    2018-05-22

    While there have been important advances within wireless communication technology, the provision of communication support during disaster relief activities remains an open issue. The literature in disaster research reports several major restrictions to conducting first response activities in urban areas, given the limitations of telephone networks and radio systems to provide digital communication in the field. In search-and-rescue operations, the communication requirements are increased, since the first responders need to rely on real-time and reliable communication to perform their activities and coordinate their efforts with other teams. Therefore, these limitations open the door to improvisation during disaster relief efforts. In this paper, we argue that flying ad-hoc networks can provide the communication support needed in these scenarios, and propose a new solution towards that goal. The proposal involves the use of flying witness units, implemented using drones, that act as communication gateways between first responders working at different locations of the affected area. The proposal is named the Flying Real-Time Network, and its feasibility to provide communication in a disaster scenario is shown by presenting both a real-time schedulability analysis of message delivery, as well as simulations of the communication support in a physical scenario inspired by a real incident. The obtained results were highly positive and consistent, therefore this proposal represents a step forward towards the solution of this open issue.

  8. Case study of how successful coordination was achieved between a mental health and social care service in Sweden.

    PubMed

    Hansson, Johan; Øvretveit, John; Brommels, Mats

    2012-01-01

    This paper summarises the findings from an empirical longitudinal study of a health and social care consortium for people with mental health problems in one area in Stockholm. The aim was to describe the formation and structure of coordination within the consortium, and to assess the intermediate impact on care processes and client outcomes. A multiple-method case study design, theoretically informed by the Pettigrew and Whipp model of strategic change (1993) was applied. Data was gathered from interviews with informants from different organisations at different times in the development of the consortium, and from administrative documents, plans and service statistics showing some of the intermediate changes and client outcomes. The findings revealed activities and factors both helping and hindering the formation of coordination arrangements. One of the most significant hindering factors was the central county purchasing organisation focusing more on volume and costs, with payments for specific units and services, and with less emphasis on quality of the services. Few studies have described implementation of changes to improve coordination with reference to context over a long period of time, as well as assessing different results. This study contributes to knowledge about improved methods for this type of research, as well as knowledge about developing coordination between public health and welfare services. One lesson for the current policy is that, where full structural integration is not possible, then client-level coordination roles in each sector are useful to connect sector services for shared clients. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  9. Plasma Endothelial Microparticles in Multiple Sclerosis: A Novel Metric Assay of Disease Activity and Response to Treatment

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-09-01

    direct link to a source of increased tissue iron deposition which is characteristic for multiple sclerosis . The results of these data and their... Multiple Sclerosis : A Novel Metric Assay of Disease Activity and Response to Treatment PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Jonathan Steven...SUBTITLE 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER Plasma Endothelial Microparticles in Multiple Sclerosis : A Novel Metric Assay of Disease Activity and Response to

  10. Multiple access techniques and spectrum utilization of the GLOBALSTAR mobile satellite system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Louie, Ming; Cohen, Michel; Rouffet, Denis; Gilhousen, Klein S.

    The GLOBALSTAR System is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite-based mobile communications system that is interoperable with the current and future Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN). The GLOBALSTAR System concept is based upon technological advancement in two key areas: (1) the advancement in LEO satellite technology; (2) the advancement in cellular telephone technology, including the commercial applications of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technologies, and of the most recent progress in Time Division Multiple Access technologies. The GLOBALSTAR System uses elements of CDMA, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) technology, combining with satellite Multiple Beam Antenna (MBA) technology, to arrive at one of the most efficient modulation and multiple access system ever proposed for a satellite communications system. The technology used in GLOBALSTAR exploits the following techniques in obtaining high spectral efficiency and affordable cost per channel, with minimum coordination among different systems: power control, in open and closed loops, voice activation, spot beam satellite antenna for frequency reuse, weighted satellite antenna gain, multiple satellite coverage, and handoff between satellites. The GLOBALSTAR system design will use the following frequency bands: 1610-1626.5 MHz for up-link and 2483.5-2500 MHz for down-link.

  11. General molecular mechanics method for transition metal carboxylates and its application to the multiple coordination modes in mono- and dinuclear Mn(II) complexes.

    PubMed

    Deeth, Robert J

    2008-08-04

    A general molecular mechanics method is presented for modeling the symmetric bidentate, asymmetric bidentate, and bridging modes of metal-carboxylates with a single parameter set by using a double-minimum M-O-C angle-bending potential. The method is implemented within the Molecular Operating Environment (MOE) with parameters based on the Merck molecular force field although, with suitable modifications, other MM packages and force fields could easily be used. Parameters for high-spin d (5) manganese(II) bound to carboxylate and water plus amine, pyridyl, imidazolyl, and pyrazolyl donors are developed based on 26 mononuclear and 29 dinuclear crystallographically characterized complexes. The average rmsd for Mn-L distances is 0.08 A, which is comparable to the experimental uncertainty required to cover multiple binding modes, and the average rmsd in heavy atom positions is around 0.5 A. In all cases, whatever binding mode is reported is also computed to be a stable local minimum. In addition, the structure-based parametrization implicitly captures the energetics and gives the same relative energies of symmetric and asymmetric coordination modes as density functional theory calculations in model and "real" complexes. Molecular dynamics simulations show that carboxylate rotation is favored over "flipping" while a stochastic search algorithm is described for randomly searching conformational space. The model reproduces Mn-Mn distances in dinuclear systems especially accurately, and this feature is employed to illustrate how MM calculations on models for the dimanganese active site of methionine aminopeptidase can help determine some of the details which may be missing from the experimental structure.

  12. Interlimb coordination and academic performance in elementary school children.

    PubMed

    da Silva Pacheco, Sheila Cristina; Gabbard, Carl; Ries, Lilian Gerdi Kittel; Bobbio, Tatiana Godoy

    2016-10-01

    The specific mechanisms linking motor ability and cognitive performance, especially academic achievement, are still unclear. Whereas the literature provides an abundance of information on fine and visual-motor skill and cognitive attributes, much less has been reported on gross motor ability. This study examined interlimb coordination and its relationship to academic performance in children aged 8-11 years. Motor and academic skills were examined in 100 Brazilian children using the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency and the Academic Performance Test. Participants were grouped into low (<25%) and high (>75%) academic achievers. There was a significant difference between groups for Total Motor Composite (P < 0.001) favoring the high group. On regression analysis there was a significant association between academic performance and Body Coordination. Of the subtests of Body Coordination (Bilateral Coordination and Balance), Bilateral Coordination accounted for the highest impact on academic performance. Of interest here, that subtest consists primarily of gross motor tasks involving interlimb coordination. Overall, there was a positive relationship between motor behavior, in particular activities involving interlimb coordination, and academic performance. Application of these findings in the area of early assessment may be useful in the identification of later academic problems. © 2016 Japan Pediatric Society.

  13. Assisting persons with multiple disabilities to move through simple occupational activities with automatic prompting.

    PubMed

    Lancioni, Giulio E; Singh, Nirbhay N; O'Reilly, Mark F; Sigafoos, Jeff; Oliva, Doretta; Campodonico, Francesca; Groeneweg, Jop

    2008-01-01

    The present study assessed the possibility of assisting four persons with multiple disabilities to move through and perform simple occupational activities arranged within a room with the help of automatic prompting. The study involved two multiple probe designs across participants. The first multiple probe concerned the two participants with blindness or minimal vision and deafness, who received air blowing as a prompt. The second multiple probe concerned the two participants with blindness and typical hearing who received a voice calling as a prompt. Initially, all participants had baseline sessions. Then intervention started with the first participant of each dyad. When their performance was consolidated, new baseline and intervention occurred with the second participant of each dyad. Finally, all four participants were exposed to a second intervention phase, in which the number of activities per session doubled (i.e., from 8 to 16). Data showed that all four participants: (a) learned to move across and perform the activities available with the help of automatic prompting and (b) remained highly successful through the second intervention phase when the sessions were extended. Implications of the findings are discussed.

  14. A global model of the neutral thermosphere in magnetic coordinates based on AE-C data

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stehle, C. G.

    1980-01-01

    An empirical model of the global atomic oxygen and helium distributions in the thermosphere is developed in a magnetic coordinate system and compared to similar models which are expanded in geographic coordinates. The advantage of using magnetic coordinates is that fewer terms are needed to make predictions which are nearly identical to those which would be obtained from a geographic model with longitudinal and universal time corrections. Magnetic coordinates are more directly related to the major energy inputs in the polar regions than geographic coordinates and are more convenient to use in studies of high latitude energy deposition processes. This is important for comparison with theoretical models where the number of coordinates is limited. The effect of magnetic activity on the atomic oxygen distribution in the morning sector of the high latitude thermosphere in the auroral zone is also considered. A magnetic activity indicator (ML) based on an auroral electrojet index (AL) and the 3 hour ap index are used to relate the atomic oxygen density variations to magnetic activity in this region.

  15. Cross-Boundary Coordination on Forested Landscapes: Investigating Alternatives for Implementation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gass, Rebecca J.; Rickenbach, Mark; Schulte, Lisa A.; Zeuli, Kimberly

    2009-01-01

    Cross-boundary coordination is a tool for ecosystem management whereby landowners voluntarily coordinate management practices toward economic and/or ecological landscape-scale outcomes (e.g., fiber, invasive species control, habitat). Past research indicates that it may be particularly applicable on landscapes that include small forest landholdings. To explore alternatives by which coordination might occur, we conducted seven focus groups with landowners ( n = 51) who actively manage their forests in southwest Wisconsin and northeast Iowa. Focus group participants were presented with three hypothetical alternatives to coordinate with their neighbors; landowners could self-organize, work with a natural resource professional (i.e., forester), or work with an organization to complete a cross-boundary practice. In this article, we focus on the latter two alternatives and the role of two social theories—principal-agent and cooperation—in explaining landowners’ evaluations of these alternatives. Key findings are that (1) cross-boundary coordination has the potential to alleviate problems between landowners and resource professionals inherent to their typical working relationship, and (2) social relationships are a major factor contributing to landowners’ willingness to participate. We posit that cross-boundary coordination offers a non-economic incentive for landowners to work together as it may reduce the uncertainty associated with hiring a resource professional. At the same time, professionals can provide a bridging function among landowners who are unacquainted. To achieve these outcomes and expand the adoption of cross-boundary coordination, we suggest four guidelines. First, foster dialogue among landowners toward shared cognition and oversight. Second, match landowners’ practices and objectives such that there are clear benefits to all. Third, develop relationships through low risk activities where possible. Fourth, do not expect on-going commitments.

  16. Cross-boundary coordination on forested landscapes: investigating alternatives for implementation.

    PubMed

    Gass, Rebecca J; Rickenbach, Mark; Schulte, Lisa A; Zeuli, Kimberly

    2009-01-01

    Cross-boundary coordination is a tool for ecosystem management whereby landowners voluntarily coordinate management practices toward economic and/or ecological landscape-scale outcomes (e.g., fiber, invasive species control, habitat). Past research indicates that it may be particularly applicable on landscapes that include small forest landholdings. To explore alternatives by which coordination might occur, we conducted seven focus groups with landowners (n=51) who actively manage their forests in southwest Wisconsin and northeast Iowa. Focus group participants were presented with three hypothetical alternatives to coordinate with their neighbors; landowners could self-organize, work with a natural resource professional (i.e., forester), or work with an organization to complete a cross-boundary practice. In this article, we focus on the latter two alternatives and the role of two social theories--principal-agent and cooperation--in explaining landowners' evaluations of these alternatives. Key findings are that (1) cross-boundary coordination has the potential to alleviate problems between landowners and resource professionals inherent to their typical working relationship, and (2) social relationships are a major factor contributing to landowners' willingness to participate. We posit that cross-boundary coordination offers a non-economic incentive for landowners to work together as it may reduce the uncertainty associated with hiring a resource professional. At the same time, professionals can provide a bridging function among landowners who are unacquainted. To achieve these outcomes and expand the adoption of cross-boundary coordination, we suggest four guidelines. First, foster dialogue among landowners toward shared cognition and oversight. Second, match landowners' practices and objectives such that there are clear benefits to all. Third, develop relationships through low risk activities where possible. Fourth, do not expect on-going commitments.

  17. Coordination patterns related to high clinical performance in a simulated anesthetic crisis.

    PubMed

    Manser, Tanja; Harrison, Thomas Kyle; Gaba, David M; Howard, Steven K

    2009-05-01

    Teamwork is an integral component in the delivery of safe patient care. Several studies highlight the importance of effective teamwork and the need for teams to respond dynamically to changing task requirements, for example, during crisis situations. In this study, we address one of the many facets of "effective teamwork" in medical teams by investigating coordination patterns related to high performance in the management of a simulated malignant hyperthermia (MH) scenario. We hypothesized that (a) anesthesia crews dynamically adapt their work and coordination patterns to the occurrence of a simulated MH crisis and that (b) crews with higher clinical performance scores (based on a time-based scoring system for critical MH treatment steps) exhibit different coordination patterns. This observational study investigated differences in work and coordination patterns of 24 two-person anesthesia crews in a simulated MH scenario. Clinical and coordination behavior were coded using a structured observation system consisting of 36 mutually exclusive observation categories for clinical activities, coordination activities, teaching, and other communication. Clinical performance scores for treating the simulated episode of MH were calculated using a time-based scoring system for critical treatment steps. Coordination patterns in response to the occurrence of a crisis situation were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance and the relationship between coordination patterns and clinical performance was investigated using hierarchical regression analyses. Qualitative analyses of the three highest and lowest performing crews were conducted to complement the quantitative analysis. First, a multivariate analysis of variance revealed statistically significant changes in the proportion of time spent on clinical and coordination activities once the MH crisis was declared (F [5,19] = 162.81, P < 0.001, eta(p)(2) = 0.98). Second, hierarchical regression analyses controlling for

  18. In vivo simultaneous transcriptional activation of multiple genes in the brain using CRISPR-dCas9-activator transgenic mice.

    PubMed

    Zhou, Haibo; Liu, Junlai; Zhou, Changyang; Gao, Ni; Rao, Zhiping; Li, He; Hu, Xinde; Li, Changlin; Yao, Xuan; Shen, Xiaowen; Sun, Yidi; Wei, Yu; Liu, Fei; Ying, Wenqin; Zhang, Junming; Tang, Cheng; Zhang, Xu; Xu, Huatai; Shi, Linyu; Cheng, Leping; Huang, Pengyu; Yang, Hui

    2018-03-01

    Despite rapid progresses in the genome-editing field, in vivo simultaneous overexpression of multiple genes remains challenging. We generated a transgenic mouse using an improved dCas9 system that enables simultaneous and precise in vivo transcriptional activation of multiple genes and long noncoding RNAs in the nervous system. As proof of concept, we were able to use targeted activation of endogenous neurogenic genes in these transgenic mice to directly and efficiently convert astrocytes into functional neurons in vivo. This system provides a flexible and rapid screening platform for studying complex gene networks and gain-of-function phenotypes in the mammalian brain.

  19. 29 CFR 42.8 - Coordination plan.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-07-01

    ... coordination plan shall describe the present program responsibilities of OSHA for protecting the safety and... under, and alleged violations of, OSHA recorded in the logs of the OSHA State and area offices, and shall provide general goals for OSHA enforcement activities for the following year as established by...

  20. 40 CFR 264.55 - Emergency coordinator.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... Contingency Plan and Emergency Procedures § 264.55 Emergency coordinator. At all times, there must be at least...'s contingency plan, all operations and activities at the facility, the location and characteristics... addition, this person must have the authority to commit the resources needed to carry out the contingency...

  1. Skeletal maturation, fundamental motor skills and motor coordination in children 7-10 years.

    PubMed

    Freitas, Duarte L; Lausen, Berthold; Maia, José António; Lefevre, Johan; Gouveia, Élvio Rúbio; Thomis, Martine; Antunes, António Manuel; Claessens, Albrecht L; Beunen, Gaston; Malina, Robert M

    2015-01-01

    Relationships between skeletal maturation and fundamental motor skills and gross motor coordination were evaluated in 429 children (213 boys and 216 girls) 7-10 years. Skeletal age was assessed (Tanner-Whitehouse 2 method), and stature, body mass, motor coordination (Körperkoordinations Test für Kinder, KTK) and fundamental motor skills (Test of Gross Motor Development, TGMD-2) were measured. Relationships among chronological age, skeletal age (expressed as the standardised residual of skeletal age on chronological age) and body size and fundamental motor skills and motor coordination were analysed with hierarchical multiple regression. Standardised residual of skeletal age on chronological age interacting with stature and body mass explained a maximum of 7.0% of the variance in fundamental motor skills and motor coordination over that attributed to body size per se. Standardised residual of skeletal age on chronological age alone accounted for a maximum of 9.0% of variance in fundamental motor skills, and motor coordination over that attributed to body size per se and interactions between standardised residual of skeletal age on chronological age and body size. In conclusion, skeletal age alone or interacting with body size has a negligible influence on fundamental motor skills and motor coordination in children 7-10 years.

  2. Widespread promoter-mediated coordination of transcription and mRNA degradation

    PubMed Central

    2012-01-01

    Background Previous work showed that mRNA degradation is coordinated with transcription in yeast, and in several genes the control of mRNA degradation was linked to promoter elements through two different mechanisms. Here we show at the genomic scale that the coordination of transcription and mRNA degradation is promoter-dependent in yeast and is also observed in humans. Results We first demonstrate that swapping upstream cis-regulatory sequences between two yeast species affects both transcription and mRNA degradation and suggest that while some cis-regulatory elements control either transcription or degradation, multiple other elements enhance both processes. Second, we show that adjacent yeast genes that share a promoter (through divergent orientation) have increased similarity in their patterns of mRNA degradation, providing independent evidence for the promoter-mediated coupling of transcription to mRNA degradation. Finally, analysis of the differences in mRNA degradation rates between mammalian cell types or mammalian species suggests a similar coordination between transcription and mRNA degradation in humans. Conclusions Our results extend previous studies and suggest a pervasive promoter-mediated coordination between transcription and mRNA degradation in yeast. The diverse genes and regulatory elements associated with this coordination suggest that it is generated by a global mechanism of gene regulation and modulated by gene-specific mechanisms. The observation of a similar coupling in mammals raises the possibility that coupling of transcription and mRNA degradation may reflect an evolutionarily conserved phenomenon in gene regulation. PMID:23237624

  3. Homogenisation in project management for large German research projects in the Earth system sciences: overcoming the institutional coordination bias

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rauser, Florian; Vamborg, Freja

    2016-04-01

    The interdisciplinary project on High Definition Clouds and Precipitation for advancing climate prediction HD(CP)2 (hdcp2.eu) is an example for the trend in fundamental research in Europe to increasingly focus on large national and international research programs that require strong scientific coordination. The current system has traditionally been host-based: project coordination activities and funding is placed at the host institute of the central lead PI of the project. This approach is simple and has the advantage of strong collaboration between project coordinator and lead PI, while exhibiting a list of strong, inherent disadvantages that are also mentioned in this session's description: no community best practice development, lack of integration between similar projects, inefficient methodology development and usage, and finally poor career development opportunities for the coordinators. Project coordinators often leave the project before it is finalized, leaving some of the fundamentally important closing processes to the PIs. This systematically prevents the creation of professional science management expertise within academia, which leads to an automatic imbalance that hinders the outcome of large research programs to help future funding decisions. Project coordinators in academia often do not work in a professional project office environment that could distribute activities and use professional tools and methods between different projects. Instead, every new project manager has to focus on methodological work anew (communication infrastructure, meetings, reporting), even though the technological needs of large research projects are similar. This decreases the efficiency of the coordination and leads to funding that is effectively misallocated. We propose to challenge this system by creating a permanent, virtual "Centre for Earth System Science Management CESSMA" (cessma.com), and changing the approach from host- based to centre-based. This should

  4. The RNA polymerase II CTD coordinates transcription and RNA processing

    PubMed Central

    Hsin, Jing-Ping; Manley, James L.

    2012-01-01

    The C-terminal domain (CTD) of the RNA polymerase II largest subunit consists of multiple heptad repeats (consensus Tyr1–Ser2–Pro3–Thr4–Ser5–Pro6–Ser7), varying in number from 26 in yeast to 52 in vertebrates. The CTD functions to help couple transcription and processing of the nascent RNA and also plays roles in transcription elongation and termination. The CTD is subject to extensive post-translational modification, most notably phosphorylation, during the transcription cycle, which modulates its activities in the above processes. Therefore, understanding the nature of CTD modifications, including how they function and how they are regulated, is essential to understanding the mechanisms that control gene expression. While the significance of phosphorylation of Ser2 and Ser5 residues has been studied and appreciated for some time, several additional modifications have more recently been added to the CTD repertoire, and insight into their function has begun to emerge. Here, we review findings regarding modification and function of the CTD, highlighting the important role this unique domain plays in coordinating gene activity. PMID:23028141

  5. Prospective association between objective measures of childhood motor coordination and sedentary behaviour in adolescence and adulthood.

    PubMed

    Smith, Lee; Fisher, Abigail; Hamer, Mark

    2015-06-10

    Higher levels of gross motor coordination are positively associated with physical activity in childhood, but little is known about how they relate to sedentary behaviour. The aim of this study was to investigate the longitudinal association between gross motor coordination at childhood and sedentary behaviour in adolescence and adulthood. Data were from the 1970 British Cohort Study (the age 10, 16, and 42-year surveys). At age 10 the participant's mother provided information on how often participants watched TV and played sports and a health visitor administered several tests to assess gross motor coordination. At aged 16 and 42-years participants reported their daily screen and TV time, respectively, and physical activity status. We examined associations between gross motor coordination at age 10 with sedentary behaviour and physical activity at age 16 and 42, using logistic regression. In multivariable models, higher levels of gross motor coordination were associated with lower odds of high screen time (n = 3073; OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.64, 0.98) at 16-years although no associations with physical activity were observed (OR 1.16, 95% CI 0.93, 1.44). Similar associations were observed with TV time in adulthood when participants were aged 42, and in addition high gross motor coordination was also associated with physical activity participation (n = 4879; OR 1.18, 95 % CI 1.02, 1.36). Intervention efforts to increase physical activity participation and reduce sedentary behaviour over the life course may be best targeted towards children with low gross motor coordination.

  6. Different ankle muscle coordination patterns and co-activation during quiet stance between young adults and seniors do not change after a bout of high intensity training.

    PubMed

    Donath, Lars; Kurz, Eduard; Roth, Ralf; Zahner, Lukas; Faude, Oliver

    2015-03-04

    Available evidence suggests that young adults and seniors use different strategies to adjust for increasing body sway during quiet standing. Altered antagonist muscle co-activation and different ankle muscle coordination patterns may account for this finding. Consequently, we aimed at addressing whether aging leads to changes in neuromuscular coordination patterns as well as co-activation during quiet stance. We additionally investigated whether a bout of high intensity interval training additionally alters these patterns. Twenty healthy seniors (age: 70 ± 4 y) and twenty young adults (age: 27 ± 3 y) were enrolled in the present study. In between the testing procedures, four consecutive high-intensity intervals of 4 min duration at a target exercise intensity of 90 to 95% HRmax were completed on a treadmill. The total center of pressure (COP) path length displacement served as standing balance performance outcome. In order to assess ankle muscle coordination patterns, amplitude ratios (AR) were calculated for each muscle (e.g. tibialis anterior (TA) [%] = (TA × 100)/(gastrocnemius medialis (GM) + soleus (SOL) + peroneus longus (PL) + TA). The co-activation was calculated for the SOL and TA muscles computing the co-activation index (CAI = 2 × TA/TA + SOL). Seniors showed an inverted ankle muscle coordination pattern during single limb stance with eyes open (SLEO), compared to young adults (rest: GM, S: 15 ± 8% vs Y: 24 ± 9%; p = 0.03; SOL, S: 27 ± 14% vs Y: 37 ± 18%; p = 0.009; TA, S: 31 ± 13% vs Y: 13 ± 7%; p = 0.003). These patterns did not change after a high-intensity training session. A moderate correlation between amplitude ratios of the TA-contribution and postural sway was observed for seniors during SLEO (r = 0.61). Ankle co-activation was twofold elevated in seniors compared to young adults during SLEO (p < 0.001). These findings were also not affected by high

  7. Technology coordination

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hartman, Steven

    1992-01-01

    Viewgraphs on technology coordination are provided. Topics covered include: technology coordination process to date; goals; how the Office of Aeronautics and Space Technology (OAST) can support the Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA); how OSSA can support OAST; steps to technology transfer; and recommendations.

  8. Coordinated School Health and the Contribution of a District Wellness Coordinator

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Westrich, Lisa; Sanchez, Monika; Strobel, Karen

    2015-01-01

    Background: A San Francisco Bay Area school health initiative was established in fall 2010 to improve wellness programs in 4 local school districts using the Coordinated School Health (CSH) model. This study examines the role of district-wide wellness coordinators and the ways in which they contribute to intentional coordination of health and…

  9. Stress Physiology in Infancy and Early Childhood: Cortisol Flexibility, Attunement and Coordination.

    PubMed

    Atkinson, L; Jamieson, B; Khoury, J; Ludmer, J; Gonzalez, A

    2016-08-01

    Research on stress physiology in infancy has assumed increasing importance due to its lifelong implications. In this review, we focus on measurement of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function, in particular, and on complementary autonomic processes. We suggest that the measure of HPA function has been overly exclusive, focusing on individual reactivity to single, pragmatically selected laboratory challenges. We advocate use of multiple, strategically chosen challenges and within-subject designs. By administering one challenge that typically does not provoke reactivity and another that does, it is possible to represent allostatic load in terms of "flexibility," the capacity to titrate response to challenge. We also recommend assessing infant reactivity in the context of the primary caregiver's physiological function. Infant-mother "attunement" is central to developmental psychology, permeating diverse developmental domains with varied consequences. A review of adrenocortical attunement suggests that attunement is a reliable process, manifest across varied populations. However, attunement appears stronger in the context of more highly stressful circumstances, such that administration of multiple, selected challenges may help evaluate the degree to which individuals titrate attunement to challenge and determine the correlates of this differential attunement. Finally, we advocate studying the "coordination" of HPA function with other aspects of stress physiology and variation in the degree of this coordination. The use of multiple stressors is important here because each stress system is differentially sensitive to different types of challenge. Therefore, use of single stressors in between-subject designs impedes full recognition of the role played by each system. Overall, we recommend measure of flexibility, attunement, and coordination in the context of multiple challenges to capture allostasis in environmental and physiological context. The simultaneous use of

  10. N-(sulfoethyl) iminodiacetic acid-based lanthanide coordination polymers: Synthesis, magnetism and quantum Monte Carlo studies

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Zhuang Guilin, E-mail: glzhuang@zjut.edu.cn; Chen Wulin; Zheng Jun

    2012-08-15

    A series of lanthanide coordination polymers have been obtained through the hydrothermal reaction of N-(sulfoethyl) iminodiacetic acid (H{sub 3}SIDA) and Ln(NO{sub 3}){sub 3} (Ln=La, 1; Pr, 2; Nd, 3; Gd, 4). Crystal structure analysis exhibits that lanthanide ions affect the coordination number, bond length and dimension of compounds 1-4, which reveal that their structure diversity can be attributed to the effect of lanthanide contraction. Furthermore, the combination of magnetic measure with quantum Monte Carlo(QMC) studies exhibits that the coupling parameters between two adjacent Gd{sup 3+} ions for anti-anti and syn-anti carboxylate bridges are -1.0 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -3} and -5.0 Multiplication-Signmore » 10{sup -3} cm{sup -1}, respectively, which reveals weak antiferromagnetic interaction in 4. - Graphical abstract: Four lanthanide coordination polymers with N-(sulfoethyl) iminodiacetic acid were obtained under hydrothermal condition and reveal the weak antiferromagnetic coupling between two Gd{sup 3+} ions by Quantum Monte Carlo studies. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Four lanthanide coordination polymers of H{sub 3}SIDA ligand were obtained. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Lanthanide ions play an important role in their structural diversity. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Magnetic measure exhibits that compound 4 features antiferromagnetic property. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Quantum Monte Carlo studies reveal the coupling parameters of two Gd{sup 3+} ions.« less

  11. Unveiling the AGN activity in multiple SMBH systems observed with XMM-Newton

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    De Rosa, A.

    2017-10-01

    In this talk we will present results from the MAGNA (Multiple AGN Activity) project focused on the detection and study of multiple supermassive black hole systems. We investigate the physical properties (accretion rate and local environment) of multiple AGN candidates in interacting systems with respect to isolated sources with the goal to understand the mechanisms that trigger AGN activity in different stages of galaxy mergers. We present the study performed with SDSS and XMM data sets of 4 AGN pairs at separations of 20-70 kpc. XMM data allowed us to detect and characterize the AGN in all systems, by measuring the accretion and absorption properties of the sources. In each system at least one object is highly obscured, possibly Compton-thick, in agreement with the hypothesis that galaxy encounters are effective in driving gas inflow. One system however manifests the opposite behaviour showing a pair composed from an unobscured type 1 AGN and a Compton Thick AGN. The talk will reflect on broader implications of these findings.

  12. SONEX airborne mission and coordinated POLINAT-2 activity: Overview and accomplishments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Singh, Hanwant B.; Thompson, Anne M.; Schlager, H.

    The SASS (Subsonic Assessment) Ozone and NOx Experiment (SONEX) was an airborne field campaign conducted in October-November 1997 in the vicinity of the North Atlantic Flight Corridor to study the impact of aircraft emissions on NOx and ozone (O3). A fully instrumented NASA DC-8 aircraft was used as the primary SONEX platform. SONEX activities were closely coordinated with the European POLINAT-2 (Pollution from Aircraft Emissions in the North Atlantic Flight Corridor) program, which used a Falcon-20 aircraft. Both campaigns focused on the upper troposphere/“lowermost” stratosphere (UT/LS) as the region of greatest interest. Specific sampling goals were achieved with the aid of a state-of-the art modeling and meteorological support system, which allowed targeted sampling of air parcels with desired characteristics. A substantial impact of aircraft emissions on NOx, O3, and CN in the UT/LS of the study region is shown to be present. This mission provided direct support for the highly nonlinear nature of the NOx-O3 chemistry. The results are being published in Special Sections of GRL and JGR. This overview provides a context within which these publications can be understood.

  13. Determining heterogeneous slip activity on multiple slip systems from single crystal orientation pole figures

    DOE PAGES

    Pagan, Darren C.; Miller, Matthew P.

    2016-09-01

    A new experimental method to determine heterogeneity of shear strains associated with crystallographic slip in the bulk of ductile, crystalline materials is outlined. The method quantifies the time resolved evolution of misorientation within plastically deforming crystals using single crystal orientation pole figures (SCPFs) measured in-situ with X-ray diffraction. A multiplicative decomposition of the crystal kinematics is used to interpret the distributions of lattice plane orientation observed on the SCPFs in terms of heterogeneous slip activity (shear strains) on multiple slip systems. Here, to show the method’s utility, the evolution of heterogeneous slip is quantified in a silicon single crystal plasticallymore » deformed at high temperature at multiple load steps, with slip activity in sub-volumes of the crystal analyzed simultaneously.« less

  14. Cation Coordination Alters the Conformation of a Thrombin-Binding G-Quadruplex DNA Aptamer That Affects Inhibition of Thrombin.

    PubMed

    Zavyalova, Elena; Tagiltsev, Grigory; Reshetnikov, Roman; Arutyunyan, Alexander; Kopylov, Alexey

    2016-10-01

    Thrombin-binding aptamers are promising anticoagulants. HD1 is a monomolecular antiparallel G-quadruplex with two G-quartets linked by three loops. Aptamer-thrombin interactions are mediated with two TT-loops that bind thrombin exosite I. Several cations were shown to be coordinated inside the G-quadruplex, including K + , Na + , NH 4 + , Ba 2+ , and Sr 2+ ; on the contrary, Mn 2+ was coordinated in the grooves, outside the G-quadruplex. K + or Na + coordination provides aptamer functional activity. The effect of other cations on aptamer functional activity has not yet been described, because of a lack of relevant tests. Interactions between aptamer HD1 and a series of cations were studied. A previously developed enzymatic method was applied to evaluate aptamer inhibitory activity. The structure-function correlation was studied using the characterization of G-quadruplex conformation by circular dichroism spectroscopy. K + coordination provided the well-known high inhibitory activity of the aptamer, whereas Na + coordination supported low activity. Although NH 4 + coordination yielded a typical antiparallel G-quadruplex, no inhibitory activity was shown; a similar effect was observed for Ba 2+ and Sr 2+ coordination. Mn 2+ coordination destabilized the G-quadruplex that drastically diminished aptamer inhibitory activity. Therefore, G-quadruplex existence per se is insufficient for aptamer inhibitory activity. To elicit the nature of these effects, we thoroughly analyzed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and X-ray data on the structure of the HD1 G-quadruplex with various cations. The most reasonable explanation is that cation coordination changes the conformation of TT-loops, affecting thrombin binding and inhibition. HD1 counterparts, aptamers 31-TBA and NU172, behaved similarly with some distinctions. In 31-TBA, an additional duplex module stabilized antiparallel G-quadruplex conformation at high concentrations of divalent cations; whereas in NU172, a different

  15. A Data-Based Console Logger for Mission Operations Team Coordination

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Thronesbery, Carroll; Malin, Jane T.; Jenks, Kenneth; Overland, David; Oliver, Patrick; Zhang, Jiajie; Gong, Yang; Zhang, Tao

    2005-01-01

    Concepts and prototypes1,2 are discussed for a data-based console logger (D-Logger) to meet new challenges for coordination among flight controllers arising from new exploration mission concepts. The challenges include communication delays, increased crew autonomy, multiple concurrent missions, reduced-size flight support teams that include multidisciplinary flight controllers during quiescent periods, and migrating some flight support activities to flight controller offices. A spiral development approach has been adopted, making simple, but useful functions available early and adding more extensive support later. Evaluations have guided the development of the D-Logger from the beginning and continue to provide valuable user influence about upcoming requirements. D-Logger is part of a suite of tools designed to support future operations personnel and crew. While these tools can be used independently, when used together, they provide yet another level of support by interacting with one another. Recommendations are offered for the development of similar projects.

  16. Embedding Intervention Targets into Caregiving Routines and Other Activities of the Families Choice.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hollingshead, Lorie; Harris, Kristy; Stremel, Kathleen

    This training module on embedding intervention targets into caregiving routines and other activities of the families' choice is from the Mississippi Early Education Program for Children with Multiple Disabilities, a program designed to train Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Part H service coordinators and service providers to use family…

  17. Decipher the dynamic coordination between enzymatic activity and structural modulation at focal adhesions in living cells

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lu, Shaoying; Seong, Jihye; Wang, Yi; Chang, Shiou-Chi; Eichorst, John Paul; Ouyang, Mingxing; Li, Julie Y.-S.; Chien, Shu; Wang, Yingxiao

    2014-07-01

    Focal adhesions (FAs) are dynamic subcellular structures crucial for cell adhesion, migration and differentiation. It remains an enigma how enzymatic activities in these local complexes regulate their structural remodeling in live cells. Utilizing biosensors based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), we developed a correlative FRET imaging microscopy (CFIM) approach to quantitatively analyze the subcellular coordination between the enzymatic Src activation and the structural FA disassembly. CFIM reveals that the Src kinase activity only within the microdomain of lipid rafts at the plasma membrane is coupled with FA dynamics. FA disassembly at cell periphery was linearly dependent on this raft-localized Src activity, although cells displayed heterogeneous levels of response to stimulation. Within lipid rafts, the time delay between Src activation and FA disassembly was 1.2 min in cells seeded on low fibronectin concentration ([FN]) and 4.3 min in cells on high [FN]. CFIM further showed that the level of Src-FA coupling, as well as the time delay, was regulated by cell-matrix interactions, as a tight enzyme-structure coupling occurred in FA populations mediated by integrin αvβ3, but not in those by integrin α5β1. Therefore, different FA subpopulations have distinctive regulation mechanisms between their local kinase activity and structural FA dynamics.

  18. 48 CFR 419.201-71 - Small business coordinators.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

    2011-10-01

    ... available SDB, WOB, and VOSB to be solicited by competitive procedures. Coordinators shall document the... planning activities and establishing aggressive SDB, WOB, and SDVOSB goals based on the annual review of...

  19. 48 CFR 419.201-71 - Small business coordinators.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

    2014-10-01

    ... available SDB, WOB, and VOSB to be solicited by competitive procedures. Coordinators shall document the... planning activities and establishing aggressive SDB, WOB, and SDVOSB goals based on the annual review of...

  20. 48 CFR 419.201-71 - Small business coordinators.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

    2013-10-01

    ... available SDB, WOB, and VOSB to be solicited by competitive procedures. Coordinators shall document the... planning activities and establishing aggressive SDB, WOB, and SDVOSB goals based on the annual review of...

  1. 48 CFR 419.201-71 - Small business coordinators.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

    2012-10-01

    ... available SDB, WOB, and VOSB to be solicited by competitive procedures. Coordinators shall document the... planning activities and establishing aggressive SDB, WOB, and SDVOSB goals based on the annual review of...

  2. Parent Perspective on Care Coordination Services for Their Child with Medical Complexity.

    PubMed

    Cady, Rhonda G; Belew, John L

    2017-06-06

    The overarching goal of care coordination is communication and co-management across settings. Children with medical complexity require care from multiple services and providers, and the many benefits of care coordination on health and patient experience outcomes have been documented. Despite these findings, parents still report their greatest challenge is communication gaps. When this occurs, parents assume responsibility for aggregating and sharing health information across providers and settings. A new primary-specialty care coordination partnership model for children with medical complexity works to address these challenges and bridge communication gaps. During the first year of the new partnership, parents participated in focus groups to better understand how they perceive communication and collaboration between the providers and services delivering care for their medically complex child. Our findings from these sessions reflect the current literature and highlight additional challenges of rural families, as seen from the perspective of the parents. We found that parents appreciate when professional care coordination is provided, but this is often the exception and not the norm. Additionally, parents feel that the local health system's inability to care for their medically complex child results in unnecessary trips to urban-based specialty care. These gaps require a system-level approach to care coordination and, consequently, new paradigms for delivery are urgently needed.

  3. Synthesis, structural characterization and antitumor activity of a Ca(II) coordination polymer based on 4-formyl-1,3-benzenedisulfonate-2-furoic acid hydrazide ligands

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tai, Xi-Shi, E-mail: taixs@wfu.edu.cn; Wang, Xin

    2017-03-15

    A new Ca(II) coordination polymer, ([CaL(H{sub 2}O){sub 4}] · (H{sub 2}O){sub 4}){sub n} (L = 4-formyl-1,3-benzenedisulfonate-2-furoic acid hydrazide) has been prepared by one-pot synthesis method. And it was characterized by elemental analysis, IR and thermal analysis. The result of X-ray single-crystal diffraction analysis shows that the Ca(II) complex molecules form one-dimensional chain structure by the bridging oxygen atoms. The anti-tumor activity of L ligand and the Ca(II) coordination polymer has also been studied.

  4. International Assistance for Low-Emission Development Planning: Coordinated Low Emissions Assistance Network (CLEAN) Inventory of Activities and Tools--Preliminary Trends

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cox, S.; Benioff, R.

    2011-05-01

    The Coordinated Low Emissions Assistance Network (CLEAN) is a voluntary network of international practitioners supporting low-emission planning in developing countries. The network seeks to improve quality of support through sharing project information, tools, best practices and lessons, and by fostering harmonized assistance. CLEAN has developed an inventory to track and analyze international technical support and tools for low-carbon planning activities in developing countries. This paper presents a preliminary analysis of the inventory to help identify trends in assistance activities and tools available to support developing countries with low-emission planning.

  5. Impaired Visual Motor Coordination in Obese Adults.

    PubMed

    Gaul, David; Mat, Arimin; O'Shea, Donal; Issartel, Johann

    2016-01-01

    Objective. To investigate whether obesity alters the sensory motor integration process and movement outcome during a visual rhythmic coordination task. Methods. 88 participants (44 obese and 44 matched control) sat on a chair equipped with a wrist pendulum oscillating in the sagittal plane. The task was to swing the pendulum in synchrony with a moving visual stimulus displayed on a screen. Results. Obese participants demonstrated significantly ( p < 0.01) higher values for continuous relative phase (CRP) indicating poorer level of coordination, increased movement variability ( p < 0.05), and a larger amplitude ( p < 0.05) than their healthy weight counterparts. Conclusion. These results highlight the existence of visual sensory integration deficiencies for obese participants. The obese group have greater difficulty in synchronizing their movement with a visual stimulus. Considering that visual motor coordination is an essential component of many activities of daily living, any impairment could significantly affect quality of life.

  6. Improvisation and the self-organization of multiple musical bodies.

    PubMed

    Walton, Ashley E; Richardson, Michael J; Langland-Hassan, Peter; Chemero, Anthony

    2015-01-01

    Understanding everyday behavior relies heavily upon understanding our ability to improvise, how we are able to continuously anticipate and adapt in order to coordinate with our environment and others. Here we consider the ability of musicians to improvise, where they must spontaneously coordinate their actions with co-performers in order to produce novel musical expressions. Investigations of this behavior have traditionally focused on describing the organization of cognitive structures. The focus, here, however, is on the ability of the time-evolving patterns of inter-musician movement coordination as revealed by the mathematical tools of complex dynamical systems to provide a new understanding of what potentiates the novelty of spontaneous musical action. We demonstrate this approach through the application of cross wavelet spectral analysis, which isolates the strength and patterning of the behavioral coordination that occurs between improvising musicians across a range of nested time-scales. Revealing the sophistication of the previously unexplored dynamics of movement coordination between improvising musicians is an important step toward understanding how creative musical expressions emerge from the spontaneous coordination of multiple musical bodies.

  7. Improvisation and the self-organization of multiple musical bodies

    PubMed Central

    Walton, Ashley E.; Richardson, Michael J.; Langland-Hassan, Peter; Chemero, Anthony

    2015-01-01

    Understanding everyday behavior relies heavily upon understanding our ability to improvise, how we are able to continuously anticipate and adapt in order to coordinate with our environment and others. Here we consider the ability of musicians to improvise, where they must spontaneously coordinate their actions with co-performers in order to produce novel musical expressions. Investigations of this behavior have traditionally focused on describing the organization of cognitive structures. The focus, here, however, is on the ability of the time-evolving patterns of inter-musician movement coordination as revealed by the mathematical tools of complex dynamical systems to provide a new understanding of what potentiates the novelty of spontaneous musical action. We demonstrate this approach through the application of cross wavelet spectral analysis, which isolates the strength and patterning of the behavioral coordination that occurs between improvising musicians across a range of nested time-scales. Revealing the sophistication of the previously unexplored dynamics of movement coordination between improvising musicians is an important step toward understanding how creative musical expressions emerge from the spontaneous coordination of multiple musical bodies. PMID:25941499

  8. Coordinating and Negotiating Blue Nile Water Resource Development

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Geressu, R. T.; Harou, J. J.

    2016-12-01

    Many countries are proposing new reservoirs in transboundary river basins world-wide that impact downstream regions. Failure to consider and incorporate multiple stakeholder interests in system design and decision making could contribute to regional disputes. Negotiated introduction of new assets and associated coordination strategies (e.g. cost and power sharing arrangements) could reduce conflict and help achieve consensus. In multi-stakeholders problems, parties are likely to prioritize performance targets differently and hence will often prefer different water system designs, stalling negotiations. An ideal solution is where individual and group benefits are maximized by allocating (exchanging) resources according to the relative preferences of stakeholders. Hence, a negotiation support mechanism should be able to incorporate stakeholder preference information. In this paper, we propose a three-step search & deliberate, elicit preferences, and search & negotiate approach for supporting negotiations in complex infrastructure-environmental systems. The approach seeks to find designs and coordination mechanisms that are more beneficial than non-cooperative actions. The proposed approach is applied to a stylized Blue Nile reservoir design problem in Ethiopia seeking to set reservoir capacity and operating rules. We consider cost and energy performance metrics for Ethiopia and energy and irrigation water supply in Sudan. We use example stakeholder (i.e., Ethiopian and Sudanese) priorities for demonstration purpose. The result is an agreed system design and coordination schemes (co-financing and power trade). The application results demonstrate that incorporating coordination strategies, such as energy trade, cost sharing, and financing in assessing transboundary reservoir development options could help find compromise designs that different parties can support.

  9. Opportunities and challenges of international coordination efforts in space exploration - the DLR perspective

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Boese, Andrea

    The German Aerospace Center and German Space Agency DLR has defined internationalisation one of the four pillars of its corporate strategy. Driven by global challenges, national space agencies like DLR are seeking partnerships to contribute to essential societal needs, such as human welfare, sustainability of life, economic development, security, culture and knowledge. All partnerships with both traditional and non-traditional partners must reflect a balanced approach between national requirements and needs of the international community. In view of the challenges emerging from this complexity, endeavours like space exploration must be built on mutual cooperation especially in a challenging political environment. Effective and efficient exploitation of existing expertise, human resources, facilities and infrastructures require consolidated actions of stakeholders, interest groups and authorities. This basic principle applies to any space exploration activity. DLR is among the agencies participating in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG) from its beginning in 2007. The strategic goals of DLR regarding space exploration correspond to the purpose of ISECG as a forum to share objectives and plans to take concrete steps towards partnerships for a globally coordinated effort in space exploration. DLR contributes to ISECG publications especially the “Global Exploration Roadmap” and the “Benefits stemming from Space Exploration” to see those messages reflected that support cooperation with internal and external exploration stakeholders in science and technology and communication with those in politics and society. DLR provides input also to other groups engaging in space exploration. However, taking into account limited resources and expected results, the effectiveness of multiple coordination and planning mechanisms needs to be discussed.

  10. Reducing childhood obesity through coordinated care: Development of a park prescription program

    PubMed Central

    Messiah, Sarah E; Jiang, Sandy; Kardys, Jack; Hansen, Eric; Nardi, Maria; Forster, Lourdes

    2016-01-01

    Major hindrances to controlling the current childhood obesity epidemic include access to prevention and/or treatment programs that are affordable, provide minimal barriers for participation, and are available to the general public. Moreover, successful childhood obesity prevention efforts will require coordinated partnerships in multiple sectors such as government, health care, school/afterschool, and the community but very few documented sustainable programs currently exist. Effective, community-based health and wellness programs with a focus on maintaining healthy weight via physical activity and healthy eating have the potential to be a powerful referral resource for pediatricians and other healthcare professionals who have young patients who are overweight/obese. The Miami Dade County Department of Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces in partnership with the University of Miami UHealth Systems have created a “Park Prescription Program (Parks Rx 4HealthTM)” that formally coordinates pediatricians, families, parents, caregivers, and child/adolescents to provide daily obesity-prevention activities. This Parks Rx 4HealthTM program that we describe here allows UHealth pediatricians to seamlessly refer their overweight and obese patients to Fit2PlayTM, an evidence-based, park-based afterschool health and wellness program. Measurable outcomes that include body mass index, blood pressure, fitness, and nutrition knowledge are being collected at baseline and at 3-and 6-mo after referral to document patient progress. Results are then shared with the referring physician so they can follow up with the patient if necessary. Identifying successful models that integrate primary care, public health, and community-based efforts is important to accelerating progress in preventing childhood obesity. Effective, community-based health and wellness programs with a focus on physical activity and nutrition education could be a powerful referral resource for pediatricians who have

  11. Coordinates of anthropogenic features on the Moon

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wagner, R. V.; Nelson, D. M.; Plescia, J. B.; Robinson, M. S.; Speyerer, E. J.; Mazarico, E.

    2017-02-01

    High-resolution images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) reveal the landing locations of recent and historic spacecraft and associated impact sites across the lunar surface. Using multiple images of each site acquired between 2009 and 2015, an improved Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) ephemeris, and a temperature-dependent camera orientation model, we derived accurate coordinates (<12 m) for each soft-landed spacecraft, rover, deployed scientific payload, and spacecraft impact crater that we have identified. Accurate coordinates enhance the scientific interpretations of data returned by the surface instruments and of returned samples of the Apollo and Luna sites. In addition, knowledge of the sizes and positions of craters formed as the result of impacting spacecraft provides key benchmarks into the relationship between energy and crater size, as well as calibration points for reanalyzing seismic measurements acquired during the Apollo program. We identified the impact craters for the three spacecraft that impacted the surface during the LRO mission by comparing before and after NAC images.

  12. Coordinates of Anthropogenic Features on the Moon

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wagner, R. V.; Nelson, D. M.; Plescia, J. B.; Robinson, M. S.; Speyerer , E. J.; Mazarico, E.

    2016-01-01

    High-resolution images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) reveal the landing locations of recent and historic spacecraft and associated impact sites across the lunar surface. Using multiple images of each site acquired between 2009 and 2015, an improved Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) ephemeris, and a temperature-dependent camera orientation model, we derived accurate coordinates ( less than 12 meters) for each soft-landed spacecraft, rover, deployed scientific payload, and spacecraft impact crater that we have identified. Accurate coordinates enhance the scientific interpretations of data returned by the surface instruments and of returned samples of the Apollo and Luna sites. In addition, knowledge of the sizes and positions of craters formed as the result of impacting spacecraft provides key benchmarks into the relationship between energy and crater size, as well as calibration points for reanalyzing seismic measurements acquired during the Apollo program. We identified the impact craters for the three spacecraft that impacted the surface during the LRO mission by comparing before and after NAC images.

  13. Science Education and Public Outreach Forums (SEPOF): Providing Coordination and Support for NASA's Science Mission Directorate Education and Outreach Programs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mendez, B. J.; Smith, D.; Shipp, S. S.; Schwerin, T. G.; Stockman, S. A.; Cooper, L. P.; Peticolas, L. M.

    2009-12-01

    NASA is working with four newly-formed Science Education and Public Outreach Forums (SEPOFs) to increase the overall coherence of the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) program. SEPOFs support the astrophysics, heliophysics, planetary and Earth science divisions of NASA SMD in three core areas: * E/PO Community Engagement and Development * E/PO Product and Project Activity Analysis * Science Education and Public Outreach Forum Coordination Committee Service. SEPOFs are collaborating with NASA and external science and education and outreach communities in E/PO on multiple levels ranging from the mission and non-mission E/PO project activity managers, project activity partners, and scientists and researchers, to front line agents such as naturalists/interpreters, teachers, and higher education faculty, to high level agents such as leadership at state education offices, local schools, higher education institutions, and professional societies. The overall goal for the SEPOFs is increased awareness, knowledge, and understanding of scientists, researchers, engineers, technologists, educators, product developers, and dissemination agents of best practices, existing NASA resources, and community expertise applicable to E/PO. By coordinating and supporting the NASA E/PO Community, the NASA/SEPOF partnerships will lead to more effective, sustainable, and efficient utilization of NASA science discoveries and learning experiences.

  14. Coordination Dynamics in Cognitive Neuroscience

    PubMed Central

    Bressler, Steven L.; Kelso, J. A. Scott

    2016-01-01

    Many researchers and clinicians in cognitive neuroscience hold to a modular view of cognitive function in which the cerebral cortex operates by the activation of areas with circumscribed elementary cognitive functions. Yet an ongoing paradigm shift to a dynamic network perspective is underway. This new viewpoint treats cortical function as arising from the coordination dynamics within and between cortical regions. Cortical coordination dynamics arises due to the unidirectional influences imposed on a cortical area by inputs from other areas that project to it, combined with the projection reciprocity that characterizes cortical connectivity and gives rise to reentrant processing. As a result, cortical dynamics exhibits both segregative and integrative tendencies and gives rise to both cooperative and competitive relations within and between cortical areas that are hypothesized to underlie the emergence of cognition in brains. PMID:27695395

  15. Coordinating Centers in Cancer-Epidemiology Research: The Asia Cohort Consortium Coordinating Center

    PubMed Central

    Rolland, Betsy; Smith, Briana R; Potter, John D

    2011-01-01

    Although it is tacitly recognized that a good Coordinating Center (CC) is essential to the success of any multi-site collaborative project, very little study has been done on what makes a CC successful, why some CCs fail, or how to build a CC that meets the needs of a given project. Moreover, very little published guidance is available, as few CCs outside the clinical-trial realm write about their work. The Asia Cohort Consortium (ACC) is a collaborative cancer-epidemiology research project that has made strong scientific and organizational progress over the past three years by focusing its CC on the following activities: collaboration development; operations management; statistical and data management; and communications infrastructure and tool development. Our hope is that, by sharing our experience building the ACC CC, we can begin a conversation about what it means to run a coordinating center for multi-institutional collaboration in cancer epidemiology, help other collaborative projects solve some of the issues associated with collaborative research, and learn from others. PMID:21803842

  16. 33 CFR 385.20 - Restoration Coordination and Verification (RECOVER).

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... Water Management District to conduct assessment, evaluation, and planning and integration activities... ensuring that the goals and purposes of the Plan are achieved. RECOVER has been organized into a Leadership Group that provides management and coordination for the activities of RECOVER and teams that accomplish...

  17. Coordinating Demand-Side Efficiency Evaluation, Measurement and Verification Among Western States: Options for Documenting Energy and Non-Energy Impacts for the Power Sector

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Schiller, Steven R.; Schwartz, Lisa C.

    Demand-side energy efficiency (efficiency) represents a low-cost opportunity to reduce electricity consumption and demand and provide a wide range of non-energy benefits, including avoiding air pollution. Efficiency-related energy and non-energy impacts are determined and documented by implementing evaluation, measurement and verification (EM&V) systems. This technical brief describes efficiency EM&V coordination strategies that Western states can consider taking on together, outlines EM&V-related products that might be appropriate for multistate coordination, and identifies some implications of coordination. Coordinating efficiency EM&V activities can save both time and costs for state agencies and stakeholders engaged in efficiency activities and can be particularly beneficial formore » multiple states served by the same utility. First, the brief summarizes basic information on efficiency, its myriad potential benefits and EM&V for assessing those benefits. Second, the brief introduces the concept of multistate EM&V coordination in the context of assessing such benefits, including achievement of state and federal goals to reduce air pollutants.1 Next, the brief presents three coordination strategy options for efficiency EM&V: information clearinghouse/exchange, EM&V product development, and a regional energy efficiency tracking system platform. The brief then describes five regional EM&V products that could be developed on a multistate basis: EM&V reporting formats, database of consistent deemed electricity savings values, glossary of definitions and concepts, efficiency EM&V methodologies, and EM&V professional standards or accreditation processes. Finally, the brief discusses options for next steps that Western states can take to consider multistate coordination on efficiency EM&V. Appendices provide background information on efficiency and EM&V, as well as definitions and suggested resources on the covered topics. This brief is intended to inform state

  18. Movement Coordination during Conversation

    PubMed Central

    Latif, Nida; Barbosa, Adriano V.; Vatiokiotis-Bateson, Eric; Castelhano, Monica S.; Munhall, K. G.

    2014-01-01

    Behavioral coordination and synchrony contribute to a common biological mechanism that maintains communication, cooperation and bonding within many social species, such as primates and birds. Similarly, human language and social systems may also be attuned to coordination to facilitate communication and the formation of relationships. Gross similarities in movement patterns and convergence in the acoustic properties of speech have already been demonstrated between interacting individuals. In the present studies, we investigated how coordinated movements contribute to observers’ perception of affiliation (friends vs. strangers) between two conversing individuals. We used novel computational methods to quantify motor coordination and demonstrated that individuals familiar with each other coordinated their movements more frequently. Observers used coordination to judge affiliation between conversing pairs but only when the perceptual stimuli were restricted to head and face regions. These results suggest that observed movement coordination in humans might contribute to perceptual decisions based on availability of information to perceivers. PMID:25119189

  19. Physical activity in subjects with multiple sclerosis with focus on gender differences: a survey

    PubMed Central

    2014-01-01

    Background There is increasing research that examines gender-issues in multiple sclerosis (MS), but little focus has been placed on gender-issues regarding physical activity. The aim of the present study was to describe levels of physical activity, self-efficacy for physical activity, fall-related self-efficacy, social support for physical activity, fatigue levels and the impact of MS on daily life, in addition to investigating gender differences. Methods The sample for this cross-sectional cohort study consisted of 287 (84 men; 29.3%) adults with MS recruited from the Swedish Multiple Sclerosis Registry. A questionnaire was sent to the subjects consisting of the self-administrated measurements: Physical Activity Disability Survey – Revised, Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale, Falls- Efficacy Scale (Swedish version), Social Influences on Physical Activity, Fatigue Severity Scale and Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale. Response rate was 58.2%. Results Men were less physically active, had lower self-efficacy for physical activity and lower fall-related self-efficacy than women. This was explained by men being more physically affected by the disease. Men also received less social support for physical activity from family members. The level of fatigue and psychological consequences of the disease were similar between the genders in the total sample, but subgroups of women with moderate MS and relapsing remitting MS experienced more fatigue than men. Conclusions Men were less physically active, probably a result of being more physically affected by the disease. Men being more physically affected explained most of the gender differences found in this study. However, the number of men in the subgroup analyses was small and more research is needed. A gender perspective should be considered in strategies for promoting physical activity in subjects with MS, e.g. men may need more support to be physically active. PMID:24612446

  20. Physical activity in subjects with multiple sclerosis with focus on gender differences: a survey.

    PubMed

    Anens, Elisabeth; Emtner, Margareta; Zetterberg, Lena; Hellström, Karin

    2014-03-10

    There is increasing research that examines gender-issues in multiple sclerosis (MS), but little focus has been placed on gender-issues regarding physical activity. The aim of the present study was to describe levels of physical activity, self-efficacy for physical activity, fall-related self-efficacy, social support for physical activity, fatigue levels and the impact of MS on daily life, in addition to investigating gender differences. The sample for this cross-sectional cohort study consisted of 287 (84 men; 29.3%) adults with MS recruited from the Swedish Multiple Sclerosis Registry. A questionnaire was sent to the subjects consisting of the self-administrated measurements: Physical Activity Disability Survey - Revised, Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale, Falls-Efficacy Scale (Swedish version), Social Influences on Physical Activity, Fatigue Severity Scale and Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale. Response rate was 58.2%. Men were less physically active, had lower self-efficacy for physical activity and lower fall-related self-efficacy than women. This was explained by men being more physically affected by the disease. Men also received less social support for physical activity from family members. The level of fatigue and psychological consequences of the disease were similar between the genders in the total sample, but subgroups of women with moderate MS and relapsing remitting MS experienced more fatigue than men. Men were less physically active, probably a result of being more physically affected by the disease. Men being more physically affected explained most of the gender differences found in this study. However, the number of men in the subgroup analyses was small and more research is needed. A gender perspective should be considered in strategies for promoting physical activity in subjects with MS, e.g. men may need more support to be physically active.

  1. Designs for thermal harvesting with nonlinear coordinate transformation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ji, Qingxiang; Fang, Guodong; Liang, Jun

    2018-04-01

    In this paper a thermal concentrating design method was proposed based on the concept of generating function without knowing the needed coordinate transformation beforehand. The thermal harvesting performance was quantitatively characterized by heat concentrating efficiency and external temperature perturbation. Nonlinear transformations of different forms were employed to design high order thermal concentrators, and corresponding harvesting performances were investigated by numerical simulations. The numerical results shows that the form of coordinate transformation directly influences the distributions of heat flows inside the concentrator, consequently, influences the thermal harvesting behaviors significantly. The concentrating performance can be actively controlled and optimized by changing the form of coordinate transformations. The analysis in this paper offers a beneficial method to flexibly tune the harvesting performance of the thermal concentrator according to the requirements of practical applications.

  2. Variationally optimal selection of slow coordinates and reaction coordinates in macromolecular systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Noe, Frank

    To efficiently simulate and generate understanding from simulations of complex macromolecular systems, the concept of slow collective coordinates or reaction coordinates is of fundamental importance. Here we will introduce variational approaches to approximate the slow coordinates and the reaction coordinates between selected end-states given MD simulations of the macromolecular system and a (possibly large) basis set of candidate coordinates. We will then discuss how to select physically intuitive order paremeters that are good surrogates of this variationally optimal result. These result can be used in order to construct Markov state models or other models of the stationary and kinetics properties, in order to parametrize low-dimensional / coarse-grained model of the dynamics. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, European Research Council.

  3. Differences in physical fitness and gross motor coordination in boys aged 6-12 years specializing in one versus sampling more than one sport.

    PubMed

    Fransen, Job; Pion, Johan; Vandendriessche, Joric; Vandorpe, Barbara; Vaeyens, Roel; Lenoir, Matthieu; Philippaerts, Renaat M

    2012-01-01

    The Developmental Model of Sports Participation proposes two pathways towards expertise in sports between 6 and 12 years of age: early specialization and early diversification. This study investigated the effect of sampling various sports and of spending many or few hours in sports on fitness and gross motor coordination. Altogether, 735 boys in three age groups (6-8, 8-10, and 10-12 years) were profiled using a fitness test battery. A computerized physical activity questionnaire was used to obtain data on sports participation. In the eldest group, (M)ANCOVA showed a positive effect of sampling various sports on strength, speed, endurance, and gross motor coordination (P < 0.05). A positive effect of many hours per week spent in sports was apparent in every age group. These data suggest an acute positive effect of many hours in sports and a latent positive effect of early sampling on fitness and gross motor coordination. Multiple comparisons revealed that boys aged 10-12 years, who spent many hours in various sports, performed better on standing broad jump (P < 0.05) and gross motor coordination (P < 0.05) than boys specializing in a single sport. Therefore, our results highlight the importance of spending many hours in sports and sampling various sports in the development of fitness and gross motor coordination.

  4. Product Distribution Theory and Semi-Coordinate Transformations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Airiau, Stephane; Wolpert, David H.

    2004-01-01

    Product Distribution (PD) theory is a new framework for doing distributed adaptive control of a multiagent system (MAS). We introduce the technique of "coordinate transformations" in PD theory gradient descent. These transformations selectively couple a few agents with each other into "meta-agents". Intuitively, this can be viewed as a generalization of forming binding contracts between those agents. Doing this sacrifices a bit of the distributed nature of the MAS, in that there must now be communication from multiple agents in determining what joint-move is finally implemented However, as we demonstrate in computer experiments, these transformations improve the performance of the MAS.

  5. Six-coordinate manganese(3+) in catalysis by yeast manganese superoxide dismutase

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Sheng, Yuewei; Gralla, Edith Butler; Schumacher, Mikhail

    Reduction of superoxide (O{sub 2}{sup -}) by manganese-containing superoxide dismutase occurs through either a 'prompt protonation' pathway, or an 'inner-sphere' pathway, with the latter leading to formation of an observable Mn-peroxo complex. We recently reported that wild-type (WT) manganese superoxide dismutases (MnSODs) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans are more gated toward the 'prompt protonation' pathway than human and bacterial MnSODs and suggested that this could result from small structural changes in the second coordination sphere of manganese. We report here that substitution of a second-sphere residue, Tyr34, by phenylalanine (Y34F) causes the MnSOD from S. cerevisiae to react exclusivelymore » through the 'inner-sphere' pathway. At neutral pH, we have a surprising observation that protonation of the Mn-peroxo complex in the mutant yeast enzyme occurs through a fast pathway, leading to a putative six-coordinate Mn3+ species, which actively oxidizes O{sub 2}{sup -} in the catalytic cycle. Upon increasing pH, the fast pathway is gradually replaced by a slow proton-transfer pathway, leading to the well-characterized five-coordinate Mn{sup 3+}. We here propose and compare two hypothetical mechanisms for the mutant yeast enzyme, diffeeing in the structure of the Mn-peroxo complex yet both involving formation of the active six-coordinate Mn{sup 3+} and proton transfer from a second-sphere water molecule, which has substituted for the -OH of Tyr34, to the Mn-peroxo complex. Because WT and the mutant yeast MnSOD both rest in the 2+ state and become six-coordinate when oxidized up from Mn{sup 2+}, six-coordinate Mn{sup 3+} species could also actively function in the mechanism of WT yeast MnSODs.« less

  6. Monitoring of stability of ASG-EUPOS network coordinates

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Figurski, M.; Szafranek, K.; Wrona, M.

    2009-04-01

    ASG-EUPOS (Active Geodetic Network - European Position Determination System) is the national system of precise satellite positioning in Poland, which increases a density of regional and global GNSS networks and is widely used by public administration, national institutions, entrepreneurs and citizens (especially surveyors). In near future ASG-EUPOS is to take role of main national network. Control of proper activity of stations and realization of ETRS'89 is a necessity. User of the system needs to be sure that observations quality and coordinates accuracy are high enough. Coordinates of IGS (International GNSS Service) and EPN (European Permanent Network) stations are precisely determined and any changes are monitored all the time. Observations are verified before they are archived in regional and global databases. The same applies to ASG-EUPOS. This paper concerns standardization of GNSS observations from different stations (uniform adjustment), examination of solutions correctness according to IGS and EPN standards and stability of solutions and sites activity

  7. Strike-parallel and strike-normal coordinate system around geometrically complicated rupture traces: use by NGA-West2 and further improvements

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Spudich, Paul A.; Chiou, Brian

    2015-01-01

    We present a two-dimensional system of generalized coordinates for use with geometrically complex fault ruptures that are neither straight nor continuous. The coordinates are a generalization of the conventional strike-normal and strike-parallel coordinates of a single straight fault. The presented conventions and formulations are applicable to a single curved trace, as well as multiple traces representing the rupture of branching faults or noncontiguous faults. An early application of our generalized system is in the second round of the Next Generation of Ground-Motion Attenuation Model project for the Western United States (NGA-West2), where they were used in the characterization of the hanging-wall effects. We further improve the NGA-West2 strike-parallel formulation for multiple rupture traces with a more intuitive definition of the nominal strike direction. We also derive an analytical expression for the gradient of the generalized strike-normal coordinate. The direction of this gradient may be used as the strike-normal direction in the study of polarization effects on ground motions.

  8. Morphology design of porous coordination polymer crystals by coordination modulation.

    PubMed

    Umemura, Ayako; Diring, Stéphane; Furukawa, Shuhei; Uehara, Hiromitsu; Tsuruoka, Takaaki; Kitagawa, Susumu

    2011-10-05

    The design of crystal morphology, or exposed crystal facets, has enabled the development (e.g., catalytic activities, material attributes, and oriented film formation) of porous coordination polymers (PCPs) without changing material compositions. However, because crystal growth mechanisms are not fully understood, control of crystal morphology still remains challenging. Herein, we report the morphology design of [Cu(3)(btc)(2)](n) (btc = benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate) by the coordination modulation method (modulator = n-dodecanoic acid or lauric acid). A morphological transition (octahedron-cuboctahedron-cube) in the [Cu(3)(btc)(2)](n) crystal was observed with an increase in concentration of the modulator. By suitably defining a coarse-grained standard unit of [Cu(3)(btc)(2)](n) as its cuboctahedron main pore and determining its attachment energy on crystal surfaces, Monte Carlo coarse-grain modeling revealed the population and orientation of carboxylates and elucidated an important role of the modulator in determining the <100>- and <111>-growth throughout the crystal growth process. This comprehension, in fact, successfully led to designed crystal morphologies with oriented growth on bare substrates. Because selective crystal orientations on the bare substrates were governed by crystal morphology, this contribution also casts a new light on the unexplored issue of the significance of morphology design of PCPs.

  9. Sgol2 provides a regulatory platform that coordinates essential cell cycle processes during meiosis I in oocytes

    PubMed Central

    Rattani, Ahmed; Wolna, Magda; Ploquin, Mickael; Helmhart, Wolfgang; Morrone, Seamus; Mayer, Bernd; Godwin, Jonathan; Xu, Wenqing; Stemmann, Olaf; Pendas, Alberto; Nasmyth, Kim

    2013-01-01

    Accurate chromosome segregation depends on coordination between cohesion resolution and kinetochore-microtubule interactions (K-fibers), a process regulated by the spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC). How these diverse processes are coordinated remains unclear. We show that in mammalian oocytes Shugoshin-like protein 2 (Sgol2) in addition to protecting cohesin, plays an important role in turning off the SAC, in promoting the congression and bi-orientation of bivalents on meiosis I spindles, in facilitating formation of K-fibers and in limiting bivalent stretching. Sgol2’s ability to protect cohesin depends on its interaction with PP2A, as is its ability to silence the SAC, with the latter being mediated by direct binding to Mad2. In contrast, its effect on bivalent stretching and K-fiber formation is independent of PP2A and mediated by recruitment of MCAK and inhibition of Aurora C kinase activity respectively. By virtue of its multiple interactions, Sgol2 links many of the processes essential for faithful chromosome segregation. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.01133.001 PMID:24192037

  10. Proteasome 20S in multiple myeloma: comparison of concentration and chymotrypsin-like activity in plasma and serum.

    PubMed

    Romaniuk, Wioletta; Kalita, Joanna; Ostrowska, Halina; Kloczko, Janusz

    2018-03-05

    The ubiquitin-proteasome system is relevant in the pathobiology of many haematological malignancies, including multiple myeloma. The assessment of proteasome concentration and chymotrypsin-like (ChT-L) activity might constitute a new approach to diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of anticancer treatment of patients with haematological malignancies and other diseases. The aim of our study was to determine which material, plasma or serum, is better for measuring chymotrypsin-like (ChT-L) activity and proteasome concentration. We analysed proteasome concentration and chymotrypsin-like (ChT-L) activity in 70 plasma and serum samples drawn from 28 patients at different treatment stages for multiple myeloma (MM) and 31 healthy volunteers. Proteasome ChT-L activity and concentration in multiple myeloma patients were significantly higher in plasma compared to serum. In this group we observed significant and positive correlations both between the plasma and serum proteasome ChT-L activity and plasma and serum proteasome concentration. The higher values of proteasome concentration and ChT-L activity in plasma than in serum and their better correlations with parameters of tumour load and prognosis suggest that plasma constitutes a better biological material for measuring ChT-L activity and proteasome concentration than serum in multiple myeloma patients.

  11. The Neural Network In Coordinate Transformation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Urusan, Ahmet Yucel

    2011-12-01

    In international literature, Coordinate operations is divided into two categories. They are coordinate conversion and coordinate transformation. Coordinates converted from coordinate system A to coordinate system B in the same datum (mean origine, scale and axis directions are same) by coordinate conversion. There are two different datum in coordinate transformation. The basis of each datum to a different coordinate reference system. In Coordinate transformation, coordinates are transformed from coordinate reference system A to coordinate referance system B. Geodetic studies based on physical measurements. Coordinate transformation needs identical points which were measured in each coordinate reference system (A and B). However it is difficult (and need a big reserved budget) to measure in some places like as top of mountain, boundry of countries and seaside. In this study, this sample problem solution was researched. The method of learning which is one of the neural network methods, was used for solution of this problem.

  12. Potentially Modifiable Factors Associated With Physical Activity in Individuals With Multiple Sclerosis.

    PubMed

    Reider, Nadia; Salter, Amber R; Cutter, Gary R; Tyry, Tuula; Marrie, Ruth Ann

    2017-04-01

    Physical activity levels among persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) are worryingly low. We aimed to identify the factors associated with physical activity for people with MS, with an emphasis on factors that have not been studied previously (bladder and hand dysfunction) and are potentially modifiable. This study was a secondary analysis of data collected in the spring of 2012 during the North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis (NARCOMS) Registry. NARCOMS participants were surveyed regarding smoking using questions from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey; disability using the Patient Determined Disease Steps; fatigue, cognition, spasticity, sensory, bladder, vision and hand function using self-reported Performance Scales; health literacy using the Medical Term Recognition Test; and physical activity using questions from the Health Information National Trends Survey. We used a forward binary logistic regression to develop a predictive model in which physical activity was the outcome variable. Of 8,755 respondents, 1,707 (19.5%) were classified as active and 7,068 (80.5%) as inactive. In logistic regression, being a current smoker, moderate or severe level of disability, depression, fatigue, hand, or bladder dysfunction and minimal to mild spasticity were associated with lower odds of meeting physical activity guidelines. MS type was not linked to activity level. Several modifiable clinical and lifestyle factors influenced physical activity in MS. Prospective studies are needed to evaluate whether modification of these factors can increase physical activity participation in persons with MS. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  13. Magnetic Coordinate Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Laundal, K. M.; Richmond, A. D.

    2017-03-01

    Geospace phenomena such as the aurora, plasma motion, ionospheric currents and associated magnetic field disturbances are highly organized by Earth's main magnetic field. This is due to the fact that the charged particles that comprise space plasma can move almost freely along magnetic field lines, but not across them. For this reason it is sensible to present such phenomena relative to Earth's magnetic field. A large variety of magnetic coordinate systems exist, designed for different purposes and regions, ranging from the magnetopause to the ionosphere. In this paper we review the most common magnetic coordinate systems and describe how they are defined, where they are used, and how to convert between them. The definitions are presented based on the spherical harmonic expansion coefficients of the International Geomagnetic Reference Field (IGRF) and, in some of the coordinate systems, the position of the Sun which we show how to calculate from the time and date. The most detailed coordinate systems take the full IGRF into account and define magnetic latitude and longitude such that they are constant along field lines. These coordinate systems, which are useful at ionospheric altitudes, are non-orthogonal. We show how to handle vectors and vector calculus in such coordinates, and discuss how systematic errors may appear if this is not done correctly.

  14. Coordinating and planning for human sexuality education.

    PubMed

    Jenkins, D M

    1981-04-01

    The coordinator provides parent education, teacher and staff inservice training, team-teaching experiences, student counseling and a broad range of support activities related to the wider community as well as to the schools involved. The need for a coordinator for programs may depend on size and/or diversity of the school population, professional readiness of teachers and types of programs to be implemented. Despite the advances made in the Pomona program, there continue to be such problems as occasional resistance from special interest groups, administrators and school staff, individual instructors' personal value conflicts, transitional nature of student population and turnover in teacher personnel. A coordinator for sexuality programs is certainly not a total remedy for such problems in all school districts; but as an essential element in the solution of those problems, he/she provides an approach which will help school districts in initiating and implementing programs with a greater degree of success.

  15. Multiple Activities of Punica granatum Linne against Acne Vulgaris.

    PubMed

    Lee, Chia-Jung; Chen, Lih-Geeng; Liang, Wen-Li; Wang, Ching-Chiung

    2017-01-12

    Acne is a common skin condition with sebum overproduction, hyperkeratosis, Propionibacterium acnes ( P . acnes ) and Staphylococcus aureus , and inflammation. Punica granatum (pomegranate) is well-known for its anti-inflammatory effects; however, few studies have discussed the anti-acne effects of pomegranate. In this study, we found that pomegranate extract (PG-E) significantly reduced P . acnes -induced edema in Wistar rat ears. Therefore, an evaluation platform using multiple pathogenic mechanisms of acne was established to explore the anti-acne effects of pomegranate. Results showed that PG-E inhibited bacterial growth and lipase activity. Through a bioguided-fractionation-isolation system, four hydrolysable tannins, punicalagin ( 1 ), punicalin ( 2 ), strictinin A ( 3 ), and granatin B ( 4 ), were isolated. Compounds 1 and 2 had greater anti-bacterial activities and anti-testosterone-induced HaCaT proliferative effects than the others. Compounds 1 , 3 , and 4 displayed lipase inhibitory effects. Compound 4 decreased cyclooxygenase-2 expression and downregulated prostaglandin E₂ production in heat-killed P . acnes -treated RAW 246.7 cells. In conclusion, PG-E is abundant in hydrolysable tannins that display multiple anti-acne capacities, including anti-bacterial, anti-lipase, anti-keratinocyte proliferation, and anti-inflammatory actions. Hence, PG-E has great potential in the application of anti-acne and skin-care products, and punicalagin ( 1 ), the most effective component in PG-E, can be employed as a quality control marker.

  16. Multiple Activities of Punica granatum Linne against Acne Vulgaris

    PubMed Central

    Lee, Chia-Jung; Chen, Lih-Geeng; Liang, Wen-Li; Wang, Ching-Chiung

    2017-01-01

    Acne is a common skin condition with sebum overproduction, hyperkeratosis, Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) and Staphylococcus aureus, and inflammation. Punica granatum (pomegranate) is well-known for its anti-inflammatory effects; however, few studies have discussed the anti-acne effects of pomegranate. In this study, we found that pomegranate extract (PG-E) significantly reduced P. acnes-induced edema in Wistar rat ears. Therefore, an evaluation platform using multiple pathogenic mechanisms of acne was established to explore the anti-acne effects of pomegranate. Results showed that PG-E inhibited bacterial growth and lipase activity. Through a bioguided-fractionation-isolation system, four hydrolysable tannins, punicalagin (1), punicalin (2), strictinin A (3), and granatin B (4), were isolated. Compounds 1 and 2 had greater anti-bacterial activities and anti-testosterone-induced HaCaT proliferative effects than the others. Compounds 1, 3, and 4 displayed lipase inhibitory effects. Compound 4 decreased cyclooxygenase-2 expression and downregulated prostaglandin E2 production in heat-killed P. acnes-treated RAW 246.7 cells. In conclusion, PG-E is abundant in hydrolysable tannins that display multiple anti-acne capacities, including anti-bacterial, anti-lipase, anti-keratinocyte proliferation, and anti-inflammatory actions. Hence, PG-E has great potential in the application of anti-acne and skin-care products, and punicalagin (1), the most effective component in PG-E, can be employed as a quality control marker. PMID:28085116

  17. Room temperature synthesis of a Zn(II) metal-organic coordination polymer for dye removal

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Abbasi, Alireza, E-mail: aabbasi@khayam.ut.ac.ir; Gharib, Maniya; Najafi, Mahnaz

    2016-03-15

    A new one-dimensional (1D) coordination polymer, [Zn(4,4′-bpy)(H{sub 2}O){sub 4}](ADC)·4H{sub 2}O (1) (4,4′-bpy=4,4′-bipyridine and H{sub 2}ADC=acetylenedicarboxylic acid), was synthesized at room temperature. The crystal structure of the coordination polymer was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Compound 1 was also characterized by FT-IR, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The catalytic activity of 1 was evaluated in the color removal of Bismarck brown as a representative of dye pollutant in water under mild conditions. Coordination polymer 1 exhibited good catalytic activity and stability in the decolorization of Bismarck brown and could be easily recovered and reused for at leastmore » three cycles. - Graphical abstract: A new 1D coordination polymer as catalyst for the degradation of Bismarck brown aqueous solution. - Highlights: • A 1D coordination polymer has been synthesized at room temperature. • The prepared compound was utilized for color removal of Bismarck brown dye. • Good catalytic activity and stability in the dye decolorization has been found.« less

  18. The metazoan Mediator co-activator complex as an integrative hub for transcriptional regulation.

    PubMed

    Malik, Sohail; Roeder, Robert G

    2010-11-01

    The Mediator is an evolutionarily conserved, multiprotein complex that is a key regulator of protein-coding genes. In metazoan cells, multiple pathways that are responsible for homeostasis, cell growth and differentiation converge on the Mediator through transcriptional activators and repressors that target one or more of the almost 30 subunits of this complex. Besides interacting directly with RNA polymerase II, Mediator has multiple functions and can interact with and coordinate the action of numerous other co-activators and co-repressors, including those acting at the level of chromatin. These interactions ultimately allow the Mediator to deliver outputs that range from maximal activation of genes to modulation of basal transcription to long-term epigenetic silencing.

  19. A Metadata Model for E-Learning Coordination through Semantic Web Languages

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Elci, Atilla

    2005-01-01

    This paper reports on a study aiming to develop a metadata model for e-learning coordination based on semantic web languages. A survey of e-learning modes are done initially in order to identify content such as phases, activities, data schema, rules and relations, etc. relevant for a coordination model. In this respect, the study looks into the…

  20. Telephone-Based Physical Activity Counseling for Major Depression in People with Multiple Sclerosis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bombardier, Charles H.; Ehde, Dawn M.; Gibbons, Laura E.; Wadhwani, Roini; Sullivan, Mark D.; Rosenberg, Dori E.; Kraft, George H.

    2013-01-01

    Objective: Physical activity represents a promising treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). We conducted a single-blind, two-arm randomized controlled trial comparing a 12-week physical activity counseling intervention delivered primarily by telephone (n = 44) to a wait-list control group (N = 48).…

  1. Does a not-so-recent ankle sprain influence interjoint coordination during walking?

    PubMed

    Dedieu, Philippe; Chamoun, Rima; Lacaud, Guilhaume; Moulinat, Thibault; Queron, Maxime; Zanone, Pier-Giorgio

    2017-12-01

    Ankle sprains are common joint injuries in daily and sports activities, whose underlying mechanisms have been amply studied. If joint structures are directly damaged, neuromuscular activity can be affected, particularly in the time domain. This study aims to establish whether previous ankle injury correlates with changes in the inter-joint synergy of the entire lower limb and in the muscle activity pattern during walking. Three-dimensional walking-gait analysis was conducted on twenty-four adults. Ten of them had never suffered from ankle sprain; fourteen had suffered from ankle sprain at least once during the three preceding years. Continuous Relative Phase (CRP) between the moving limbs assessed inter-joint coordination, and muscular activity was recorded by EMG. CRP between ankle and knee and between ankle and hip indicates that both joints moved in tight synchronization in the same direction on the injured side, whereas there was a time lag between joints on the healthy side for each sprained participants or on both side for the control group. Start-time and/or duration of muscular activity of tibialis anterior, soleus and peroneus longus occurred earlier and were longer on the injured side, respectively. Our findings suggest that ankle sprain modifies inter-joint coordination and muscular activity of the injured limb, inducing not an entirely new pattern of coordination but an alteration of the existing pattern. CRP revealed slight modifications in the extant inter-joint coordination which may not be captured by other kinematic variables, which opens perspectives on therapy and relapse prevention. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. A Safe Cooperative Framework for Atmospheric Science Missions with Multiple Heterogeneous UAS using Piecewise Bezier Curves

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mehdi, S. Bilal; Puig-Navarro, Javier; Choe, Ronald; Cichella, Venanzio; Hovakimyan, Naira; Chandarana, Meghan; Trujillo, Anna; Rothhaar, Paul M.; Tran, Loc; Neilan, James H.; hide

    2016-01-01

    Autonomous operation of UAS holds promise for greater productivity of atmospheric science missions. However, several challenges need to be overcome before such missions can be made autonomous. This paper presents a framework for safe autonomous operations of multiple vehicles, particularly suited for atmospheric science missions. The framework revolves around the use of piecewise Bezier curves for trajectory representation, which in conjunction with path-following and time-coordination algorithms, allows for safe coordinated operations of multiple vehicles.

  3. Resource Constrained Planning of Multiple Projects with Separable Activities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fujii, Susumu; Morita, Hiroshi; Kanawa, Takuya

    In this study we consider a resource constrained planning problem of multiple projects with separable activities. This problem provides a plan to process the activities considering a resource availability with time window. We propose a solution algorithm based on the branch and bound method to obtain the optimal solution minimizing the completion time of all projects. We develop three methods for improvement of computational efficiency, that is, to obtain initial solution with minimum slack time rule, to estimate lower bound considering both time and resource constraints and to introduce an equivalence relation for bounding operation. The effectiveness of the proposed methods is demonstrated by numerical examples. Especially as the number of planning projects increases, the average computational time and the number of searched nodes are reduced.

  4. Coordinated Monitoring Systems for Early Care and Education. OPRE Research Brief 2016-19

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Maxwell, Kelly; Sosinsky, Laura; Tout, Kathryn; Hegseth, Danielle

    2016-01-01

    Early care and education providers are subject to monitoring by multiple agencies and organizations. In this brief provides an overview of monitoring and the major early care and education monitoring systems. It then offers possible goals for a coordinated monitoring system and describes some approaches to addressing those goals. Eleven dimensions…

  5. UAV Communication Management and Coordination for Multitarget Tracking

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2009-02-26

    6.3 Weighted Trace Penalty 16 6.4 Results with WTP for ECTG 17 7 Multiple UAV Case 20 7.1 Extension of WTP 20 7.2 Coordinated sensor motion...growth by a weighted trace penalty ( WTP ) term, which is a product of the current covariancc trace and the minimum distance to observability (MDO) for a...Specifically, the terminal cost or ECTG term using the WTP has the form J(b) = JWTP(b) := iD(s, e) Tfc P\\ (6.1) where 7 is a positive constant, i is the

  6. What do results from coordinate-based meta-analyses tell us?

    PubMed

    Albajes-Eizagirre, Anton; Radua, Joaquim

    2018-08-01

    Coordinate-based meta-analyses (CBMA) methods, such as Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) and Seed-based d Mapping (SDM), have become an invaluable tool for summarizing the findings of voxel-based neuroimaging studies. However, the progressive sophistication of these methods may have concealed two particularities of their statistical tests. Common univariate voxelwise tests (such as the t/z-tests used in SPM and FSL) detect voxels that activate, or voxels that show differences between groups. Conversely, the tests conducted in CBMA test for "spatial convergence" of findings, i.e., they detect regions where studies report "more peaks than in most regions", regions that activate "more than most regions do", or regions that show "larger differences between groups than most regions do". The first particularity is that these tests rely on two spatial assumptions (voxels are independent and have the same probability to have a "false" peak), whose violation may make their results either conservative or liberal, though fortunately current versions of ALE, SDM and some other methods consider these assumptions. The second particularity is that the use of these tests involves an important paradox: the statistical power to detect a given effect is higher if there are no other effects in the brain, whereas lower in presence of multiple effects. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Likability’s Effect on Interpersonal Motor Coordination: Exploring Natural Gaze Direction

    PubMed Central

    Zhao, Zhong; Salesse, Robin N.; Marin, Ludovic; Gueugnon, Mathieu; Bardy, Benoît G.

    2017-01-01

    Although existing studies indicate a positive effect of interpersonal motor coordination (IMC) on likability, no consensus has been reached as for the effect of likability back onto IMC. The present study specifically investigated the causal effect of likability on IMC and explored, by tracking the natural gaze direction, the possible underlying mechanisms. Twenty-two participants were engaged in an interpersonal finger-tapping task with a confederate in three likability conditions (baseline, likable, and unlikable), while wearing an eye tracker. They had to perform finger tapping at their comfort tempo with the confederate who tapped at the same or 1.5 times of the participant’s preferred frequency. Results showed that when tapping at the same frequency, the effect of likability on IMC varied with time. Participants coordinated at a higher level in the baseline condition at the beginning of the coordination task, and a facilitative effect of likability on IMC was revealed in the last session. As a novelty, our results evidenced a positive correlation between IMC and the amount of gaze onto the coordination partner’s movement only in the likable condition. No effect of likability was found when the confederate was tapping at 1.5 times of the participant’s preferred frequency. Our research suggests that the psychosocial property of the coordinating partner should be taken into consideration when investigating the performance of IMC and that IMC is a parameter that is sensitive to multiple factors. PMID:29123495

  8. Ultra-large supramolecular coordination cages composed of endohedral Archimedean and Platonic bodies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Byrne, Kevin; Zubair, Muhammad; Zhu, Nianyong; Zhou, Xiao-Ping; Fox, Daniel S.; Zhang, Hongzhou; Twamley, Brendan; Lennox, Matthew J.; Düren, Tina; Schmitt, Wolfgang

    2017-05-01

    Pioneered by Lehn, Cram, Peterson and Breslow, supramolecular chemistry concepts have evolved providing fundamental knowledge of the relationships between the structures and reactivities of organized molecules. A particular fascinating class of metallo-supramolecular molecules are hollow coordination cages that provide cavities of molecular dimensions promoting applications in diverse areas including catalysis, enzyme mimetics and material science. Here we report the synthesis of coordination cages with exceptional cross-sectional diameters that are composed of multiple sub-cages providing numerous distinctive binding sites through labile coordination solvent molecules. The building principles, involving Archimedean and Platonic bodies, renders these supramolecular keplerates as a class of cages whose composition and topological aspects compare to characteristics of edge-transitive {Cu2} MOFs with A3X4 stoichiometry. The nature of the cavities in these double-shell metal-organic polyhedra and their inner/outer binding sites provide perspectives for post-synthetic functionalizations, separations and catalysis. Transmission electron microscopy studies demonstrate that single molecules are experimentally accessible.

  9. Ultra-large supramolecular coordination cages composed of endohedral Archimedean and Platonic bodies

    PubMed Central

    Byrne, Kevin; Zubair, Muhammad; Zhu, Nianyong; Zhou, Xiao-Ping; Fox, Daniel S.; Zhang, Hongzhou; Twamley, Brendan; Lennox, Matthew J.; Düren, Tina; Schmitt, Wolfgang

    2017-01-01

    Pioneered by Lehn, Cram, Peterson and Breslow, supramolecular chemistry concepts have evolved providing fundamental knowledge of the relationships between the structures and reactivities of organized molecules. A particular fascinating class of metallo-supramolecular molecules are hollow coordination cages that provide cavities of molecular dimensions promoting applications in diverse areas including catalysis, enzyme mimetics and material science. Here we report the synthesis of coordination cages with exceptional cross-sectional diameters that are composed of multiple sub-cages providing numerous distinctive binding sites through labile coordination solvent molecules. The building principles, involving Archimedean and Platonic bodies, renders these supramolecular keplerates as a class of cages whose composition and topological aspects compare to characteristics of edge-transitive {Cu2} MOFs with A3X4 stoichiometry. The nature of the cavities in these double-shell metal-organic polyhedra and their inner/outer binding sites provide perspectives for post-synthetic functionalizations, separations and catalysis. Transmission electron microscopy studies demonstrate that single molecules are experimentally accessible. PMID:28485392

  10. Health IT-Enabled Care Coordination: A National Survey of Patient-Centered Medical Home Clinicians.

    PubMed

    Morton, Suzanne; Shih, Sarah C; Winther, Chloe H; Tinoco, Aldo; Kessler, Rodger S; Scholle, Sarah Hudson

    2015-01-01

    Health information technology (IT) offers promising tools for improving care coordination. We assessed the feasibility and acceptability of 6 proposed care coordination objectives for stage 3 of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services electronic health record incentive program (Meaningful Use) related to referrals, notification of care from other facilities, patient clinical summaries, and patient dashboards. We surveyed physician-owned and hospital/health system-affiliated primary care practices that achieved patient-centered medical home recognition and participated in the Meaningful Use program, and community health clinics with patient-centered medical home recognition (most with certified electronic health record systems). The response rate was 35.1%. We ascertained whether practices had implemented proposed objectives and perceptions of their importance. We analyzed the association of organizational and contextual factors with self-reported use of health IT to support care coordination activities. Although 78% of the 350 respondents viewed timely notification of hospital discharges as very important, only 48.7% used health IT systems to accomplish this task. The activity most frequently supported by health IT was providing clinical summaries to patients, in 76.6% of practices; however, merely 47.7% considered this activity very important. Greater use of health IT to support care coordination activities was positively associated with the presence of a nonclinician responsible for care coordination and the practice's capacity for systematic change. Even among practices having a strong commitment to the medical home model, the use of health IT to support care coordination objectives is not consistent. Health IT capabilities are not currently aligned with clinicians' priorities. Many practices will need financial and technical assistance for health IT to enhance care coordination. © 2015 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.

  11. Health IT–Enabled Care Coordination: A National Survey of Patient-Centered Medical Home Clinicians

    PubMed Central

    Morton, Suzanne; Shih, Sarah C.; Winther, Chloe H.; Tinoco, Aldo; Kessler, Rodger S.; Scholle, Sarah Hudson

    2015-01-01

    PURPOSE Health information technology (IT) offers promising tools for improving care coordination. We assessed the feasibility and acceptability of 6 proposed care coordination objectives for stage 3 of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services electronic health record incentive program (Meaningful Use) related to referrals, notification of care from other facilities, patient clinical summaries, and patient dashboards. METHODS We surveyed physician-owned and hospital/health system–affiliated primary care practices that achieved patient-centered medical home recognition and participated in the Meaningful Use program, and community health clinics with patient-centered medical home recognition (most with certified electronic health record systems). The response rate was 35.1%. We ascertained whether practices had implemented proposed objectives and perceptions of their importance. We analyzed the association of organizational and contextual factors with self-reported use of health IT to support care coordination activities. RESULTS Although 78% of the 350 respondents viewed timely notification of hospital discharges as very important, only 48.7% used health IT systems to accomplish this task. The activity most frequently supported by health IT was providing clinical summaries to patients, in 76.6% of practices; however, merely 47.7% considered this activity very important. Greater use of health IT to support care coordination activities was positively associated with the presence of a nonclinician responsible for care coordination and the practice’s capacity for systematic change. CONCLUSIONS Even among practices having a strong commitment to the medical home model, the use of health IT to support care coordination objectives is not consistent. Health IT capabilities are not currently aligned with clinicians’ priorities. Many practices will need financial and technical assistance for health IT to enhance care coordination. PMID:25964403

  12. Biases in rhythmic sensorimotor coordination: effects of modality and intentionality.

    PubMed

    Debats, Nienke B; Ridderikhoff, Arne; de Boer, Betteco J; Peper, C Lieke E

    2013-08-01

    Sensorimotor biases were examined for intentional (tracking task) and unintentional (distractor task) rhythmic coordination. The tracking task involved unimanual tracking of either an oscillating visual signal or the passive movements of the contralateral hand (proprioceptive signal). In both conditions the required coordination patterns (isodirectional and mirror-symmetric) were defined relative to the body midline and the hands were not visible. For proprioceptive tracking the two patterns did not differ in stability, whereas for visual tracking the isodirectional pattern was performed more stably than the mirror-symmetric pattern. However, when visual feedback about the unimanual hand movements was provided during visual tracking, the isodirectional pattern ceased to be dominant. Together these results indicated that the stability of the coordination patterns did not depend on the modality of the target signal per se, but on the combination of sensory signals that needed to be processed (unimodal vs. cross-modal). The distractor task entailed rhythmic unimanual movements during which a rhythmic visual or proprioceptive distractor signal had to be ignored. The observed biases were similar as for intentional coordination, suggesting that intentionality did not affect the underlying sensorimotor processes qualitatively. Intentional tracking was characterized by active sensory pursuit, through muscle activity in the passively moved arm (proprioceptive tracking task) and rhythmic eye movements (visual tracking task). Presumably this pursuit afforded predictive information serving the coordination process. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Preliminary evidence that self-efficacy predicts physical activity in multiple sclerosis.

    PubMed

    Motl, Robert W; McAuley, Edward; Doerksen, Shawna; Hu, Liang; Morris, Katherine S

    2009-09-01

    Individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) are less physically active than non diseased people. One method for increasing physical activity levels involves the identification of factors that correlate with physical activity and that are modifiable by a well designed intervention. This study examined two types of self-efficacy as cross-sectional and prospective correlates of objectively measured physical activity in 16 individuals with a diagnosis of MS. The participants completed two measures of self-efficacy and then wore an accelerometer for a 5-day period at baseline and then at 3 months follow-up. Self-efficacy for continued physical activity was associated with baseline and follow-up levels of physical activity. Self-efficacy for overcoming barriers was associated with follow-up levels of physical activity and change in physical activity across a 3-month period. Researchers should consider self-efficacy as a possible component of an intervention that is designed to increase physical activity levels in those with MS. International Journal of Rehabilitation Research

  14. Coordinated autoinhibition of F-BAR domain membrane binding and WASp activation by Nervous Wreck.

    PubMed

    Stanishneva-Konovalova, Tatiana B; Kelley, Charlotte F; Eskin, Tania L; Messelaar, Emily M; Wasserman, Steven A; Sokolova, Olga S; Rodal, Avital A

    2016-09-20

    Membrane remodeling by Fes/Cip4 homology-Bin/Amphiphysin/Rvs167 (F-BAR) proteins is regulated by autoinhibitory interactions between their SRC homology 3 (SH3) and F-BAR domains. The structural basis of autoregulation, and whether it affects interactions of SH3 domains with other cellular ligands, remain unclear. Here we used single-particle electron microscopy to determine the structure of the F-BAR protein Nervous Wreck (Nwk) in both soluble and membrane-bound states. On membrane binding, Nwk SH3 domains do not completely dissociate from the F-BAR dimer, but instead shift from its concave surface to positions on either side of the dimer. Unexpectedly, along with controlling membrane binding, these autoregulatory interactions inhibit the ability of Nwk-SH3a to activate Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASp)/actin related protein (Arp) 2/3-dependent actin filament assembly. In Drosophila neurons, Nwk autoregulation restricts SH3a domain-dependent synaptopod formation, synaptic growth, and actin organization. Our results define structural rearrangements in Nwk that control F-BAR-membrane interactions as well as SH3 domain activities, and suggest that these two functions are tightly coordinated in vitro and in vivo.

  15. Coordinated train control and energy management control strategies

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gordon, S.P.; Lehrer, D.G.

    1998-05-01

    The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system, in collaboration with Hughes Aircraft Company and Harmon Industries, as in the process of developing an Advanced Automatic Train Control (AATC) system to replace the current fixed-block automatic system. In the long run, the AATC system is expected to not only allow for safe short headway operation, but also to facilitate coordinated train control and energy management. This new system will employ spread spectrum radios, installed onboard trains, at wayside locations, and at control stations, to determine train locations and reliably transfer control information. Sandia National Laboratories has worked cooperatively with BART tomore » develop a simulator of the train control and the power consumption of the AATC system. The authors are now in the process of developing enhanced train control algorithms to supplement the safety critical controller in order to smooth out train trajectories through coordinated control of multiple trains, and to reduce energy consumption and power infrastructure requirements. The control algorithms so far considered include (1) reducing peak power consumption to avoid voltage sags, especially during an outage or while clearing a backup, (2) rapid and smooth recovery from a backup, (3) avoiding oscillations due to train interference, (4) limiting needle peaks in power demand at substations to some specified level, (5) coasting, and (6) coordinating train movement, e.g., starts/stops and hills.« less

  16. Convergent and divergent two-dimensional coordination networks formed through substrate-activated or quenched alkynyl ligation.

    PubMed

    Čechal, Jan; Kley, Christopher S; Kumagai, Takashi; Schramm, Frank; Ruben, Mario; Stepanow, Sebastian; Kern, Klaus

    2014-09-07

    Metal coordination assemblies of the symmetric bi-functional 4,4'-di-(1,4-buta-1,3-diynyl)-benzoic acid are investigated by scanning tunnelling microscopy on metal surfaces. The formation of long-range ordered, short-range disordered and random phases depends on the competition between the convergent and divergent coordination motifs of the individual functional groups and is crucially influenced by the substrate.

  17. How Sensor, Signal, and Imaging Informatics May Impact Patient Centered Care and Care Coordination

    PubMed Central

    Moreau-Gaudry, A.

    2015-01-01

    Summary Objective This synopsis presents a selection for the IMIA (International Medical Informatics Association) Yearbook 2015 of excellent research in the broad field of Sensor, Signal, and Imaging Informatics published in the year 2014, with a focus on patient centered care coordination. Methods The two section editors performed a systematic initial selection and a double blind peer review process to select a list of candidate best papers in the domain published in 2014, from the PubMed and Web of Science databases. A set of MeSH keywords provided by experts was used. This selection was peer-reviewed by external reviewers. Results The review process highlighted articles illustrating two current trends related to care coordination and patient centered care: the enhanced capacity to predict the evolution of a disease based on patient-specific information can impact care coordination; similarly, better perception of the patient and his treatment could lead to enhanced personalized care with a potential impact on care coordination. Conclusions This review shows the multiplicity of angles from which the question of patient-centered care can be addressed, with consequences on care coordination that will need to be confirmed and demonstrated in the future. PMID:26293856

  18. Metals in proteins: correlation between the metal-ion type, coordination number and the amino-acid residues involved in the coordination.

    PubMed

    Dokmanić, Ivan; Sikić, Mile; Tomić, Sanja

    2008-03-01

    Metal ions are constituents of many metalloproteins, in which they have either catalytic (metalloenzymes) or structural functions. In this work, the characteristics of various metals were studied (Cu, Zn, Mg, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cd and Ca in proteins with known crystal structure) as well as the specificity of their environments. The analysis was performed on two data sets: the set of protein structures in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) determined with resolution <1.5 A and the set of nonredundant protein structures from the PDB. The former was used to determine the distances between each metal ion and its electron donors and the latter was used to assess the preferred coordination numbers and common combinations of amino-acid residues in the neighbourhood of each metal. Although the metal ions considered predominantly had a valence of two, their preferred coordination number and the type of amino-acid residues that participate in the coordination differed significantly from one metal ion to the next. This study concentrates on finding the specificities of a metal-ion environment, namely the distribution of coordination numbers and the amino-acid residue types that frequently take part in coordination. Furthermore, the correlation between the coordination number and the occurrence of certain amino-acid residues (quartets and triplets) in a metal-ion coordination sphere was analysed. The results obtained are of particular value for the identification and modelling of metal-binding sites in protein structures derived by homology modelling. Knowledge of the geometry and characteristics of the metal-binding sites in metalloproteins of known function can help to more closely determine the biological activity of proteins of unknown function and to aid in design of proteins with specific affinity for certain metals.

  19. Coordination games, anti-coordination games, and imitative learning.

    PubMed

    McCain, Roger A; Hamilton, Richard

    2014-02-01

    Bentley et al.'s scheme generates distributions characteristic of situations of high and low social influence on decisions and of high and low salience ("transparency") of rewards. Another element of decisions that may influence the placement of a decision process in their map is the way in which individual decisions interact to determine the payoffs. This commentary discusses the role of Nash equilibria in game theory, focusing especially on coordination and anti-coordination games.

  20. Parent Perspective on Care Coordination Services for Their Child with Medical Complexity

    PubMed Central

    Cady, Rhonda G.; Belew, John L.

    2017-01-01

    The overarching goal of care coordination is communication and co-management across settings. Children with medical complexity require care from multiple services and providers, and the many benefits of care coordination on health and patient experience outcomes have been documented. Despite these findings, parents still report their greatest challenge is communication gaps. When this occurs, parents assume responsibility for aggregating and sharing health information across providers and settings. A new primary-specialty care coordination partnership model for children with medical complexity works to address these challenges and bridge communication gaps. During the first year of the new partnership, parents participated in focus groups to better understand how they perceive communication and collaboration between the providers and services delivering care for their medically complex child. Our findings from these sessions reflect the current literature and highlight additional challenges of rural families, as seen from the perspective of the parents. We found that parents appreciate when professional care coordination is provided, but this is often the exception and not the norm. Additionally, parents feel that the local health system’s inability to care for their medically complex child results in unnecessary trips to urban-based specialty care. These gaps require a system-level approach to care coordination and, consequently, new paradigms for delivery are urgently needed. PMID:28587274