Unimodal Versus Bimodal EEG-fMRI Neurofeedback of a Motor Imagery Task

OpenAIRE

Lorraine Perronnet; Lorraine Perronnet; Lorraine Perronnet; Lorraine Perronnet; Lorraine Perronnet; Anatole Lécuyer; Anatole Lécuyer; Marsel Mano; Marsel Mano; Marsel Mano; Marsel Mano; Marsel Mano; Elise Bannier; Elise Bannier; Elise Bannier

2017-01-01

Neurofeedback is a promising tool for brain rehabilitation and peak performance training. Neurofeedback approaches usually rely on a single brain imaging modality such as EEG or fMRI. Combining these modalities for neurofeedback training could allow to provide richer information to the subject and could thus enable him/her to achieve faster and more specific self-regulation. Yet unimodal and multimodal neurofeedback have never been compared before. In the present work, we introduce a simultan...

Unimodal Versus Bimodal EEG-fMRI Neurofeedback of a Motor Imagery Task

OpenAIRE

Perronnet, Lorraine; Lécuyer, Anatole; Mano, Marsel; Bannier, Elise; Lotte, Fabien; Clerc, Maureen; Barillot, Christian

2017-01-01

International audience; Neurofeedback is a promising tool for brain rehabilitation and peak performance training. Neurofeedback approaches usually rely on a single brain imaging modality such as EEG or fMRI. Combining these modalities for neurofeedback training could allow to provide richer information to the subject and could thus enable him/her to achieve faster and more specific self-regulation. Yet unimodal and multimodal neurofeedback have never been compared before. In the present work,...

Decay of random correlation functions for unimodal maps

Science.gov (United States)

Baladi, Viviane; Benedicks, Michael; Maume-Deschamps, Véronique

2000-10-01

Since the pioneering results of Jakobson and subsequent work by Benedicks-Carleson and others, it is known that quadratic maps tfa( χ) = a - χ2 admit a unique absolutely continuous invariant measure for a positive measure set of parameters a. For topologically mixing tfa, Young and Keller-Nowicki independently proved exponential decay of correlation functions for this a.c.i.m. and smooth observables. We consider random compositions of small perturbations tf + ωt, with tf = tfa or another unimodal map satisfying certain nonuniform hyperbolicity axioms, and ωt chosen independently and identically in [-ɛ, ɛ]. Baladi-Viana showed exponential mixing of the associated Markov chain, i.e., averaging over all random itineraries. We obtain stretched exponential bounds for the random correlation functions of Lipschitz observables for the sample measure μωof almost every itinerary.

Unimodal and crossmodal working memory representations of visual and kinesthetic movement trajectories.

Science.gov (United States)

Seemüller, Anna; Fiehler, Katja; Rösler, Frank

2011-01-01

The present study investigated whether visual and kinesthetic stimuli are stored as multisensory or modality-specific representations in unimodal and crossmodal working memory tasks. To this end, angle-shaped movement trajectories were presented to 16 subjects in delayed matching-to-sample tasks either visually or kinesthetically during encoding and recognition. During the retention interval, a secondary visual or kinesthetic interference task was inserted either immediately or with a delay after encoding. The modality of the interference task interacted significantly with the encoding modality. After visual encoding, memory was more impaired by a visual than by a kinesthetic secondary task, while after kinesthetic encoding the pattern was reversed. The time when the secondary task had to be performed interacted with the encoding modality as well. For visual encoding, memory was more impaired, when the secondary task had to be performed at the beginning of the retention interval. In contrast, memory after kinesthetic encoding was more affected, when the secondary task was introduced later in the retention interval. The findings suggest that working memory traces are maintained in a modality-specific format characterized by distinct consolidation processes that take longer after kinesthetic than after visual encoding. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Unimodal and multimodal regions for logographic language processing in left ventral occipitotemporal cortex

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Yuan eDeng

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The human neocortex appears to contain a dedicated visual word form area (VWFA and an adjacent multimodal (visual/auditory area. However, these conclusions are based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI of alphabetic language processing, languages that have clear grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence (GPC rules that make it difficult to disassociate visual-specific processing from form-to-sound mapping. In contrast, the Chinese language has no clear GPC rules. Therefore, the current study examined whether native Chinese readers also have the same VWFA and multimodal area. Two cross-modal tasks, phonological retrieval of visual words and orthographic retrieval of auditory words, were adopted. Different task requirements were also applied to explore how different levels of cognitive processing modulate activation of putative VWFA-like and multimodal-like regions. Results showed that the left occipitotemporal sulcus responded exclusively to visual inputs and an adjacent region, the left inferior temporal gyrus, showed comparable activation for both visual and auditory inputs. Surprisingly, processing levels did not significantly alter activation of these two regions. These findings indicated that there are both unimodal and multimodal word areas for non-alphabetic language reading, and that activity in these two word-specific regions are independent of task demands at the linguistic level.

Use of correspondence analysis partial least squares on linear and unimodal data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Frisvad, Jens Christian; Norsker, Merete

1996-01-01

Correspondence analysis partial least squares (CA-PLS) has been compared with PLS conceming classification and prediction of unimodal growth temperature data and an example using infrared (IR) spectroscopy for predicting amounts of chemicals in mixtures. CA-PLS was very effective for ordinating...... that could only be seen in two-dimensional plots, and also less effective predictions. PLS was the best method in the linear case treated, with fewer components and a better prediction than CA-PLS....

Explaining bathymetric diversity patterns in marine benthic invertebrates and demersal fishes: physiological contributions to adaptation of life at depth.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Alastair; Thatje, Sven

2014-05-01

effects on metabolic-rate-dependent mutation and on generation times have been proposed to drive differences in speciation rates, which result in modern latitudinal biodiversity patterns over time. Clearly, this thermal mechanism alone cannot explain bathymetric patterns since temperature generally decreases with depth. We hypothesise that demonstrated physiological effects of high hydrostatic pressure and low temperature at bathyal depths, acting on shallow-water taxa invading the deep sea, may invoke a stress-evolution mechanism by increasing mutagenic activity in germ cells, by inactivating canalisation during embryonic or larval development, by releasing hidden variation or mutagenic activity, or by activating or releasing transposable elements in larvae or adults. In this scenario, increased variation at a physiological bottleneck at bathyal depths results in elevated speciation rate. Adaptation that increases tolerance to high hydrostatic pressure and low temperature allows colonisation of abyssal depths and reduces the stress-evolution response, consequently returning speciation of deeper taxa to the background rate. Over time this mechanism could contribute to the unimodal diversity-depth pattern. © 2013 Natural Environment Research Council. Biological Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Comment on "Worldwide evidence of a unimodal relationship between productivity and plant species richness"

Science.gov (United States)

Tredennick, Andrew T.; Adler, Peter B.; Grace, James B.; Harpole, W Stanley; Borer, Elizabeth T.; Seabloom, Eric W.; Anderson, T. Michael; Bakker, Jonathan D.; Biederman, Lori A.; Brown, Cynthia S.; Buckley, Yvonne M.; Chu, Cheng-Jin; Collins, Scott L.; Crawley, Michael J.; Fay, Philip A.; Firn, Jennifer; Gruner, Daniel S.; Hagenah, Nicole; Hautier, Yann; Hector, Andy; Hillebrand, Helmut; Kirkman, Kevin P.; Knops, Johannes M. H.; Laungani, Ramesh; Lind, Eric M.; MacDougall, Andrew S.; McCulley, Rebecca L.; Mitchell, Charles E.; Moore, Joslin L.; Morgan, John W.; Orrock, John L.; Peri, Pablo L.; Prober, Suzanne M.; Risch, Anita C.; Schuetz, Martin; Speziale, Karina L.; Standish, Rachel J.; Sullivan, Lauren L.; Wardle, Glenda M.; Williams, Ryan J.; Yang, Louie H.

2016-01-01

Fraser et al. (Reports, 17 July 2015, p. 302) report a unimodal relationship between productivity and species richness at regional and global scales, which they contrast with the results of Adler et al. (Reports, 23 September 2011, p. 1750). However, both data sets, when analyzed correctly, show clearly and consistently that productivity is a poor predictor of local species richness.

Daily activity patterns of visits by males of four species of Eulaema (Apidae: Euglossina to odor baits in a tropical forest fragment in Bahia, Brasil

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Pedro N. Melo

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Several studies have been conducted with bees of the subtribe Euglossina using odor baits as attractants. The objective of this study was to analyze the daily activity pattern of visits by males of four species of Eulaema - Eulaema nigrita Lepeletier, 1841, Eulaema flavescens (Friese, 1899, Eulaema cingulata (Fabricius, 1804 and Eulaema bombiformis (Packard, 1869 - to vanillin and benzyl acetate baits, and their relationship with climatic and environmental factors throughout the day in different months of the year in a tropical forest fragment in Bahia. Eulaema nigrita was the most frequent species on vanillin baits and E. flavescens was the most frequent species on benzyl acetate baits. The highest frequency of visits was observed in February and December. Activities started between 5:00 and 9:00 h. In February and November, visits of E. nigrita to the bait were observed daily, following a bimodal pattern. The same activity pattern was observed for E. bombiformis in December. Males of four species of Eulaema occurred in all remaining months in a unimodal daily activity pattern, with a higher frequency before 9:30 h. The correlation between the visiting activity to odor baits and climatic factors was low. This result can be due to bee flight activity occurring within a range of adequate climatic variation, particularly temperature, which in our study ranged from 23 to 32ºC. Daily activity patterns of Euglossina males on odor baits can represent patterns of flower fragrance collection under natural conditions, with visits usually at the time of highest production.

Spatial attention triggered by unimodal, crossmodal, and bimodal exogenous cues: a comparison of reflexive orienting mechanisms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Santangelo, Valerio; van der Lubbe, Robert Henricus Johannes; Belardinelli, Marta Olivetti; Postma, Albert

The aim of this study was to establish whether spatial attention triggered by bimodal exogenous cues acts differently as compared to unimodal and crossmodal exogenous cues due to crossmodal integration. In order to investigate this issue, we examined cuing effects in discrimination tasks and

The Development of Infant Discrimination of Affect in Multimodal and Unimodal Stimulation: The Role of Intersensory Redundancy

Science.gov (United States)

Flom, Ross; Bahrick, Lorraine E.

2007-01-01

This research examined the developmental course of infants' ability to perceive affect in bimodal (audiovisual) and unimodal (auditory and visual) displays of a woman speaking. According to the intersensory redundancy hypothesis (L. E. Bahrick, R. Lickliter, & R. Flom, 2004), detection of amodal properties is facilitated in multimodal stimulation…

Task modulation of disyllabic spoken word recognition in Mandarin Chinese: a unimodal ERP study.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Xianjun; Yang, Jin-Chen; Chang, Ruohan; Guo, Chunyan

2016-05-16

Using unimodal auditory tasks of word-matching and meaning-matching, this study investigated how the phonological and semantic processes in Chinese disyllabic spoken word recognition are modulated by top-down mechanism induced by experimental tasks. Both semantic similarity and word-initial phonological similarity between the primes and targets were manipulated. Results showed that at early stage of recognition (~150-250 ms), an enhanced P2 was elicited by the word-initial phonological mismatch in both tasks. In ~300-500 ms, a fronto-central negative component was elicited by word-initial phonological similarities in the word-matching task, while a parietal negativity was elicited by semantically unrelated primes in the meaning-matching task, indicating that both the semantic and phonological processes can be involved in this time window, depending on the task requirements. In the late stage (~500-700 ms), a centro-parietal Late N400 was elicited in both tasks, but with a larger effect in the meaning-matching task than in the word-matching task. This finding suggests that the semantic representation of the spoken words can be activated automatically in the late stage of recognition, even when semantic processing is not required. However, the magnitude of the semantic activation is modulated by task requirements.

Distribution patterns of medicinal plants along an elevational gradient in central Himalaya, Nepal

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Rokaya, Maan Bahadur; Münzbergová, Zuzana; Shrestha, M.R.; Timsina, B.

2012-01-01

Roč. 9, č. 2 (2012), s. 201-213 ISSN 1672-6316 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA526/09/0549 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60050516 Keywords : distribution patterns * medicinal plants * unimodal relationships Subject RIV: EF - Botanics Impact factor: 0.664, year: 2012

Ciclos de actividad diaria y estacional de un gremio de saurios en las dunas de arena de Viesca, Coahuila, México Daily and seasonal activity patterns of a lizard guild in the sand dunes of Viesca, Coahuila, Mexico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina García-De la Peña

2007-06-01

Full Text Available En el 2002 se evaluaron los ciclos de actividad diaria y estacional de los saurios Uta stejnegeri, Uma exsul y Aspidoscelis marmorata en un hábitat de dunas al suroeste de Coahuila, México. Se recorrió un transecto de 500 m, cada hora (de 0700 a 1900 h durante 7 días, en primavera, verano y otoño. Se registró el número de individuos activos por especie, la temperatura del aire y del sustrato, y la humedad relativa. La amplitud de nicho temporal se calculó mediante el Índice estandarizado de Levins, y el traslape de nicho mediante el método de Pianka. En las 3 estaciones del año U. stejnegeri inició su actividad más temprano que U. exsul, y ésta, a su vez, se registró antes que A. marmorata. Las 3 especies presentaron un ciclo de actividad bimodal durante primavera y verano, y unimodal en otoño. Aspidoscelis marmorata presentó la menor amplitud de nicho temporal durante las 3 estaciones. La temperatura corporal de cada especie y la temperatura ambiental parecen determinar los patrones de actividad de este gremio de saurios en Viesca.In 2002, daily and seasonal activity patterns of the lizards Uta stejnegeri, Uma exsul, and Aspidoscelis marmorata were evaluated in a dune habitat in the southwestern portion of Coahuila, Mexico. Methods included surveying a 500 m transect once per hour between 0700 and 1900 for 7 days each season during the spring, summer and fall. The number of active lizards, air and substrate temperatures, and relative humidity were recorded. A standardized Levins Index and Pianka’s method were used to measure temporal niche breadth and overlap, respectively. In each of the 3 seasons, U. stejnegeri was active earlier than U. exsul, and U. exsul was active before A. marmorata. The 3 species showed a bimodal activity pattern during spring and summer, and unimodal in fall. Aspidoscelis marmorata showed the smallest niche breadth in the 3 seasons. For each species, preferred body temperature and environmental

Unimodal tree size distributions possibly result from relatively strong conservatism in intermediate size classes.

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Yue Bin

Full Text Available Tree size distributions have long been of interest to ecologists and foresters because they reflect fundamental demographic processes. Previous studies have assumed that size distributions are often associated with population trends or with the degree of shade tolerance. We tested these associations for 31 tree species in a 20 ha plot in a Dinghushan south subtropical forest in China. These species varied widely in growth form and shade-tolerance. We used 2005 and 2010 census data from that plot. We found that 23 species had reversed J shaped size distributions, and eight species had unimodal size distributions in 2005. On average, modal species had lower recruitment rates than reversed J species, while showing no significant difference in mortality rates, per capita population growth rates or shade-tolerance. We compared the observed size distributions with the equilibrium distributions projected from observed size-dependent growth and mortality. We found that observed distributions generally had the same shape as predicted equilibrium distributions in both unimodal and reversed J species, but there were statistically significant, important quantitative differences between observed and projected equilibrium size distributions in most species, suggesting that these populations are not at equilibrium and that this forest is changing over time. Almost all modal species had U-shaped size-dependent mortality and/or growth functions, with turning points of both mortality and growth at intermediate size classes close to the peak in the size distribution. These results show that modal size distributions do not necessarily indicate either population decline or shade-intolerance. Instead, the modal species in our study were characterized by a life history strategy of relatively strong conservatism in an intermediate size class, leading to very low growth and mortality in that size class, and thus to a peak in the size distribution at intermediate sizes.

Randomized comparison of effectiveness of unimodal opioid analgesia with multimodal analgesia in post–cesarean section pain management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adeniji AO

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Adetunji Oladeni Adeniji,1 Oluseyi Olaboyede A Atanda21Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria; 2Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, NigeriaBackground: Postoperative pain leads to patient discomfort, decreased level of satisfaction, prolonged recovery, and higher health costs. Acute pain control therefore improves the overall quality of life in patients undergoing cesarean section. Pain relief is a fundamental human right, but there is no gold standard for post–cesarean section pain management.Objective: To compare the efficacy of pentazocine and tramadol used in unimodal and multimodal (in combination with piroxicam approach, in the management of post–cesarean section pain.Materials and methods: This study employed a random allocation design to compare the effectiveness of intramuscular pentazocine (60 mg or tramadol (100 mg as single analgesic agent and in combination with daily intramuscular piroxicam 20 mg, for the management of post–cesarean section pain during the immediate 12 hours after surgery. The primary outcome measure was control of postoperative pain, while the secondary outcome measures were the analgesic agent onset of action, duration of action, patient satisfaction, and maternal and neonatal adverse outcomes. Data obtained were entered into a predesigned sheet and analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 17. Means ± standard deviation (SD were calculated for the quantitative variables, and the difference between two independent groups was compared using unpaired Student's t-test. The level of significance was set at 0.05.Results: A total of 120 patients were equally and randomly allocated to four study groups – two that received unimodal analgesia (the pentazocine group and the tramadol group and two that received multimodal analgesia (the pentazocine

Division of volcanic activity cycles in the late mesozoic in South Jiangxi and North Guangdong

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Qinglong; Wu Jianhua

1999-01-01

Based on stratigraphical unconformity, rock association, fossil assemblage, isotope age and tectonic features, the volcanic activity in late Mesozoic in south Jiangxi and north Guandong can be divided into four cycles: Yutian volcanic activity cycle, Lianhuazhai volcanic activity cycle. Banshi volcanic activity cycle and Nanxiong volcanic activity cycle. Yutian volcanic cycle which occurs in middle Jurassic epoch is the bimodal rock association composed of rhyolite and basalt. Lianhuazhai volcanic cycle which occurs in late Jurassic epoch is unimodal rock association composed of rhyolite. Banshi volcanic cycle occurs from the late stage of early Cretaceous to the early stage of late Cretaceous epoch. There are two types of rock associations related to this cycle: unimodal rock association composed of rhyolite or basalt and bimodal rock association composed of rhyolite and basalt. Nanxiong volcanic activity cycle which occurred in late stage of late Cretaceous epoch is the unimodal rock association composed of basalt which is the interlayer of the red sedimentary series

Bifurcation structure of parameter plane for a family of unimodal piecewise smooth maps: Border-collision bifurcation curves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sushko, Iryna; Agliari, Anna; Gardini, Laura

2006-01-01

We study the structure of the 2D bifurcation diagram for a two-parameter family of piecewise smooth unimodal maps f with one break point. Analysing the parameters of the normal form for the border-collision bifurcation of an attracting n-cycle of the map f, we describe the possible kinds of dynamics associated with such a bifurcation. Emergence and role of border-collision bifurcation curves in the 2D bifurcation plane are studied. Particular attention is paid also to the curves of homoclinic bifurcations giving rise to the band merging of pieces of cyclic chaotic intervals

Pattern activation/recognition theory of mind.

Science.gov (United States)

du Castel, Bertrand

2015-01-01

In his 2012 book How to Create a Mind, Ray Kurzweil defines a "Pattern Recognition Theory of Mind" that states that the brain uses millions of pattern recognizers, plus modules to check, organize, and augment them. In this article, I further the theory to go beyond pattern recognition and include also pattern activation, thus encompassing both sensory and motor functions. In addition, I treat checking, organizing, and augmentation as patterns of patterns instead of separate modules, therefore handling them the same as patterns in general. Henceforth I put forward a unified theory I call "Pattern Activation/Recognition Theory of Mind." While the original theory was based on hierarchical hidden Markov models, this evolution is based on their precursor: stochastic grammars. I demonstrate that a class of self-describing stochastic grammars allows for unifying pattern activation, recognition, organization, consistency checking, metaphor, and learning, into a single theory that expresses patterns throughout. I have implemented the model as a probabilistic programming language specialized in activation/recognition grammatical and neural operations. I use this prototype to compute and present diagrams for each stochastic grammar and corresponding neural circuit. I then discuss the theory as it relates to artificial network developments, common coding, neural reuse, and unity of mind, concluding by proposing potential paths to validation.

Multiple oxygen tension environments reveal diverse patterns of transcriptional regulation in primary astrocytes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wayne Chadwick

Full Text Available The central nervous system normally functions at O(2 levels which would be regarded as hypoxic by most other tissues. However, most in vitro studies of neurons and astrocytes are conducted under hyperoxic conditions without consideration of O(2-dependent cellular adaptation. We analyzed the reactivity of astrocytes to 1, 4 and 9% O(2 tensions compared to the cell culture standard of 20% O(2, to investigate their ability to sense and translate this O(2 information to transcriptional activity. Variance of ambient O(2 tension for rat astrocytes resulted in profound changes in ribosomal activity, cytoskeletal and energy-regulatory mechanisms and cytokine-related signaling. Clustering of transcriptional regulation patterns revealed four distinct response pattern groups that directionally pivoted around the 4% O(2 tension, or demonstrated coherent ascending/decreasing gene expression patterns in response to diverse oxygen tensions. Immune response and cell cycle/cancer-related signaling pathway transcriptomic subsets were significantly activated with increasing hypoxia, whilst hemostatic and cardiovascular signaling mechanisms were attenuated with increasing hypoxia. Our data indicate that variant O(2 tensions induce specific and physiologically-focused transcript regulation patterns that may underpin important physiological mechanisms that connect higher neurological activity to astrocytic function and ambient oxygen environments. These strongly defined patterns demonstrate a strong bias for physiological transcript programs to pivot around the 4% O(2 tension, while uni-modal programs that do not, appear more related to pathological actions. The functional interaction of these transcriptional 'programs' may serve to regulate the dynamic vascular responsivity of the central nervous system during periods of stress or heightened activity.

Self vs. other: neural correlates underlying agent identification based on unimodal auditory information as revealed by electrotomography (sLORETA).

Science.gov (United States)

Justen, C; Herbert, C; Werner, K; Raab, M

2014-02-14

Recent neuroscientific studies have identified activity changes in an extensive cerebral network consisting of medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus, temporo-parietal junction, and temporal pole during the perception and identification of self- and other-generated stimuli. Because this network is supposed to be engaged in tasks which require agent identification, it has been labeled the evaluation network (e-network). The present study used self- versus other-generated movement sounds (long jumps) and electroencephalography (EEG) in order to unravel the neural dynamics of agent identification for complex auditory information. Participants (N=14) performed an auditory self-other identification task with EEG. Data was then subjected to a subsequent standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) analysis (source localization analysis). Differences between conditions were assessed using t-statistics (corrected for multiple testing) on the normalized and log-transformed current density values of the sLORETA images. Three-dimensional sLORETA source localization analysis revealed cortical activations in brain regions mostly associated with the e-network, especially in the medial prefrontal cortex (bilaterally in the alpha-1-band and right-lateralized in the gamma-band) and the temporo-parietal junction (right hemisphere in the alpha-1-band). Taken together, the findings are partly consistent with previous functional neuroimaging studies investigating unimodal visual or multimodal agent identification tasks (cf. e-network) and extent them to the auditory domain. Cortical activations in brain regions of the e-network seem to have functional relevance, especially the significantly higher cortical activation in the right medial prefrontal cortex. Copyright © 2013 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Altitudinal patterns of species richness and species range size of vascular plants in Xiaolong- shan Reserve of Qinling Mountain: a test of Rapoport' s rule].

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Zhi; Gong, Da-Jie; Sun, Cheng-Xiang; Li, Xiao-Jun; Li, Wan-Jiang

2014-09-01

Altitudinal patterns of species richness and species range size and their underlying mechanisms have long been a key topic in biogeography and biodiversity research. Rapoport's rule stated that the species richness gradually declined with the increasing altitude, while the species ranges became larger. Using altitude-distribution database from Xiaolongshan Reverse, this study explored the altitudinal patterns of vascular plant species richness and species range in Qinling Xiaolongshan Reserve, and examined the relationships between species richness and their distributional middle points in altitudinal bands for different fauna, taxonomic units and growth forms and tested the Rapoport's rule by using Stevens' method, Pagel's method, mid-point method and cross-species method. The results showed that the species richness of vascular plants except small-range species showed a unimodal pattern along the altitude in Qinling Xiaolongshan Reserve and the highest proportion of small-range species was found at the lower altitudinal bands and at the higher altitudinal bands. Due to different assemblages and examining methods, the relationships between species distributing range sizes and the altitudes were different. Increasing taxonomic units was easier to support Rapoport's rule, which was related to niche differences that the different taxonomic units occupied. The mean species range size of angiosperms showed a unimodal pattern along the altitude, while those of the gymnosperms and pteridophytes were unclearly regular. The mean species range size of the climbers was wider with the increasing altitude, while that of the shrubs which could adapt to different environmental situations was not sensitive to the change of altitude. Pagel's method was easier to support the Rapoport's rule, and then was Steven's method. On the contrary, due to the mid-domain effect, the results of the test by using the mid-point method showed that the mean species range size varied in a unimodal

Default activity patterns at the neocortical microcircuit level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Artur eLuczak

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Even in absence of sensory stimuli cortical networks exhibit complex, self-organized activity patterns. While the function of those spontaneous patterns of activation remains poorly understood, recent studies both in vivo and in vitro have demonstrated that neocortical neurons activate in a surprisingly similar sequential order both spontaneously and following input into cortex. For example, neurons that tend to fire earlier within spontaneous bursts of activity also fire earlier than other neurons in response to sensory stimuli. These 'default patterns' can last hundreds of milliseconds and are strongly conserved under a variety of conditions. In this paper we will review recent evidence for these default patterns at the local cortical level. We speculate that cortical architecture imposes common constraints on spontaneous and evoked activity flow, which result in the similarity of the patterns.

The time course of spoken word recognition in Mandarin Chinese: a unimodal ERP study.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Xianjun; Yang, Jin-Chen; Zhang, Qin; Guo, Chunyan

2014-10-01

In the present study, two experiments were carried out to investigate the time course of spoken word recognition in Mandarin Chinese using both event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral measures. To address the hypothesis that there is an early phonological processing stage independent of semantics during spoken word recognition, a unimodal word-matching paradigm was employed, in which both prime and target words were presented auditorily. Experiment 1 manipulated the phonological relations between disyllabic primes and targets, and found an enhanced P2 (200-270 ms post-target onset) as well as a smaller early N400 to word-initial phonological mismatches over fronto-central scalp sites. Experiment 2 manipulated both phonological and semantic relations between monosyllabic primes and targets, and replicated the phonological mismatch-associated P2, which was not modulated by semantic relations. Overall, these results suggest that P2 is a sensitive electrophysiological index of early phonological processing independent of semantics in Mandarin Chinese spoken word recognition. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Seasonal and daily activity patterns of leopard tortoises ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Seasonal and daily activity patterns of leopard tortoises ( Stigmochelys pardalis Bell, 1828) on farmland in the Nama-Karoo, South Africa. ... that activity is also initiated by the time since sunrise. Key words: Stigmochelys pardalis, leopard tortoise, activity patterns, activity behaviour, Nama-Karoo Biome, time of day, season.

Leisure Activity Patterns and Marital Conflict in Iran.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmadi, Khodabakhsh; Saadat, Hassan; Noushad, Siena

2016-01-01

Over the past few decades, the association between leisure activity patterns and marital conflict or satisfaction has been studied extensively. However, most studies to date have been limited to middle-class families of developed societies, and an investigation of the issue, from a developing country perspective like Iran, is non-existent. In an observational, analytical, cross-sectional study we aimed to investigate the relationship between leisure activity patterns and marital conflict in a nationally representative sample of Iranian married males. Using the cluster sampling method, a representative sample of 400 Iranian married individuals from seven provinces of Iran was surveyed. Self-administered surveys included a checklist collecting demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the enrolled participants, leisure time questionnaire, and marital conflict questionnaire. The main patterns of leisure activity were derived from principal component analysis. For each pattern, factor scores were calculated. The relationship between factor scores and marital conflict were assessed using multivariate linear regression models accounting for the potential confounding effects of age, education, socioeconomic status, job status, number of children, duration of marriage, and time spent for leisure. Two hundred and ninety-nine respondents completed the leisure time and marital conflict questionnaires. Five major leisure patterns were identified accounting for 60.3% of the variance in data. The most dominant pattern was family-oriented activities (e.g. spending time with family outdoors and spending time with family indoors) and was negatively linked to marital conflict (standardized beta= -0.154, P = 0.013). Of the four remaining patterns, three only included individual activities and one was a family-individual composite. Individual patterns exhibited discrepant behavior; while the pattern involving activities like 'watching TV', 'non-purposive time spending', and

Leisure Activity Patterns and Marital Conflict in Iran

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmadi, Khodabakhsh; Saadat, Hassan; Noushad, Siena

2016-01-01

Background: Over the past few decades, the association between leisure activity patterns and marital conflict or satisfaction has been studied extensively. However, most studies to date have been limited to middle-class families of developed societies, and an investigation of the issue, from a developing country perspective like Iran, is non-existent. Objectives: In an observational, analytical, cross-sectional study we aimed to investigate the relationship between leisure activity patterns and marital conflict in a nationally representative sample of Iranian married males. Patients and Methods: Using the cluster sampling method, a representative sample of 400 Iranian married individuals from seven provinces of Iran was surveyed. Self-administered surveys included a checklist collecting demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the enrolled participants, leisure time questionnaire, and marital conflict questionnaire. The main patterns of leisure activity were derived from principal component analysis. For each pattern, factor scores were calculated. The relationship between factor scores and marital conflict were assessed using multivariate linear regression models accounting for the potential confounding effects of age, education, socioeconomic status, job status, number of children, duration of marriage, and time spent for leisure. Results: Two hundred and ninety-nine respondents completed the leisure time and marital conflict questionnaires. Five major leisure patterns were identified accounting for 60.3% of the variance in data. The most dominant pattern was family-oriented activities (e.g. spending time with family outdoors and spending time with family indoors) and was negatively linked to marital conflict (standardized beta= −0.154, P = 0.013). Of the four remaining patterns, three only included individual activities and one was a family-individual composite. Individual patterns exhibited discrepant behavior; while the pattern involving activities

Comparison of hypertabastic survival model with other unimodal hazard rate functions using a goodness-of-fit test.

Science.gov (United States)

Tahir, M Ramzan; Tran, Quang X; Nikulin, Mikhail S

2017-05-30

We studied the problem of testing a hypothesized distribution in survival regression models when the data is right censored and survival times are influenced by covariates. A modified chi-squared type test, known as Nikulin-Rao-Robson statistic, is applied for the comparison of accelerated failure time models. This statistic is used to test the goodness-of-fit for hypertabastic survival model and four other unimodal hazard rate functions. The results of simulation study showed that the hypertabastic distribution can be used as an alternative to log-logistic and log-normal distribution. In statistical modeling, because of its flexible shape of hazard functions, this distribution can also be used as a competitor of Birnbaum-Saunders and inverse Gaussian distributions. The results for the real data application are shown. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Decoding complex flow-field patterns in visual working memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Christophel, Thomas B; Haynes, John-Dylan

2014-05-01

There has been a long history of research on visual working memory. Whereas early studies have focused on the role of lateral prefrontal cortex in the storage of sensory information, this has been challenged by research in humans that has directly assessed the encoding of perceptual contents, pointing towards a role of visual and parietal regions during storage. In a previous study we used pattern classification to investigate the storage of complex visual color patterns across delay periods. This revealed coding of such contents in early visual and parietal brain regions. Here we aim to investigate whether the involvement of visual and parietal cortex is also observable for other types of complex, visuo-spatial pattern stimuli. Specifically, we used a combination of fMRI and multivariate classification to investigate the retention of complex flow-field stimuli defined by the spatial patterning of motion trajectories of random dots. Subjects were trained to memorize the precise spatial layout of these stimuli and to retain this information during an extended delay. We used a multivariate decoding approach to identify brain regions where spatial patterns of activity encoded the memorized stimuli. Content-specific memory signals were observable in motion sensitive visual area MT+ and in posterior parietal cortex that might encode spatial information in a modality independent manner. Interestingly, we also found information about the memorized visual stimulus in somatosensory cortex, suggesting a potential crossmodal contribution to memory. Our findings thus indicate that working memory storage of visual percepts might be distributed across unimodal, multimodal and even crossmodal brain regions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Seasonal and diurnal biting activities and zoonotic filarial infections of two Simulium species (Diptera: Simuliidae in northern Thailand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ishii Y.

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Seasonal and daily biting activity patterns, and natural filarial infections of adult black flies attracted to human bait were investigated at Ban Pang Faen, a rural area in Chiang Mai Province in northern Thailand. Collections were carried out twice a month from 06-00 to 18-00 hours from January 2005 to February 2006. Among ten Simulium species collected, S. nodosum and S. asakoae were predominant occupying 57.3% and 37.2% of the total 16, 553 females, respectively. These two predominant species showed different patterns in seasonal abundance: majority of S. nodosum (86.7% were collected in hot season (from mid February to mid May, while most of S. asakoae (74.5% were collected in rainy season (from mid May to mid October. For the daily biting activity, S. nodosum had two patterns: the main one was unimodal with a peak from 17-00 to 18-00, and the other was bimodal and had the major peak from 16-00 to 18-00 and the minor one from 07-00 to 09-00. The pattern of S. asakoae was mostly unimodal with a peak from 06-00 to 10-00. The filarial larvae found in S. nodosum and S. asakoae were morphologically different from each other. The short and thick infective larvae found in S. asakoae differed from all known filarial larvae; it is suggested that they might be a bird parasite, Splendidofilariinae or Lemdaninae. The infection of the mammophilic S. nodosum with large Onchocerca type infective larvae was confirmed in this area. Natural filarial infections were found in each month (except December in either S. nodosum or S. asakoae or in both. Monthly infection rates with all stages of larvae were 0.6-5.0% for S. nodosum, and 1.0-4.0% for S. asakoae. It is suggested that people in this village are exposed to the risk of infection with zoonotic filariae throughout the year.

Spontaneous generalization of abstract multimodal patterns in young domestic chicks.

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Versace, Elisabetta; Spierings, Michelle J; Caffini, Matteo; Ten Cate, Carel; Vallortigara, Giorgio

2017-05-01

From the early stages of life, learning the regularities associated with specific objects is crucial for making sense of experiences. Through filial imprinting, young precocial birds quickly learn the features of their social partners by mere exposure. It is not clear though to what extent chicks can extract abstract patterns of the visual and acoustic stimuli present in the imprinting object, and how they combine them. To investigate this issue, we exposed chicks (Gallus gallus) to three days of visual and acoustic imprinting, using either patterns with two identical items or patterns with two different items, presented visually, acoustically or in both modalities. Next, chicks were given a choice between the familiar and the unfamiliar pattern, present in either the multimodal, visual or acoustic modality. The responses to the novel stimuli were affected by their imprinting experience, and the effect was stronger for chicks imprinted with multimodal patterns than for the other groups. Interestingly, males and females adopted a different strategy, with males more attracted by unfamiliar patterns and females more attracted by familiar patterns. Our data show that chicks can generalize abstract patterns by mere exposure through filial imprinting and that multimodal stimulation is more effective than unimodal stimulation for pattern learning.

Voice activity detection using audio-visual information

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petsatodis, Theodore; Pnevmatikakis, Aristodemos; Boukis, Christos

2009-01-01

An audio-visual voice activity detector that uses sensors positioned distantly from the speaker is presented. Its constituting unimodal detectors are based on the modeling of the temporal variation of audio and visual features using Hidden Markov Models; their outcomes are fused using a post...

Modeling activity patterns of wildlife using time-series analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jindong; Hull, Vanessa; Ouyang, Zhiyun; He, Liang; Connor, Thomas; Yang, Hongbo; Huang, Jinyan; Zhou, Shiqiang; Zhang, Zejun; Zhou, Caiquan; Zhang, Hemin; Liu, Jianguo

2017-04-01

The study of wildlife activity patterns is an effective approach to understanding fundamental ecological and evolutionary processes. However, traditional statistical approaches used to conduct quantitative analysis have thus far had limited success in revealing underlying mechanisms driving activity patterns. Here, we combine wavelet analysis, a type of frequency-based time-series analysis, with high-resolution activity data from accelerometers embedded in GPS collars to explore the effects of internal states (e.g., pregnancy) and external factors (e.g., seasonal dynamics of resources and weather) on activity patterns of the endangered giant panda ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca ). Giant pandas exhibited higher frequency cycles during the winter when resources (e.g., water and forage) were relatively poor, as well as during spring, which includes the giant panda's mating season. During the summer and autumn when resources were abundant, pandas exhibited a regular activity pattern with activity peaks every 24 hr. A pregnant individual showed distinct differences in her activity pattern from other giant pandas for several months following parturition. These results indicate that animals adjust activity cycles to adapt to seasonal variation of the resources and unique physiological periods. Wavelet coherency analysis also verified the synchronization of giant panda activity level with air temperature and solar radiation at the 24-hr band. Our study also shows that wavelet analysis is an effective tool for analyzing high-resolution activity pattern data and its relationship to internal and external states, an approach that has the potential to inform wildlife conservation and management across species.

Time-Dependent Trapping of Pollinators Driven by the Alignment of Floral Phenology with Insect Circadian Rhythms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jenny Y. Y. Lau

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Several evolutionary lineages in the early divergent angiosperm family Annonaceae possess flowers with a distinctive pollinator trapping mechanism, in which floral phenological events are very precisely timed in relation with pollinator activity patterns. This contrasts with previously described angiosperm pollinator traps, which predominantly function as pitfall traps. We assess the circadian rhythms of pollinators independently of their interactions with flowers, and correlate these data with detailed assessments of floral phenology. We reveal a close temporal alignment between patterns of pollinator activity and the floral phenology driving the trapping mechanism (termed ‘circadian trapping’ here. Non-trapping species with anthesis of standard duration (c. 48 h cannot be pollinated effectively by pollinators with a morning-unimodal activity pattern; non-trapping species with abbreviated anthesis (23–27 h face limitations in utilizing pollinators with a bimodal circadian activity; whereas species that trap pollinators (all with short anthesis can utilize a broader range of potential pollinators, including those with both unimodal and bimodal circadian rhythms. In addition to broadening the range of potential pollinators based on their activity patterns, circadian trapping endows other selective advantages, including the possibility of an extended staminate phase to promote pollen deposition, and enhanced interfloral movement of pollinators. The relevance of the alignment of floral phenological changes with peaks in pollinator activity is furthermore evaluated for pitfall trap pollination systems.

Are muscle activation patterns altered during shod and barefoot running with a forefoot footfall pattern?

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Ervilha, Ulysses Fernandes; Mochizuki, Luis; Figueira, Aylton; Hamill, Joseph

2017-09-01

This study aimed to investigate the activation of lower limb muscles during barefoot and shod running with forefoot or rearfoot footfall patterns. Nine habitually shod runners were asked to run straight for 20 m at self-selected speed. Ground reaction forces and thigh and shank muscle surface electromyographic (EMG) were recorded. EMG outcomes (EMG intensity [iEMG], latency between muscle activation and ground reaction force, latency between muscle pairs and co-activation index between muscle pairs) were compared across condition (shod and barefoot), running cycle epochs (pre-strike, strike, propulsion) and footfall (rearfoot and forefoot) by ANOVA. Condition affected iEMG at pre-strike epoch. Forefoot and rearfoot strike patterns induced different EMG activation time patterns affecting co-activation index for pairs of thigh and shank muscles. All these timing changes suggest that wearing shoes or not is less important for muscle activation than the way runners strike the foot on the ground. In conclusion, the guidance for changing external forces applied on lower limbs should be pointed to the question of rearfoot or forefoot footfall patterns.

Suboptimal Muscle Synergy Activation Patterns Generalize their Motor Function across Postures.

Science.gov (United States)

Sohn, M Hongchul; Ting, Lena H

2016-01-01

We used a musculoskeletal model to investigate the possible biomechanical and neural bases of using consistent muscle synergy patterns to produce functional motor outputs across different biomechanical conditions, which we define as generalizability. Experimental studies in cats demonstrate that the same muscle synergies are used during reactive postural responses at widely varying configurations, producing similarly-oriented endpoint force vectors with respect to the limb axis. However, whether generalizability across postures arises due to similar biomechanical properties or to neural selection of a particular muscle activation pattern has not been explicitly tested. Here, we used a detailed cat hindlimb model to explore the set of feasible muscle activation patterns that produce experimental synergy force vectors at a target posture, and tested their generalizability by applying them to different test postures. We used three methods to select candidate muscle activation patterns: (1) randomly-selected feasible muscle activation patterns, (2) optimal muscle activation patterns minimizing muscle effort at a given posture, and (3) generalizable muscle activation patterns that explicitly minimized deviations from experimentally-identified synergy force vectors across all postures. Generalizability was measured by the deviation between the simulated force direction of the candidate muscle activation pattern and the experimental synergy force vectors at the test postures. Force angle deviations were the greatest for the randomly selected feasible muscle activation patterns (e.g., >100°), intermediate for effort-wise optimal muscle activation patterns (e.g., ~20°), and smallest for generalizable muscle activation patterns (e.g., synergy force vector was reduced by ~45% when generalizability requirements were imposed. Muscles recruited in the generalizable muscle activation patterns had less sensitive torque-producing characteristics to changes in postures. We

Mining continuous activity patterns from animal trajectory data

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Y.; Luo, Ze; Baoping, Yan; Takekawa, John Y.; Prosser, Diann J.; Newman, Scott H.

2014-01-01

The increasing availability of animal tracking data brings us opportunities and challenges to intuitively understand the mechanisms of animal activities. In this paper, we aim to discover animal movement patterns from animal trajectory data. In particular, we propose a notion of continuous activity pattern as the concise representation of underlying similar spatio-temporal movements, and develop an extension and refinement framework to discover the patterns. We first preprocess the trajectories into significant semantic locations with time property. Then, we apply a projection-based approach to generate candidate patterns and refine them to generate true patterns. A sequence graph structure and a simple and effective processing strategy is further developed to reduce the computational overhead. The proposed approaches are extensively validated on both real GPS datasets and large synthetic datasets.

Integration of active pauses and pattern of muscular activity during computer work.

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St-Onge, Nancy; Samani, Afshin; Madeleine, Pascal

2017-09-01

Submaximal isometric muscle contractions have been reported to increase variability of muscle activation during computer work; however, other types of active contractions may be more beneficial. Our objective was to determine which type of active pause vs. rest is more efficient in changing muscle activity pattern during a computer task. Asymptomatic regular computer users performed a standardised 20-min computer task four times, integrating a different type of pause: sub-maximal isometric contraction, dynamic contraction, postural exercise and rest. Surface electromyographic (SEMG) activity was recorded bilaterally from five neck/shoulder muscles. Root-mean-square decreased with isometric pauses in the cervical paraspinals, upper trapezius and middle trapezius, whereas it increased with rest. Variability in the pattern of muscular activity was not affected by any type of pause. Overall, no detrimental effects on the level of SEMG during active pauses were found suggesting that they could be implemented without a cost on activation level or variability. Practitioner Summary: We aimed to determine which type of active pause vs. rest is best in changing muscle activity pattern during a computer task. Asymptomatic computer users performed a standardised computer task integrating different types of pauses. Muscle activation decreased with isometric pauses in neck/shoulder muscles, suggesting their implementation during computer work.

Contrasting activity patterns of sympatric and allopatric black and grizzly bears

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, C.C.; Cain, S.L.; Podruzny, S.; Cherry, S.; Frattaroli, L.

2010-01-01

The distribution of grizzly (Ursus arctos) and American black bears (U. americanus) overlaps in western North America. Few studies have detailed activity patterns where the species are sympatric and no studies contrasted patterns where populations are both sympatric and allopatric. We contrasted activity patterns for sympatric black and grizzly bears and for black bears allopatric to grizzly bears, how human influences altered patterns, and rates of grizzlyblack bear predation. Activity patterns differed between black bear populations, with those sympatric to grizzly bears more day-active. Activity patterns of black bears allopatric with grizzly bears were similar to those of female grizzly bears; both were crepuscular and day-active. Male grizzly bears were crepuscular and night-active. Both species were more night-active and less day-active when ???1 km from roads or developments. In our sympatric study area, 2 of 4 black bear mortalities were due to grizzly bear predation. Our results suggested patterns of activity that allowed for intra- and inter-species avoidance. National park management often results in convergence of locally high human densities in quality bear habitat. Our data provide additional understanding into how bears alter their activity patterns in response to other bears and humans and should help park managers minimize undesirable bearhuman encounters when considering needs for temporal and spatial management of humans and human developments in bear habitats. ?? 2010 The Wildlife Society.

Physical activity, obesity and mortality: does pattern of physical activity have stronger epidemiological associations?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bauman, Adrian E.; Grunseit, Anne C.; Rangul, Vegar

2017-01-01

Background: Most studies of physical activity (PA) epidemiology use behaviour measured at a single time-point. We examined whether 'PA patterns' (consistently low, consistently high or inconsistent PA levels over time) showed different epidemiological relationships for anthropometric and mortality...... and time 3, and sport and active travel at times 1 and 2 with BMI, waist, hip circumference and mortality (death from coronary heart disease (CHD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD)) were compared to 'PA patterns' spanning multiple time points. PA pattern classified participants' PA as either 1) inactive......: The moderately and highly active groups for PA at times 1 and 3 had up to 1.7 cm lower increase in waist circumference compared with the inactive/low active group. Across 'PA patterns', 'active maintainers' had a 2.0 cm lower waist circumference than 'inactive/low maintainers'. Waist circumference was inversely...

Muscle activity pattern dependent pain development and alleviation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sjøgaard, Gisela; Søgaard, Karen

2014-01-01

Muscle activity is for decades considered to provide health benefits irrespectively of the muscle activity pattern performed and whether it is during e.g. sports, transportation, or occupational work tasks. Accordingly, the international recommendations for public health-promoting physical activity...... do not distinguish between occupational and leisure time physical activity. However, in this body of literature, attention has not been paid to the extensive documentation on occupational physical activity imposing a risk of impairment of health - in particular musculoskeletal health in terms...... during physical activities at leisure and sport the motor recruitment patterns are more dynamic including regularly relatively high muscle forces - also activating type 2 muscles fibers - as well as periods of full relaxation even of the type 1 muscle fibers. Such activity is unrelated to muscle pain...

Physical activity patterns in Greenland: a country in transition.

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Dahl-Petersen, Inger K; Jørgensen, Marit E; Bjerregaard, Peter

2011-11-01

To examine differences in physical activity patterns among Inuit in Greenland in relation to social transition. The Inuit in Greenland are an indigenous population in the circumpolar north who are experiencing rapid social transition. Physical activity patterns were assessed by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (long version). The population was divided into six groups according to different stages of social change, measured on the basis of education, current residence and occupation. Data were collected in a country-wide cross-sectional population survey among adult Inuit in Greenland from 2005 to 2009. Men with long vocational or academic education living in towns (latest stage of social change) spent significantly less time on occupational physical activity (p = 0.001) compared with hunters and fishermen in villages (earliest stage of social change) (trend test p = 0.01). Women in the latest stage of change spent significantly less time on domestic physical activity (p physical activity during transportation (p = 0.02 and p = 0.01 for men and women, respectively). No significant difference was found for leisure time physical activity. Men and women in the latest stage of social change spent more time on sedentary activity (p physical activity patterns among Inuit in Greenland included decreasing time spent on domestic and occupational physical activity and increasing time spent on sedentary activities along with social change. Knowledge of changes in physical activity patterns in relation to social transition is important in prevention of obesity, type 2 diabetes and lifestyle diseases.

Modeling Patterns of Activities using Activity Curves.

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Dawadi, Prafulla N; Cook, Diane J; Schmitter-Edgecombe, Maureen

2016-06-01

Pervasive computing offers an unprecedented opportunity to unobtrusively monitor behavior and use the large amount of collected data to perform analysis of activity-based behavioral patterns. In this paper, we introduce the notion of an activity curve , which represents an abstraction of an individual's normal daily routine based on automatically-recognized activities. We propose methods to detect changes in behavioral routines by comparing activity curves and use these changes to analyze the possibility of changes in cognitive or physical health. We demonstrate our model and evaluate our change detection approach using a longitudinal smart home sensor dataset collected from 18 smart homes with older adult residents. Finally, we demonstrate how big data-based pervasive analytics such as activity curve-based change detection can be used to perform functional health assessment. Our evaluation indicates that correlations do exist between behavior and health changes and that these changes can be automatically detected using smart homes, machine learning, and big data-based pervasive analytics.

A Multiscale Survival Process for Modeling Human Activity Patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Tianyang; Cui, Peng; Song, Chaoming; Zhu, Wenwu; Yang, Shiqiang

2016-01-01

Human activity plays a central role in understanding large-scale social dynamics. It is well documented that individual activity pattern follows bursty dynamics characterized by heavy-tailed interevent time distributions. Here we study a large-scale online chatting dataset consisting of 5,549,570 users, finding that individual activity pattern varies with timescales whereas existing models only approximate empirical observations within a limited timescale. We propose a novel approach that models the intensity rate of an individual triggering an activity. We demonstrate that the model precisely captures corresponding human dynamics across multiple timescales over five orders of magnitudes. Our model also allows extracting the population heterogeneity of activity patterns, characterized by a set of individual-specific ingredients. Integrating our approach with social interactions leads to a wide range of implications.

Longitudinal Physical Activity Patterns Among Older Adults: A Latent Transition Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Mooney, Stephen J; Joshi, Spruha; Cerdá, Magdalena; Kennedy, Gary J; Beard, John R; Rundle, Andrew G

2018-05-14

Most epidemiologic studies of physical activity measure either total energy expenditure or engagement in a single activity type, such as walking. These approaches may gloss over important nuances in activity patterns. We performed a latent transition analysis to identify patterns of activity types as well as neighborhood and individual determinants of changes in those activity patterns over two years in a cohort of 2,023 older adult residents of New York City, NY, surveyed between 2011 and 2013. We identified seven latent classes: 1) Mostly Inactive, 2) Walking, 3) Exercise, 4) Household Activities and Walking, 5) Household Activities and Exercise, 6) Gardening and Household Activities, and 7) Gardening, Household Activities, and Exercise. The majority of subjects retained the same activity patterns between waves (54% unchanged between waves 1 and 2, 66% unchanged between waves 2 and 3).Most latent class transitions were between classes distinguished only by one form of activity, and only neighborhood unemployment was consistently associated with changing between activity latent classes. Future latent transition analyses of physical activity would benefit from larger cohorts and longer follow-up periods to assess predictors of and long-term impacts of changes in activity patterns.

Patterns and predictors of physical activity among pregnant women ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The patterns and predictors of physical activity (PA) in pregnant women is poorly understood. This study described the patterns of physical activity (PA) in specific domains (home, occupation, transport and exercise/sport) and intensities (light, moderate and vigorous), and determined the factors associated with achieving ...

Newer developments on self-modeling curve resolution implementing equality and unimodality constraints.

Science.gov (United States)

Beyramysoltan, Samira; Abdollahi, Hamid; Rajkó, Róbert

2014-05-27

Analytical self-modeling curve resolution (SMCR) methods resolve data sets to a range of feasible solutions using only non-negative constraints. The Lawton-Sylvestre method was the first direct method to analyze a two-component system. It was generalized as a Borgen plot for determining the feasible regions in three-component systems. It seems that a geometrical view is required for considering curve resolution methods, because the complicated (only algebraic) conceptions caused a stop in the general study of Borgen's work for 20 years. Rajkó and István revised and elucidated the principles of existing theory in SMCR methods and subsequently introduced computational geometry tools for developing an algorithm to draw Borgen plots in three-component systems. These developments are theoretical inventions and the formulations are not always able to be given in close form or regularized formalism, especially for geometric descriptions, that is why several algorithms should have been developed and provided for even the theoretical deductions and determinations. In this study, analytical SMCR methods are revised and described using simple concepts. The details of a drawing algorithm for a developmental type of Borgen plot are given. Additionally, for the first time in the literature, equality and unimodality constraints are successfully implemented in the Lawton-Sylvestre method. To this end, a new state-of-the-art procedure is proposed to impose equality constraint in Borgen plots. Two- and three-component HPLC-DAD data set were simulated and analyzed by the new analytical curve resolution methods with and without additional constraints. Detailed descriptions and explanations are given based on the obtained abstract spaces. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Vision drives correlated activity without patterned spontaneous activity in developing Xenopus retina.

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Demas, James A; Payne, Hannah; Cline, Hollis T

2012-04-01

Developing amphibians need vision to avoid predators and locate food before visual system circuits fully mature. Xenopus tadpoles can respond to visual stimuli as soon as retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) innervate the brain, however, in mammals, chicks and turtles, RGCs reach their central targets many days, or even weeks, before their retinas are capable of vision. In the absence of vision, activity-dependent refinement in these amniote species is mediated by waves of spontaneous activity that periodically spread across the retina, correlating the firing of action potentials in neighboring RGCs. Theory suggests that retinorecipient neurons in the brain use patterned RGC activity to sharpen the retinotopy first established by genetic cues. We find that in both wild type and albino Xenopus tadpoles, RGCs are spontaneously active at all stages of tadpole development studied, but their population activity never coalesces into waves. Even at the earliest stages recorded, visual stimulation dominates over spontaneous activity and can generate patterns of RGC activity similar to the locally correlated spontaneous activity observed in amniotes. In addition, we show that blocking AMPA and NMDA type glutamate receptors significantly decreases spontaneous activity in young Xenopus retina, but that blocking GABA(A) receptor blockers does not. Our findings indicate that vision drives correlated activity required for topographic map formation. They further suggest that developing retinal circuits in the two major subdivisions of tetrapods, amphibians and amniotes, evolved different strategies to supply appropriately patterned RGC activity to drive visual circuit refinement. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Dietary Patterns among Children

OpenAIRE

Gubbels, Jessica S.; van Assema, Patricia; Kremers, Stef P. J.

2013-01-01

Energy balance-related behavioral patterns find their origin in early childhood. The current paper provides an overview of studies that have examined such behavioral patterns, i.e., the clustering of dietary behaviors, physical activity, and/or sedentary behavior. The paper discusses the importance of examining energy balance-related behavioral patterns in children, outlines methods to examine these patterns, and provides examples of patterns that have been found (e.g., the universal sedentar...

Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Dietary Patterns among Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Gubbels, Jessica S; van Assema, Patricia; Kremers, Stef P J

2013-06-01

Energy balance-related behavioral patterns find their origin in early childhood. The current paper provides an overview of studies that have examined such behavioral patterns, i.e., the clustering of dietary behaviors, physical activity, and/or sedentary behavior. The paper discusses the importance of examining energy balance-related behavioral patterns in children, outlines methods to examine these patterns, and provides examples of patterns that have been found (e.g., the universal sedentary-snacking and healthy intake patterns, as well as more unique or local patterns), child and parental characteristics predicting such patterns (e.g., child gender and maternal educational level), and the relationship of these patterns with overweight and related measures.

Changing patterns of brain activation during maze learning.

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Van Horn, J D; Gold, J M; Esposito, G; Ostrem, J L; Mattay, V; Weinberger, D R; Berman, K F

1998-05-18

Recent research has found that patterns of brain activation involving the frontal cortex during novel task performance change dramatically following practice and repeat performance. Evidence for differential left vs. right frontal lobe activation, respectively, during episodic memory encoding and retrieval has also been reported. To examine these potentially related issues regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured in 15 normal volunteers using positron emission tomography (PET) during the naive and practiced performance of a maze task paradigm. SPM analysis indicated a largely right-sided, frontal lobe activation during naive performance. Following training and practice, performance of the same maze task elicited a more posterior pattern of rCBF activation involving posterior cingulate and precuneus. The change in the pattern of rCBF activation between novel and practiced task conditions agrees with results found in previous studies using repeat task methodology, and indicates that the neural circuitry required for encoding novel task information differs from that required when the same task has become familiar and information is being recalled. The right-sided preponderance of activation during naive performance may relate to task novelty and the spatially-based nature of the stimuli, whereas posterior areas activated during repeat performance are those previously found to be associated with visuospatial memory recall. Activation of these areas, however, does not agree with previously reported findings of left-sided activation during verbal episodic memory encoding and right-sided activation during retrieval, suggesting different neural substrates for verbal and visuospatial processing within memory. Copyright 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.

Spontaneous Plasticity of Multineuronal Activity Patterns in Activated Hippocampal Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atsushi Usami

2008-01-01

Full Text Available Using functional multineuron imaging with single-cell resolution, we examined how hippocampal networks by themselves change the spatiotemporal patterns of spontaneous activity during the course of emitting spontaneous activity. When extracellular ionic concentrations were changed to those that mimicked in vivo conditions, spontaneous activity was increased in active cell number and activity frequency. When ionic compositions were restored to the control conditions, the activity level returned to baseline, but the weighted spatial dispersion of active cells, as assessed by entropy-based metrics, did not. Thus, the networks can modify themselves by altering the internal structure of their correlated activity, even though they as a whole maintained the same level of activity in space and time.

Time activity patterns: a case of south Durban, South Africa

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Matooane, M

2010-08-01

Full Text Available Exposure modelling in south Durban is constrained by a lack of population specific time-activity patterns data. We argue that the application of time-activity patterns from elsewhere in the world in exposure modelling in south Durban would...

Estimating repetitive spatiotemporal patterns from resting-state brain activity data.

Science.gov (United States)

Takeda, Yusuke; Hiroe, Nobuo; Yamashita, Okito; Sato, Masa-Aki

2016-06-01

Repetitive spatiotemporal patterns in spontaneous brain activities have been widely examined in non-human studies. These studies have reported that such patterns reflect past experiences embedded in neural circuits. In human magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG) studies, however, spatiotemporal patterns in resting-state brain activities have not been extensively examined. This is because estimating spatiotemporal patterns from resting-state MEG/EEG data is difficult due to their unknown onsets. Here, we propose a method to estimate repetitive spatiotemporal patterns from resting-state brain activity data, including MEG/EEG. Without the information of onsets, the proposed method can estimate several spatiotemporal patterns, even if they are overlapping. We verified the performance of the method by detailed simulation tests. Furthermore, we examined whether the proposed method could estimate the visual evoked magnetic fields (VEFs) without using stimulus onset information. The proposed method successfully detected the stimulus onsets and estimated the VEFs, implying the applicability of this method to real MEG data. The proposed method was applied to resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data and MEG data. The results revealed informative spatiotemporal patterns representing consecutive brain activities that dynamically change with time. Using this method, it is possible to reveal discrete events spontaneously occurring in our brains, such as memory retrieval. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Individual, Social, and Environmental Correlates of Active Transportation Patterns in French Women.

Science.gov (United States)

Perchoux, Camille; Enaux, Christophe; Oppert, Jean-Michel; Menai, Mehdi; Charreire, Hélène; Salze, Paul; Weber, Christiane; Hercberg, Serge; Feuillet, Thierry; Hess, Franck; Roda, Célina; Simon, Chantal; Nazare, Julie-Anne

2017-01-01

The objectives were (1) to define physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviors (SB) patterns in daily life contexts (work, leisure, and transportation) in French working women from NutriNet-Santé web-cohort and (2) to identify pattern(s) of active transportation and their individual, social, and environmental correlates. 23,432 participants completed two questionnaires to evaluate PA and SB in daily life contexts and individual representations of residential neighborhood and transportation modes. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed which identified 6 distinct movement behavior patterns: (i) active occupation, high sedentary leisure, (ii) sedentary occupation, low leisure, (iii) sedentary transportation, (iv) sedentary occupation and leisure, (v) active transportation, and (vi) active leisure. Multinomial logistic regressions were performed to identify correlates of the "active transportation" cluster. The perceived environmental characteristics positively associated with "active transportation" included "high availability of destinations around home," "presence of bicycle paths," and "low traffic." A "positive image of walking/cycling," the "individual feeling of being physically active," and a "high use of active transport modes by relatives/friends" were positively related to "active transportation," identified as a unique pattern regarding individual and environmental correlates. Identification of PA and SB context-specific patterns will help to understand movement behaviors' complexity and to design interventions to promote active transportation in specific subgroups.

Mining Emerging Sequential Patterns for Activity Recognition in Body Sensor Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gu, Tao; Wang, Liang; Chen, Hanhua

2010-01-01

Body Sensor Networks oer many applications in healthcare, well-being and entertainment. One of the emerging applications is recognizing activities of daily living. In this paper, we introduce a novel knowledge pattern named Emerging Sequential Pattern (ESP)|a sequential pattern that discovers...... signicant class dierences|to recognize both simple (i.e., sequential) and complex (i.e., interleaved and concurrent) activities. Based on ESPs, we build our complex activity models directly upon the sequential model to recognize both activity types. We conduct comprehensive empirical studies to evaluate...

PHYSIOLOGIC PATTERNS OF SLEEP ON EEG, MASKING OF EPILEPTIFORM ACTIVITY

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L. Yu. Glukhova

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Physiologic patterns of sleep on EEG can sometimes be similar to epileptiform activity and even to the EEG pattern of epileptic seizures, but they have no connection to epilepsy and their incorrect interpretation may lead to overdiagnosis of epilepsy. These sleep patterns include vertex transients, K-complexes, hypnagogic hypersynchrony, 14 and 6 Hz positive bursts, wicket-potentials, etc. The main distinctive features of acute physiological phenomena of sleep unlike epileptiform activity are stereotyped, monomorphic morphology of waves, which frequently has rhythmic, arcuate pattern, often with change of lateralization, mainly dominated in the first stages of sleep (N1-N2, with their reduction in the deeper stages and transition to delta sleep (N3. The correct interpretation of physiological sharp-wave phenomena of sleep on EEG requires considerable training and experience of the physician. Our review includes a variety of physiological sleep patterns, which can mimic epileptiform activity on EEG, their criteria of diagnostic with demonstration of own illustrations of EEG.

Exploring Human Activity Patterns Using Taxicab Static Points

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Bin Jiang

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This paper explores the patterns of human activities within a geographical space by adopting the taxicab static points which refer to the locations with zero speed along the tracking trajectory. We report the findings from both aggregated and individual aspects. Results from the aggregated level indicate the following: (1 Human activities exhibit an obvious regularity in time, for example, there is a burst of activity during weekend nights and a lull during the week. (2 They show a remarkable spatial drifting pattern, which strengthens our understanding of the activities in any given place. (3 Activities are heterogeneous in space irrespective of their drifting with time. These aggregated results not only help in city planning, but also facilitate traffic control and management. On the other hand, investigations on an individual level suggest that (4 activities witnessed by one taxicab will have different temporal regularity to another, and (5 each regularity implies a high level of prediction with low entropy by applying the Lempel-Ziv algorithm.

Individual, Social, and Environmental Correlates of Active Transportation Patterns in French Women

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Camille Perchoux

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The objectives were (1 to define physical activity (PA and sedentary behaviors (SB patterns in daily life contexts (work, leisure, and transportation in French working women from NutriNet-Santé web-cohort and (2 to identify pattern(s of active transportation and their individual, social, and environmental correlates. 23,432 participants completed two questionnaires to evaluate PA and SB in daily life contexts and individual representations of residential neighborhood and transportation modes. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed which identified 6 distinct movement behavior patterns: (i active occupation, high sedentary leisure, (ii sedentary occupation, low leisure, (iii sedentary transportation, (iv sedentary occupation and leisure, (v active transportation, and (vi active leisure. Multinomial logistic regressions were performed to identify correlates of the “active transportation” cluster. The perceived environmental characteristics positively associated with “active transportation” included “high availability of destinations around home,” “presence of bicycle paths,” and “low traffic.” A “positive image of walking/cycling,” the “individual feeling of being physically active,” and a “high use of active transport modes by relatives/friends” were positively related to “active transportation,” identified as a unique pattern regarding individual and environmental correlates. Identification of PA and SB context-specific patterns will help to understand movement behaviors’ complexity and to design interventions to promote active transportation in specific subgroups.

Physical activity patterns in Greenland: A country in transition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahl-Petersen, Inger; Jørgensen, Marit E; Bjerregaard, Peter

2011-01-01

To examine differences in physical activity patterns among Inuit in Greenland in relation to social transition. The Inuit in Greenland are an indigenous population in the circumpolar north who are experiencing rapid social transition.......To examine differences in physical activity patterns among Inuit in Greenland in relation to social transition. The Inuit in Greenland are an indigenous population in the circumpolar north who are experiencing rapid social transition....

Correlations between human mobility and social interaction reveal general activity patterns.

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Mollgaard, Anders; Lehmann, Sune; Mathiesen, Joachim

2017-01-01

A day in the life of a person involves a broad range of activities which are common across many people. Going beyond diurnal cycles, a central question is: to what extent do individuals act according to patterns shared across an entire population? Here we investigate the interplay between different activity types, namely communication, motion, and physical proximity by analyzing data collected from smartphones distributed among 638 individuals. We explore two central questions: Which underlying principles govern the formation of the activity patterns? Are the patterns specific to each individual or shared across the entire population? We find that statistics of the entire population allows us to successfully predict 71% of the activity and 85% of the inactivity involved in communication, mobility, and physical proximity. Surprisingly, individual level statistics only result in marginally better predictions, indicating that a majority of activity patterns are shared across our sample population. Finally, we predict short-term activity patterns using a generalized linear model, which suggests that a simple linear description might be sufficient to explain a wide range of actions, whether they be of social or of physical character.

Mining Emerging Patterns for Recognizing Activities of Multiple Users in Pervasive Computing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gu, Tao; Wu, Zhanqing; Wang, Liang

2009-01-01

Understanding and recognizing human activities from sensor readings is an important task in pervasive computing. Existing work on activity recognition mainly focuses on recognizing activities for a single user in a smart home environment. However, in real life, there are often multiple inhabitants...... activity models, and propose an Emerging Pattern based Multi-user Activity Recognizer (epMAR) to recognize both single-user and multiuser activities. We conduct our empirical studies by collecting real-world activity traces done by two volunteers over a period of two weeks in a smart home environment...... sensor readings in a home environment, and propose a novel pattern mining approach to recognize both single-user and multi-user activities in a unified solution. We exploit Emerging Pattern – a type of knowledge pattern that describes significant changes between classes of data – for constructing our...

Sow-activity classification from acceleration patterns

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Escalante, Hugo Jair; Rodriguez, Sara V.; Cordero, Jorge

2013-01-01

sow-activity classification can be approached with standard machine learning methods for pattern classification. Individual predictions for elements of times series of arbitrary length are combined to classify it as a whole. An extensive comparison of representative learning algorithms, including......This paper describes a supervised learning approach to sow-activity classification from accelerometer measurements. In the proposed methodology, pairs of accelerometer measurements and activity types are considered as labeled instances of a usual supervised classification task. Under this scenario...... neural networks, support vector machines, and ensemble methods, is presented. Experimental results are reported using a data set for sow-activity classification collected in a real production herd. The data set, which has been widely used in related works, includes measurements from active (Feeding...

Blind Channel Equalization Using Constrained Generalized Pattern Search Optimization and Reinitialization Strategy

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Charles Tatkeu

2008-12-01

Full Text Available We propose a global convergence baud-spaced blind equalization method in this paper. This method is based on the application of both generalized pattern optimization and channel surfing reinitialization. The potentially used unimodal cost function relies on higher- order statistics, and its optimization is achieved using a pattern search algorithm. Since the convergence to the global minimum is not unconditionally warranted, we make use of channel surfing reinitialization (CSR strategy to find the right global minimum. The proposed algorithm is analyzed, and simulation results using a severe frequency selective propagation channel are given. Detailed comparisons with constant modulus algorithm (CMA are highlighted. The proposed algorithm performances are evaluated in terms of intersymbol interference, normalized received signal constellations, and root mean square error vector magnitude. In case of nonconstant modulus input signals, our algorithm outperforms significantly CMA algorithm with full channel surfing reinitialization strategy. However, comparable performances are obtained for constant modulus signals.

Blind Channel Equalization Using Constrained Generalized Pattern Search Optimization and Reinitialization Strategy

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Zaouche, Abdelouahib; Dayoub, Iyad; Rouvaen, Jean Michel; Tatkeu, Charles

2008-12-01

We propose a global convergence baud-spaced blind equalization method in this paper. This method is based on the application of both generalized pattern optimization and channel surfing reinitialization. The potentially used unimodal cost function relies on higher- order statistics, and its optimization is achieved using a pattern search algorithm. Since the convergence to the global minimum is not unconditionally warranted, we make use of channel surfing reinitialization (CSR) strategy to find the right global minimum. The proposed algorithm is analyzed, and simulation results using a severe frequency selective propagation channel are given. Detailed comparisons with constant modulus algorithm (CMA) are highlighted. The proposed algorithm performances are evaluated in terms of intersymbol interference, normalized received signal constellations, and root mean square error vector magnitude. In case of nonconstant modulus input signals, our algorithm outperforms significantly CMA algorithm with full channel surfing reinitialization strategy. However, comparable performances are obtained for constant modulus signals.

Predesigned surface patterns and topological defects control the active matter.

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Turiv, Taras; Peng, Chenhui; Guo, Yubing; Wei, Qi-Huo; Lavrentovich, Oleg

Active matter exhibits remarkable patterns of never-ending dynamics with giant fluctuations of concentration, varying order, nucleating and annihilating topological defects. These patterns can be seen in active systems of both biological and artificial origin. A fundamental question is whether and how one can control this chaotic out-of-equilibrium behavior. We demonstrate a robust control of local concentration, trajectories of active self-propelled units and the net flows of active bacteria Bacillus Substilis by imposing pre-designed surface patterns of orientational order in a water-based lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal. The patterns force the bacteria to gather into dynamic swarms with spatially modulated concentration and well-defined polarity of motion. Topological defects produce net motion of bacteria with a unidirectional circulation, while pairs of defects induce a pumping action. The qualitative features of the dynamics can be explained by interplay of curvature and activity, in particular, by ability of mixed splay-bend curvatures to generate threshold-less active flows. The demonstrated level of control opens opportunities in engineering materials and devices that mimic rich functionality of living systems. This work was supported by NSF Grants DMR-1507637, DMS-1434185, CMMI-1436565, by the Petroleum Research Grant PRF# 56046-ND7 administered by the American Chemical Society.

Striped aeolian bedforms: a novel longitudinal pattern observed in ripples and megaripples on Earth and Mars

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Gough, T. R.; Hugenholtz, C.; Barchyn, T.; Martin, R. L.

2017-12-01

Striped aeolian bedforms (SABs) are a previously undocumented longitudinal pattern consisting of streamwise corridors of ripples or megaripples separated by corridors containing smaller bedforms. Similar patterns of spanwise variations in bed texture and/or bed topography are observed in water flumes. SABs have been observed in satellite imagery at sites in Peru, Iran, California, the Puna region of northwestern Argentina, and on Mars. The spanwise periodicity varies from automated image-based grain size analysis, we found that median grain size was larger on the ripples and megaripples than on the intervening corridors containing smaller bedforms. This result is consistent with fluvial stripes, for which it is suggested that instability-driven streamwise vortices produce lateral sediment transport and sorting. We found no consistent evidence upwind of the SAB patterns to indicate topographic seeding is necessary. Therefore, we hypothesize that SABs are a self-organized bedform pattern that develops from secondary (lateral) transport of sediment in mixed sediment deposits. We also hypothesize that the development and maintenance of SABs requires unimodal wind regimes.

Agricultural activity shapes the communication and migration patterns in Senegal

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Martin-Gutierrez, S.; Borondo, J.; Morales, A. J.; Losada, J. C.; Tarquis, A. M.; Benito, R. M.

2016-06-01

The communication and migration patterns of a country are shaped by its socioeconomic processes. The economy of Senegal is predominantly rural, as agriculture employs over 70% of the labor force. In this paper, we use mobile phone records to explore the impact of agricultural activity on the communication and mobility patterns of the inhabitants of Senegal. We find two peaks of phone calls activity emerging during the growing season. Moreover, during the harvest period, we detect an increase in the migration flows throughout the country. However, religious holidays also shape the mobility patterns of the Senegalese people. Hence, in the light of our results, agricultural activity and religious holidays are the primary drivers of mobility inside the country.

Instabilities and patterns in an active nematic film

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Srivastava, Pragya; Marchetti, Cristina

2015-03-01

Experiments on microtubule bundles confined to an oil-water interface have motivated extensive theoretical studies of two-dimensional active nematics. Theoretical models taking into account the interplay between activity, flow and order have remarkably reproduced several experimentally observed features of the defect-dynamics in these ``living'' nematics. Here, we derive minimal description of a two-dimensional active nematic film confined between walls. At high friction, we eliminate the flow to obtain closed equations for the nematic order parameter, with renormalized Frank elastic constants. Active processes can render the ``Frank'' constants negative, resulting in the instability of the uniformly ordered nematic state. The minimal model yields emergent patterns of growing complexity with increasing activity, including bands and turbulent dynamics with a steady density of topological defects, as obtained with the full hydrodynamic equations. We report on the scaling of the length scales of these patterns and of the steady state number of defects with activity and system size. National Science Foundation grant DMR-1305184 and Syracuse Soft Matter Program.

Patterns of adolescent physical activity and dietary behaviours

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Gorely Trish

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The potential synergistic effects of multiple dietary and physical activity behaviours on the risk of chronic conditions and health outcomes is a key issue for public health. This study examined the prevalence and clustering patterns of multiple health behaviours among a sample of adolescents in the UK. Methods Cross-sectional survey of 176 adolescents aged 12–16 years (49% boys. Adolescents wore accelerometers for seven days and completed a questionnaire assessing fruit, vegetable, and breakfast consumption. The prevalence of adolescents meeting the physical activity (≥ 60 minutes moderate-to-vigorous physical activity/day, fruit and vegetable (≥ 5 portions of FV per day and breakfast recommendations (eating breakfast on ≥ 5 days per week, and clustering patterns of these health behaviours are described. Results Boys were more active than girls (p Conclusion Many adolescents fail to meet multiple diet and physical activity recommendations, highlighting that physical activity and dietary behaviours do not occur in isolation. Future research should investigate how best to achieve multiple health behaviour change in adolescent boys and girls.

Neural Activity Patterns in the Human Brain Reflect Tactile Stickiness Perception

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Kim, Junsuk; Yeon, Jiwon; Ryu, Jaekyun; Park, Jang-Yeon; Chung, Soon-Cheol; Kim, Sung-Phil

2017-01-01

Our previous human fMRI study found brain activations correlated with tactile stickiness perception using the uni-variate general linear model (GLM) (Yeon et al., 2017). Here, we conducted an in-depth investigation on neural correlates of sticky sensations by employing a multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) on the same dataset. In particular, we statistically compared multi-variate neural activities in response to the three groups of sticky stimuli: A supra-threshold group including a set of sticky stimuli that evoked vivid sticky perception; an infra-threshold group including another set of sticky stimuli that barely evoked sticky perception; and a sham group including acrylic stimuli with no physically sticky property. Searchlight MVPAs were performed to search for local activity patterns carrying neural information of stickiness perception. Similar to the uni-variate GLM results, significant multi-variate neural activity patterns were identified in postcentral gyrus, subcortical (basal ganglia and thalamus), and insula areas (insula and adjacent areas). Moreover, MVPAs revealed that activity patterns in posterior parietal cortex discriminated the perceptual intensities of stickiness, which was not present in the uni-variate analysis. Next, we applied a principal component analysis (PCA) to the voxel response patterns within identified clusters so as to find low-dimensional neural representations of stickiness intensities. Follow-up clustering analyses clearly showed separate neural grouping configurations between the Supra- and Infra-threshold groups. Interestingly, this neural categorization was in line with the perceptual grouping pattern obtained from the psychophysical data. Our findings thus suggest that different stickiness intensities would elicit distinct neural activity patterns in the human brain and may provide a neural basis for the perception and categorization of tactile stickiness. PMID:28936171

Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Dietary Patterns among Children

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gubbels, J.S.; van Assema, P.; Kremers, S.P.

2013-01-01

Energy balance-related behavioral patterns find their origin in early The current paper provides an overview of studies that have examined behavioral patterns, i.e., the clustering of dietary behaviors, physical activity, and/or sedentary behavior. The paper discusses the importance examining energy

Categorizing Pedagogical Patterns by Teaching Activities and Pedagogical Value

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eriksen, Ole

2006-01-01

The main contribution of this paper is a proposal for a universal pedagogical pattern categorization based on teaching values and activities. This categorization would be more sustainable than the arbitrary categorization implied by pedagogical pattern language themes. Pedagogical patterns from two...... central patterns languages are analyzed and categorized, and the result is a catalogue theoretically founded and practical in its application. The teaching values are derived from learning theories, implying the theoretical foundation of the catalogue. In order to increase the usability of the value...

Implicit co-activation of American Sign Language in deaf readers: An ERP study.

Science.gov (United States)

Meade, Gabriela; Midgley, Katherine J; Sevcikova Sehyr, Zed; Holcomb, Phillip J; Emmorey, Karen

2017-07-01

In an implicit phonological priming paradigm, deaf bimodal bilinguals made semantic relatedness decisions for pairs of English words. Half of the semantically unrelated pairs had phonologically related translations in American Sign Language (ASL). As in previous studies with unimodal bilinguals, targets in pairs with phonologically related translations elicited smaller negativities than targets in pairs with phonologically unrelated translations within the N400 window. This suggests that the same lexicosemantic mechanism underlies implicit co-activation of a non-target language, irrespective of language modality. In contrast to unimodal bilingual studies that find no behavioral effects, we observed phonological interference, indicating that bimodal bilinguals may not suppress the non-target language as robustly. Further, there was a subset of bilinguals who were aware of the ASL manipulation (determined by debrief), and they exhibited an effect of ASL phonology in a later time window (700-900ms). Overall, these results indicate modality-independent language co-activation that persists longer for bimodal bilinguals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multimodal Feature Integration in the Angular Gyrus during Episodic and Semantic Retrieval

Science.gov (United States)

Bonnici, Heidi M.; Richter, Franziska R.; Yazar, Yasemin

2016-01-01

G) contribute to the retrieval of episodic and semantic memories. Our multivariate pattern classifier could distinguish episodic memory representations in AnG according to whether they were multimodal (audio-visual) or unimodal (auditory or visual) in nature, whereas statistically equivalent AnG activity was observed during retrieval of unimodal and multimodal semantic memories. Classification accuracy during episodic retrieval scaled with the trial-by-trial vividness with which participants experienced their recollections. Therefore, the findings offer new insights into the integrative processes subserved by AnG and how its function may contribute to our subjective experience of remembering. PMID:27194327

Multimodal Feature Integration in the Angular Gyrus during Episodic and Semantic Retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonnici, Heidi M; Richter, Franziska R; Yazar, Yasemin; Simons, Jon S

2016-05-18

episodic and semantic memories. Our multivariate pattern classifier could distinguish episodic memory representations in AnG according to whether they were multimodal (audio-visual) or unimodal (auditory or visual) in nature, whereas statistically equivalent AnG activity was observed during retrieval of unimodal and multimodal semantic memories. Classification accuracy during episodic retrieval scaled with the trial-by-trial vividness with which participants experienced their recollections. Therefore, the findings offer new insights into the integrative processes subserved by AnG and how its function may contribute to our subjective experience of remembering. Copyright © 2016 Bonnici, Richter, et al.

Physical Activity and Pattern of Blood Pressure

African Journals Online (AJOL)

GB

2014-04-02

Apr 2, 2014 ... This study investigated physical activity (PA) and pattern of blood ... values of SBP, DBP, BMI and WHR were higher among participants with low PA compared to those ..... nervous system is associated with abdominal visceral ...

Resting-state brain activity in the motor cortex reflects task-induced activity: A multi-voxel pattern analysis.

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Kusano, Toshiki; Kurashige, Hiroki; Nambu, Isao; Moriguchi, Yoshiya; Hanakawa, Takashi; Wada, Yasuhiro; Osu, Rieko

2015-08-01

It has been suggested that resting-state brain activity reflects task-induced brain activity patterns. In this study, we examined whether neural representations of specific movements can be observed in the resting-state brain activity patterns of motor areas. First, we defined two regions of interest (ROIs) to examine brain activity associated with two different behavioral tasks. Using multi-voxel pattern analysis with regularized logistic regression, we designed a decoder to detect voxel-level neural representations corresponding to the tasks in each ROI. Next, we applied the decoder to resting-state brain activity. We found that the decoder discriminated resting-state neural activity with accuracy comparable to that associated with task-induced neural activity. The distribution of learned weighted parameters for each ROI was similar for resting-state and task-induced activities. Large weighted parameters were mainly located on conjunctive areas. Moreover, the accuracy of detection was higher than that for a decoder whose weights were randomly shuffled, indicating that the resting-state brain activity includes multi-voxel patterns similar to the neural representation for the tasks. Therefore, these results suggest that the neural representation of resting-state brain activity is more finely organized and more complex than conventionally considered.

An epidemiological study of physical activity patterns and weight ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Physical activity during pregnancy has been investigated for its potential benefits which includes weight control. Physical activity patterns of pregnant women in Tshwane, South Africa, were investigated using the EPIC–Norfolk Physical Activity Questionnaire (EPAQ-2) in an epidemiological cross-sectional study. Differences ...

Relationships between hippocampal activity and breathing patterns

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harper, R M; Poe, G R; Rector, D M

1998-01-01

Single cell discharge, EEG activity, and optical changes accompanying alterations in breathing patterns, as well as the knowledge that respiratory musculature is heavily involved in movement and other behavioral acts, implicate hippocampal regions in some aspects of breathing control. The control...... is unlikely to reside in oscillatory breathing movements, because such patterns emerge in preparations retaining only the medulla (and perhaps only the spinal cord). However, momentary changes in breathing patterns induced by affect, startle, whole-body movement changes, or compensatory ventilatory changes...... of hippocampal contributions to breathing control should be viewed in the context that significant interactions exist between blood pressure changes and ventilation, and that modest breathing challenges, such as exposure to hypercapnia or to increased resistive loads, bring into action a vast array of brain...

Labeling Residential Community Characteristics from Collective Activity Patterns Using Taxi Trip Data

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Y.; Fang, Z.

2017-09-01

There existing a significant social and spatial differentiation in the residential communities in urban city. People live in different places have different socioeconomic background, resulting in various geographically activity patterns. This paper aims to label the characteristics of residential communities in a city using collective activity patterns derived from taxi trip data. Specifically, we first present a method to allocate the O/D (Origin/Destination) points of taxi trips to the land use parcels where the activities taken place in. Then several indices are employed to describe the collective activity patterns, including both activity intensity, travel distance, travel time, and activity space of residents by taking account of the geographical distribution of all O/Ds of the taxi trip related to that residential community. Followed by that, an agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm is introduced to cluster the residential communities with similar activity patterns. In the case study of Wuhan, the residential communities are clearly divided into eight clusters, which could be labelled as ordinary communities, privileged communities, old isolated communities, suburban communities, and so on. In this paper, we provide a new perspective to label the land use under same type from people's mobility patterns with the support of big trajectory data.

Patterns of muscle activity underlying object-specific grasp by the macaque monkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Brochier, T; Spinks, R L; Umilta, M A; Lemon, R N

2004-09-01

During object grasp, a coordinated activation of distal muscles is required to shape the hand in relation to the physical properties of the object. Despite the fundamental importance of the grasping action, little is known of the muscular activation patterns that allow objects of different sizes and shapes to be grasped. In a study of two adult macaque monkeys, we investigated whether we could distinguish between EMG activation patterns associated with grasp of 12 differently shaped objects, chosen to evoke a wide range of grasping postures. Each object was mounted on a horizontal shuttle held by a weak spring (load force 1-2 N). Objects were located in separate sectors of a "carousel," and inter-trial rotation of the carousel allowed sequential presentation of the objects in pseudorandom order. EMG activity from 10 to 12 digit, hand, and arm muscles was recorded using chronically implanted electrodes. We show that the grasp of different objects was characterized by complex but distinctive patterns of EMG activation. Cluster analysis shows that these object-related EMG patterns were specific and consistent enough to identify the object unequivocally from the EMG recordings alone. EMG-based object identification required a minimum of six EMGs from simultaneously recorded muscles. EMG patterns were consistent across recording sessions in a given monkey but showed some differences between animals. These results identify the specific patterns of activity required to achieve distinct hand postures for grasping, and they open the way to our understanding of how these patterns are generated by the central motor network.

Finding purchase activity patterns in small & medium enterprises

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vegter, Geert J.

2015-01-01

Finding purchase activity patterns in Small & Medium Enterprises in a research program to enable SMEs to improve their purchase and company performance. Posterpresentatie KCO conferentie, 16 november 2015.

"Cutaneous rabbit" hops toward a light: Unimodal and cross-modal causality on the skin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomohisa eAsai

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Our somatosensory system deals with not only spatial but also temporal imprecision, resulting in characteristic spatiotemporal illusions. Repeated rapid stimulation at the wrist, then near the elbow, can create the illusion of touch at intervening locations along the arm (as if a rabbit is hopping along the arm. This is known as the cutaneous rabbit effect (CRE. Previous studies have suggested that the CRE involves not only an intrinsic somatotopic representation but also the representation of an extended body schema that includes causality or animacy perception upon the skin. On the other hand, unlike other multi-modal causality couplings, it is possible that the CRE is not affected by concurrent auditory temporal information. The present study examined the effect of a simple visual flash on the CRE, which has both temporal and spatial information. Here, stronger cross-modal causality or correspondence could be provided. We presented three successive tactile stimuli on the inside of a participant’s left arm. Stimuli were presented on the wrist, elbow, and midway between the two. Results from our five experimental manipulations suggest that a one-shot flash enhances or attenuates the CRE depending on its congruency with cutaneous rabbit saltation. Our results reflect that 1 our brain interprets successive stimuli on the skin as motion in terms of time and space (unimodal causality and that 2 the concurrent signals from other modalities provide clues for creating unified representations of this external motion (multi-modal causality as to the extent that spatiotemporal synchronicity among modalities is provided.available information from other modalities should also provide a key clue as to the extent that spatiotemporal synchronicity among modalities is provided.

Organ involvement in Argentinian systemic sclerosis patients with "late" pattern as compared to patients with "early/active" pattern by nailfold capillaroscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Marino Claverie, Lucila; Knobel, Elizabeth; Takashima, Lorena; Techera, Lorena; Oliver, Marina; Gonzalez, Paula; Romanini, Félix E; Fonseca, María L; Mamani, Marta N

2013-06-01

Changes in nailfold capillaroscopy in systemic sclerosis patients could be related to the disease severity. The aim of this study was to investigate whether patients with "late" scleroderma (SD) pattern have more organ involvement than patients with "early/active" SD pattern. Forty-six Argentinian patients (44 women and 2 men), with a diagnosis of systemic sclerosis, were distributed in two groups based on the presence of late and early/active patterns. Organ involvement was assessed as follows: pulmonary function by chest radiography, high-resolution chest tomography (HRCT), lung volume tests, and diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO); esophageal involvement by manometry; and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) by Doppler echocardiography and six-minute walk test. Honeycombing of the lungs evaluated by HRCT was more frequently present in patients with late pattern compared with early/active patients (p = 0.01). We also found statistically significant differences in lung volume tests (p = 0.03) and DLCO (p = 0.02) between the two SD pattern groups. Esophageal manometry showed a significantly higher frequency of motility disorders in the group with late pattern (p = 0.0024). In this study, patients with late pattern had higher frequency of pulmonary and esophageal involvement compared with patients with early/active pattern.

Optimizing human activity patterns using global sensitivity analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Fairchild, Geoffrey; Hickmann, Kyle S; Mniszewski, Susan M; Del Valle, Sara Y; Hyman, James M

2014-12-01

Implementing realistic activity patterns for a population is crucial for modeling, for example, disease spread, supply and demand, and disaster response. Using the dynamic activity simulation engine, DASim, we generate schedules for a population that capture regular (e.g., working, eating, and sleeping) and irregular activities (e.g., shopping or going to the doctor). We use the sample entropy (SampEn) statistic to quantify a schedule's regularity for a population. We show how to tune an activity's regularity by adjusting SampEn, thereby making it possible to realistically design activities when creating a schedule. The tuning process sets up a computationally intractable high-dimensional optimization problem. To reduce the computational demand, we use Bayesian Gaussian process regression to compute global sensitivity indices and identify the parameters that have the greatest effect on the variance of SampEn. We use the harmony search (HS) global optimization algorithm to locate global optima. Our results show that HS combined with global sensitivity analysis can efficiently tune the SampEn statistic with few search iterations. We demonstrate how global sensitivity analysis can guide statistical emulation and global optimization algorithms to efficiently tune activities and generate realistic activity patterns. Though our tuning methods are applied to dynamic activity schedule generation, they are general and represent a significant step in the direction of automated tuning and optimization of high-dimensional computer simulations.

Diferencias sexuales y etarias en la actividad diaria y estacional de una población de Liolaemus koslowskyi (Liolaemini

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Belver, Luciana C.

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Los patrones de actividad diario y estacional de una población de Liolaemus koslowskyi del NE de la provincia de La Rioja, Argentina, fueron estudiados entre octubre de 1998 y abril de 1999, mediante transectas realizadas entre las 08:00 y las 19:00 hs. La especie en estudio presenta una actividad unimodal en la primavera y otoño, y bimodal en el verano. Se encontraron diferencias significativas entre juveniles y adultos en febrero y abril y no se registraron diferencias en el patrón de actividad entre machos y hembras. Los machos estuvieron activos en un rango mayor de temperatura que las hembras y juveniles, lo que se podría sugerir que estaría relacionado con la defensa territorial por parte de los machos. The pattern of activity of Liolaemus koslowskyi populations from NE of the La Rioja Province, were studied between October 1998 and April 1999 by performing transects between 08:00 and 19:00 hs. The species present unimodal pattern of activity during both autumn, and spring; and bimodal pattern during summer. In terms of the number of active individuals, there was a significant difference between adults and juveniles in February and April and not there was significant difference between males and females. The males were active at higher temperature ranges than females and juveniles; which could suggest that would be related to territorial defense by males.

Activity patterns of free-ranging koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus revealed by accelerometry.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle A Ryan

Full Text Available An understanding of koala activity patterns is important for measuring the behavioral response of this species to environmental change, but to date has been limited by the logistical challenges of traditional field methodologies. We addressed this knowledge gap by using tri-axial accelerometer data loggers attached to VHF radio collars to examine activity patterns of adult male and female koalas in a high-density population at Cape Otway, Victoria, Australia. Data were obtained from 27 adult koalas over two 7-d periods during the breeding season: 12 in the early-breeding season in November 2010, and 15 in the late-breeding season in January 2011. Multiple 15 minute observation blocks on each animal were used for validation of activity patterns determined from the accelerometer data loggers. Accelerometry was effective in distinguishing between inactive (sleeping, resting and active (grooming, feeding and moving behaviors. Koalas were more active during the early-breeding season with a higher index of movement (overall dynamic body acceleration [ODBA] for both males and females. Koalas showed a distinct temporal pattern of behavior, with most activity occurring from mid-afternoon to early morning. Accelerometry has potential for examining fine-scale behavior of a wide range of arboreal and terrestrial species.

Activity patterns of free-ranging koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) revealed by accelerometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryan, Michelle A; Whisson, Desley A; Holland, Greg J; Arnould, John P Y

2013-01-01

An understanding of koala activity patterns is important for measuring the behavioral response of this species to environmental change, but to date has been limited by the logistical challenges of traditional field methodologies. We addressed this knowledge gap by using tri-axial accelerometer data loggers attached to VHF radio collars to examine activity patterns of adult male and female koalas in a high-density population at Cape Otway, Victoria, Australia. Data were obtained from 27 adult koalas over two 7-d periods during the breeding season: 12 in the early-breeding season in November 2010, and 15 in the late-breeding season in January 2011. Multiple 15 minute observation blocks on each animal were used for validation of activity patterns determined from the accelerometer data loggers. Accelerometry was effective in distinguishing between inactive (sleeping, resting) and active (grooming, feeding and moving) behaviors. Koalas were more active during the early-breeding season with a higher index of movement (overall dynamic body acceleration [ODBA]) for both males and females. Koalas showed a distinct temporal pattern of behavior, with most activity occurring from mid-afternoon to early morning. Accelerometry has potential for examining fine-scale behavior of a wide range of arboreal and terrestrial species.

Effects of electrical stimulation of the hunger center in the lateral hypothalamus and food reinforcement on impulse activity of the stomach in rabbits under conditions of hunger and satiation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zenina, O Yu; Kromin, A A

2012-10-01

Stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus in preliminary fed animals in the presence of the food is associated with successful food-procuring behavior, accompanied by regular generation of high-amplitude slow electrical waves by muscles of the lesser curvature, body, and antrum of the stomach, which was reflected in the structure of temporal organization of slow electrical activity in the form of unimodal distribution of slow wave periods typical of satiation state. Despite increased level of food motivation caused by stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus, the additional food intake completely abolished the inhibitory effects of hunger motivation excitement on slow electrical muscle activity in the lesser curvature, body, and antrum of the stomach of satiated rabbits. Changes in slow electrical activity of the stomach muscles in rabbits deprived of food over 24 h and offered food and associated food-procuring behavior during electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus have a two-phase pattern. Despite food intake during phase I of electrical stimulation, the downstream inhibitory effect of hunger motivation excitement on myogenic pacemaker of the lesser curvature of stomach abolishes the stimulating effect of food reinforcement on slow electrical muscle activity in the lesser curvature, body, and antrum of the stomach. During phase II of electrical stimulation, the food reinforcement decreases inhibitory effect of hunger motivation excitement on myogenic pacemaker of the lesser curvature that paces maximal rhythm of slow electrical waves for muscles activity in the lesser curvature, body, and antrum of the stomach, which is reflected by unimodal distribution of slow electrical wave periods. Our results indicated that the structure of temporal organization of slow electrical activity of the stomach muscles reflects convergent interactions of food motivation and reinforcement excitations on the dorsal vagal complex neurons in medulla oblongata.

Influence of the active layer pattern on the electrical characteristics of organic inverters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jae-Hyun; Kwon, Jin-Hyuk; Bae, Jin-Hyuk [Kyungpook National University, Daegu (Korea, Republic of); Park, Jae-Hoon; Baang, Sung-Keun [Hallym University, Chuncheon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-12-15

We describe the importance of a patterned active layer for the fine driving of organic inverters. In the case of a non-patterned inverter, the capacitance as a function of the applied bias in an organic capacitor structure exhibits a slow saturation nature due to the slow movement of charge carriers. Hence, during the operation of organic inverters with non-patterned active layers, the voltage gains inevitably exhibit lower values whereas higher gains are achieved in the case of sharply-patterned pentacene layers. These results suggest that the patterning of the active layer can be a decisive factor for realizing high-performance electronic circuits based on organic semiconductors.

a Three-Step Spatial-Temporal Clustering Method for Human Activity Pattern Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, W.; Li, S.; Xu, S.

2016-06-01

How people move in cities and what they do in various locations at different times form human activity patterns. Human activity pattern plays a key role in in urban planning, traffic forecasting, public health and safety, emergency response, friend recommendation, and so on. Therefore, scholars from different fields, such as social science, geography, transportation, physics and computer science, have made great efforts in modelling and analysing human activity patterns or human mobility patterns. One of the essential tasks in such studies is to find the locations or places where individuals stay to perform some kind of activities before further activity pattern analysis. In the era of Big Data, the emerging of social media along with wearable devices enables human activity data to be collected more easily and efficiently. Furthermore, the dimension of the accessible human activity data has been extended from two to three (space or space-time) to four dimensions (space, time and semantics). More specifically, not only a location and time that people stay and spend are collected, but also what people "say" for in a location at a time can be obtained. The characteristics of these datasets shed new light on the analysis of human mobility, where some of new methodologies should be accordingly developed to handle them. Traditional methods such as neural networks, statistics and clustering have been applied to study human activity patterns using geosocial media data. Among them, clustering methods have been widely used to analyse spatiotemporal patterns. However, to our best knowledge, few of clustering algorithms are specifically developed for handling the datasets that contain spatial, temporal and semantic aspects all together. In this work, we propose a three-step human activity clustering method based on space, time and semantics to fill this gap. One-year Twitter data, posted in Toronto, Canada, is used to test the clustering-based method. The results show that the

Exotic high activity surface patterns in PtAu nanoclusters

KAUST Repository

Mokkath, Junais Habeeb; Schwingenschlö gl, Udo

2013-01-01

of the truncated octahedron cluster motif. Exotic surface patterns are obtained particularly for Pt-rich compositions, where Pt atoms are being surrounded by Au atoms. These surface arrangements boost the catalytic activity by creating a large number of active

Weighted Local Active Pixel Pattern (WLAPP for Face Recognition in Parallel Computation Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gundavarapu Mallikarjuna Rao

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract  - The availability of multi-core technology resulted totally new computational era. Researchers are keen to explore available potential in state of art-machines for breaking the bearer imposed by serial computation. Face Recognition is one of the challenging applications on so ever computational environment. The main difficulty of traditional Face Recognition algorithms is lack of the scalability. In this paper Weighted Local Active Pixel Pattern (WLAPP, a new scalable Face Recognition Algorithm suitable for parallel environment is proposed.  Local Active Pixel Pattern (LAPP is found to be simple and computational inexpensive compare to Local Binary Patterns (LBP. WLAPP is developed based on concept of LAPP. The experimentation is performed on FG-Net Aging Database with deliberately introduced 20% distortion and the results are encouraging. Keywords — Active pixels, Face Recognition, Local Binary Pattern (LBP, Local Active Pixel Pattern (LAPP, Pattern computing, parallel workers, template, weight computation.  

Activities pattern of planned settlement’s residence and its influence toward settlement design

Science.gov (United States)

Nirfalini Aulia, Dwira

2018-03-01

Everyday activity of residents in a housing area will create activities pattern. Utilization of public spaces in a housing area with repeating activities pattern will affect the design of public spaces. Changes in public space usage in a housing area happen as a result of residents’ activities pattern. The goal of this paper is to identify residents’ activity pattern and connect its influence towards public spaces utilization in planned housing in micro and urban area in macro. Housing residents classified into four respondent groups based on marriage status which is unmarried, single parents, the family without child and family with a child. The method used in this research is the qualitative descriptive approach. Research finding showed that housing area with housing facilities capable of creating happiness and convenience for its residents doing their activities in public spaces.

Activity Patterns and Pollution Exposure. A Case Study of Melbourne

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marquez, L.; Smith, N.; Trinidad, G.; Guo, J.

2001-01-01

In recent times there has been increasing interest in modelling policies to limit impacts of air pollution due to motor vehicles. Impacts of air pollution on human health and comfort depend on the relationship between the distribution of pollutants and the spatial distribution of the urban population. As emissions, weather conditions and the location of the population vary with time of day, day of month and season of the year, the problem is complex. Travel demand models with activity-based approaches and a focus on the overall structure of activity/travel relations, not only spatially, but temporally can make a valuable contribution. They are often used to estimate emissions due to the travel patterns of city populations but may equally be used to provide distributions of urban populations during the day. A case study for Melbourne, Australia demonstrates the use of activity data in the estimation of population exposure. Additionally the study shows some marked differences in activity between seasons and even greater the differences in effect of that activity on exposure to air pollution. Numbers of cities will have seasonal pollutant patterns similar to Melbourne and others will benefit from exploring such patterns

Daily physical activity patterns from hip- and wrist-worn accelerometers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shiroma, Eric J; Schepps, M A; Harezlak, J

2016-01-01

Accelerometer wear location may influence physical activity estimates. This study investigates this relationship through the examination of activity patterns throughout the day. Participants from the aging research evaluating accelerometry (AREA) study (n men = 37, n women = 47, mean age (SD) = 78...... activity accrual provide support that each location is capable of estimating total physical activity volume. The examination of activity patterns over time may provide a more detailed way to examine differences in wear location and different subpopulations. © 2016 Institute of Physics and Engineering.......9 (5.5) years) were asked to wear accelerometers in a free-living environment for 7 d at three different wear locations; one on each wrist and one on the right hip. During waking hours, wrist-worn accelerometers consistently produced higher median activity counts, about 5 × higher, as well as wider...

Muscle activity pattern dependent pain development and alleviation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sjøgaard, Gisela; Søgaard, Karen

2014-12-01

Muscle activity is for decades considered to provide health benefits irrespectively of the muscle activity pattern performed and whether it is during e.g. sports, transportation, or occupational work tasks. Accordingly, the international recommendations for public health-promoting physical activity do not distinguish between occupational and leisure time physical activity. However, in this body of literature, attention has not been paid to the extensive documentation on occupational physical activity imposing a risk of impairment of health - in particular musculoskeletal health in terms of muscle pain. Focusing on muscle activity patterns and musculoskeletal health it is pertinent to elucidate the more specific aspects regarding exposure profiles and body regional pain. Static sustained muscle contraction for prolonged periods often occurs in the neck/shoulder area during occupational tasks and may underlie muscle pain development in spite of rather low relative muscle load. Causal mechanisms include a stereotype recruitment of low threshold motor units (activating type 1 muscle fibers) characterized by a lack of temporal as well as spatial variation in recruitment. In contrast during physical activities at leisure and sport the motor recruitment patterns are more dynamic including regularly relatively high muscle forces - also activating type 2 muscles fibers - as well as periods of full relaxation even of the type 1 muscle fibers. Such activity is unrelated to muscle pain development if adequate recovery is granted. However, delayed muscle soreness may develop following intensive eccentric muscle activity (e.g. down-hill skiing) with peak pain levels in thigh muscles 1-2 days after the exercise bout and a total recovery within 1 week. This acute pain profile is in contrast to the chronic muscle pain profile related to repetitive monotonous work tasks. The painful muscles show adverse functional, morphological, hormonal, as well as metabolic characteristics. Of

Application of activity sensors for estimating behavioral patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Caleb P.; Cain, James W.; Cox, Robert D.

2016-01-01

The increasing use of Global Positioning System (GPS) collars in habitat selection studies provides large numbers of precise location data points with reduced field effort. However, inclusion of activity sensors in many GPS collars also grants the potential to remotely estimate behavioral state. Thus, only using GPS collars to collect location data belies their full capabilities. Coupling behavioral state with location data would allow researchers and managers to refine habitat selection models by using diel behavioral state changes to partition fine-scale temporal shifts in habitat selection. We tested the capability of relatively unsophisticated GPS-collar activity sensors to estimate behavior throughout diel periods using free-ranging female elk (Cervus canadensis) in the Jemez Mountains of north-central New Mexico, USA, 2013–2014. Collars recorded cumulative number of movements (hits) per 15-min recording period immediately preceding GPS fixes at 0000, 0600, 1200, and 1800 hr. We measured diel behavioral patterns of focal elk, categorizing active (i.e., foraging, traveling, vigilant, grooming) and inactive (i.e., resting) states. Active behaviors (foraging, traveling) produced more average hits (0.87 ± 0.69 hits/min, 4.0 ± 2.2 hits/min, respectively; 95% CI) and inactive (resting) behavior fewer hits (−1.1 ± 0.61 95% CI). We differentiated active and inactive behavioral states with a bootstrapped threshold of 5.9 ± 3.9 hits/15-min recording period. Mean cumulative activity-sensor hits corresponded with observed diel behavioral patterns: hits increased during crepuscular (0600, 1800 hr) observations when elk were most active (0000–0600 hr: d = 0.19; 1200–1800 hr: d = 0.64) and decreased during midday and night (0000 hr, 1200 hr) when elk were least active (1800–0000 hr: d = −0.39; 0600–1200 hr: d = −0.43). Even using relatively unsophisticated GPS-collar activity sensors, managers can

Reflections of hunger and satiation in the structure of temporal organization of slow electrical and spike activities of fundal and antral stomach muscles in rabbits.

Science.gov (United States)

Kromin, A A; Zenina, O Yu

2012-11-01

Manifestations of hunger and satiation in myoelectric activity patterns in different portions of the stomach were studied in chronic experiments. The state of hunger manifested in the structure of temporal organization of slow electric activity of muscles in the stomach body and antrum in the form of bimodal distributions of slow electric wave periods, while satiation as unimodal distribution. In hunger-specific bimodal distribution of slow electric wave periods generated by muscles of the stomach body and antrum, the position of the first maximum carries the information about oncoming food reinforcement, since this particular range of slow wave fluctuations determines temporal parameters of slow electric activity of muscles in all stomach regions in the course of subsequent successive food-procuring behavior. Under conditions of hunger, the pacemaker features of muscles in the lesser curvature are realized incompletely. Complete realization is achieved in the course of food intake and at the state of satiation.

Unsupervised classification of neocortical activity patterns in neonatal and pre-juvenile rodents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole eCichon

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Flexible communication within the brain, which relies on oscillatory activity, is not confined to adult neuronal networks. Experimental evidence has documented the presence of discontinuous patterns of oscillatory activity already during early development. Their highly variable spatial and time-frequency organization has been related to region specificity. However, it might be equally due to the absence of unitary criteria for classifying the early activity patterns, since they have been mainly characterized by visual inspection. Therefore, robust and unbiased methods for categorizing these discontinuous oscillations are needed for increasingly complex data sets from different labs. Here, we introduce an unsupervised detection and classification algorithm for the discontinuous activity patterns of rodents during early development. For this, firstly time windows with discontinuous oscillations vs. epochs of network silence were identified. In a second step, the major features of detected events were identified and processed by principal component analysis for deciding on their contribution to the classification of different oscillatory patterns. Finally, these patterns were categorized using an unsupervised cluster algorithm. The results were validated on manually characterized neonatal spindle bursts, which ubiquitously entrain neocortical areas of rats and mice, and prelimbic nested gamma spindle bursts. Moreover, the algorithm led to satisfactory results for oscillatory events that, due to increased similarity of their features, were more difficult to classify, e.g. during the pre-juvenile developmental period. Based on a linear classification, the optimal number of features to consider increased with the difficulty of detection. This algorithm allows the comparison of neonatal and pre-juvenile oscillatory patterns in their spatial and temporal organization. It might represent a first step for the unbiased elucidation of activity patterns

[Mammals' camera-trapping in Sierra Nanchititla, Mexico: relative abundance and activity patterns].

Science.gov (United States)

Monroy-Vilchis, Octavio; Zarco-González, Martha M; Rodríguez-Soto, Clarita; Soria-Díaz, Leroy; Urios, Vicente

2011-03-01

Species conservation and their management depend on the availability of their population behavior and changes in time. This way, population studies include aspects such as species abundance and activity pattern, among others, with the advantage that nowadays new technologies can be applied, in addition to common methods. In this study, we used camera-traps to obtain the index of relative abundance and to establish activity pattern of medium and large mammals in Sierra Nanchititla, Mexico. The study was conducted from December 2003 to May 2006, with a total sampling effort of 4 305 trap-days. We obtained 897 photographs of 19 different species. Nasua narica, Sylvilagus floridanus and Urocyon cinereoargenteus were the most abundant, in agreement with the relative abundance index (RAI, number of independent records/100 trap-days), and according to previous studies with indirect methods in the area. The activity patterns of the species showed that 67% of them are nocturnal, except Odocoileus virginianus, Nasua narica and others. Some species showed differences with previously reported patterns, which are related with seasonality, resources availability, organism sex, principally. The applied method contributed with reliable data about relative abundance and activity patterns.

Changes in shoulder muscle activity pattern on surface electromyography after breast cancer surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Eun Joo; Kwon, YoungOk

2018-02-01

Alterations in muscle activation and restricted shoulder mobility, which are common in breast cancer patients, have been found to affect upper limb function. The purpose of this study was to determine muscle activity patterns, and to compare the prevalence of abnormal patterns among the type of breast surgery. In total, 274 breast cancer patients were recruited after surgery. Type of breast surgery was divided into mastectomy without reconstruction (Mastectomy), reconstruction with tissue expander/implant (TEI), latissimus dorsi (LD) flap, or transverse rectus abdominis flap (TRAM). Activities of shoulder muscles were measured using surface electromyography. Experimental analysis was conducted using a Gaussian filter smoothing method with regression. Patients demonstrated different patterns of muscle activation, such as normal, lower muscle electrical activity, and tightness. After adjusting for BMI and breast surgery, the odds of lower muscle electrical activity and tightness in the TRAM are 40.2% and 38.4% less than in the Mastectomy only group. The prevalence of abnormal patterns was significantly greater in the ALND than SLNB in all except TRAM. Alterations in muscle activity patterns differed by breast surgery and reconstruction type. For breast cancer patients with ALND, TRAM may be the best choice for maintaining upper limb function. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Evolution of Daily Activity Patterns from 1971 to 1981: A Study of the Halifax Activity Panel Survey

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew S. Harvey

2001-12-01

similarity measures between character strings, which can be used to measure the similarity of two persons’ daily activities, to measure change over time, or to determine the relative similarity of three or more activity diaries. The results of the research showed that both pure activities and activity-settings identified broadly the same behvioural groupings: employed workers, domestic workers, and weekend activities. The similarity of activity patterns of individuals was greater over the ten-year analysis period than the average similarity of the sample in either 1971 or 1981. The average similarity of activity and activitysetting patterns rose from 1971 to 1981, which contradicts observations that daily routines are becoming more complex and diverse.

Integrating circadian activity and gene expression profiles to predict chronotoxicity of Drosophila suzukii response to insecticides.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamby, Kelly A; Kwok, Rosanna S; Zalom, Frank G; Chiu, Joanna C

2013-01-01

Native to Southeast Asia, Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) is a recent invader that infests intact ripe and ripening fruit, leading to significant crop losses in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Since current D. suzukii management strategies rely heavily on insecticide usage and insecticide detoxification gene expression is under circadian regulation in the closely related Drosophila melanogaster, we set out to determine if integrative analysis of daily activity patterns and detoxification gene expression can predict chronotoxicity of D. suzukii to insecticides. Locomotor assays were performed under conditions that approximate a typical summer or winter day in Watsonville, California, where D. suzukii was first detected in North America. As expected, daily activity patterns of D. suzukii appeared quite different between 'summer' and 'winter' conditions due to differences in photoperiod and temperature. In the 'summer', D. suzukii assumed a more bimodal activity pattern, with maximum activity occurring at dawn and dusk. In the 'winter', activity was unimodal and restricted to the warmest part of the circadian cycle. Expression analysis of six detoxification genes and acute contact bioassays were performed at multiple circadian times, but only in conditions approximating Watsonville summer, the cropping season, when most insecticide applications occur. Five of the genes tested exhibited rhythmic expression, with the majority showing peak expression at dawn (ZT0, 6am). We observed significant differences in the chronotoxicity of D. suzukii towards malathion, with highest susceptibility at ZT0 (6am), corresponding to peak expression of cytochrome P450s that may be involved in bioactivation of malathion. High activity levels were not found to correlate with high insecticide susceptibility as initially hypothesized. Chronobiology and chronotoxicity of D. suzukii provide valuable insights for monitoring and control efforts, because insect activity as well as insecticide timing

Correlations between human mobility and social interaction reveal general activity patterns

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mollgaard, Anders; Jørgensen, Sune Lehmann; Mathiesen, Joachim

2017-01-01

activity types, namely communication, motion, and physical proximity by analyzing data collected from smartphones distributed among 638 individuals. We explore two central questions: Which underlying principles govern the formation of the activity patterns? Are the patterns specific to each individual...... or shared across the entire population? We find that statistics of the entire population allows us to successfully predict 71% of the activity and 85% of the inactivity involved in communication, mobility, and physical proximity. Surprisingly, individual level statistics only result in marginally better...... they be of social or of physical character....

Estimating Activity Patterns Using Spatio-temporal Data of Cellphone Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zahedi Seyedmostafa

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The tendency towards using activity-based models to predict trip demand has increased dramatically over recent years, but these models have suffered insufficient data for calibration. This paper discusses ways to process the cellphone spatio-temporal data in a manner that makes it comprehensible for traffic interpretations and proposes methods on how to infer urban mobility and activity patterns from the aforementioned data. Movements of each subscriber is described by a sequence of stays and trips and each stay is labeled by an activity. The type of activities are estimated using features such as land use, duration of stay, frequency of visit, arrival time to that activity and its distance from home. Finally, the chains of trips are identified and different patterns that citizens follow to participate in activities are determined. The data comprises 144 million records of the location of 300,000 citizens of Shiraz at five-minute intervals.

Cerebral Activity Changes in Different Traditional Chinese Medicine Patterns of Psychogenic Erectile Dysfunction Patients

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Qi Liu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Background. Pattern differentiation is the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED. This study aims to investigate the differences in cerebral activity in ED patients with different TCM patterns. Methods. 27 psychogenic ED patients and 27 healthy subjects (HS were enrolled in this study. Each participant underwent an fMRI scan in resting state. The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF was used to detect the brain activity changes in ED patients with different patterns. Results. Compared to HS, ED patients showed an increased cerebral activity in bilateral cerebellum, insula, globus pallidus, parahippocampal gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC, and middle cingulate cortex (MCC. Compared to the patients with liver-qi stagnation and spleen deficiency pattern (LSSDP, the patients with kidney-yang deficiency pattern (KDP showed an increased activity in bilateral brainstem, cerebellum, hippocampus, and the right insula, thalamus, MCC, and a decreased activity in bilateral putamen, medial frontal gyrus, temporal pole, and the right caudate nucleus, OFC, anterior cingulate cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex (P<0.005. Conclusions. The ED patients with different TCM patterns showed different brain activities. The differences in cerebral activity between LSSDP and KDP were mainly in the emotion-related regions, including prefrontal cortex and cingulated cortex.

Prediction of Human Activity by Discovering Temporal Sequence Patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Kang; Fu, Yun

2014-08-01

Early prediction of ongoing human activity has become more valuable in a large variety of time-critical applications. To build an effective representation for prediction, human activities can be characterized by a complex temporal composition of constituent simple actions and interacting objects. Different from early detection on short-duration simple actions, we propose a novel framework for long -duration complex activity prediction by discovering three key aspects of activity: Causality, Context-cue, and Predictability. The major contributions of our work include: (1) a general framework is proposed to systematically address the problem of complex activity prediction by mining temporal sequence patterns; (2) probabilistic suffix tree (PST) is introduced to model causal relationships between constituent actions, where both large and small order Markov dependencies between action units are captured; (3) the context-cue, especially interactive objects information, is modeled through sequential pattern mining (SPM), where a series of action and object co-occurrence are encoded as a complex symbolic sequence; (4) we also present a predictive accumulative function (PAF) to depict the predictability of each kind of activity. The effectiveness of our approach is evaluated on two experimental scenarios with two data sets for each: action-only prediction and context-aware prediction. Our method achieves superior performance for predicting global activity classes and local action units.

It's about time: a comparison of Canadian and American time-activity patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Leech, Judith A; Nelson, William C; Burnett, Richard T; Aaron, Shawn; Raizenne, Mark E

2002-11-01

This study compares two North American time-activity data bases: the National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS) of 9386 interviewees in 1992-1994 in the continental USA with the Canadian Human Activity Pattern Survey (CHAPS) of 2381 interviewees in 1996-1997 in four major Canadian cities. Identical surveys and methodology were used to collect this data: random sample telephone selection within the identified telephone exchanges, computer-assisted telephone interviews, overselection of children and weekends in the 24-h recall diary and the same interviewers. Very similar response rates were obtained: 63% (NHAPS) and 64.5% (CHAPS). Results of comparisons by age within major activity and location groups suggest activity and location patterns are very similar (most differences being less than 1% or 14 min in a 24-h day) with the exception of seasonal differences. Canadians spend less time outdoors in winter and less time indoors in summer than their U.S. counterparts. When exposure assessments use time of year or outdoor/indoor exposure gradients, these differences may result in significant differences in exposure assessments. Otherwise, the 24-h time activity patterns of North Americans are remarkably similar and use of the combined data set for some exposure assessments may be feasible.

A THREE-STEP SPATIAL-TEMPORAL-SEMANTIC CLUSTERING METHOD FOR HUMAN ACTIVITY PATTERN ANALYSIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

W. Huang

2016-06-01

Full Text Available How people move in cities and what they do in various locations at different times form human activity patterns. Human activity pattern plays a key role in in urban planning, traffic forecasting, public health and safety, emergency response, friend recommendation, and so on. Therefore, scholars from different fields, such as social science, geography, transportation, physics and computer science, have made great efforts in modelling and analysing human activity patterns or human mobility patterns. One of the essential tasks in such studies is to find the locations or places where individuals stay to perform some kind of activities before further activity pattern analysis. In the era of Big Data, the emerging of social media along with wearable devices enables human activity data to be collected more easily and efficiently. Furthermore, the dimension of the accessible human activity data has been extended from two to three (space or space-time to four dimensions (space, time and semantics. More specifically, not only a location and time that people stay and spend are collected, but also what people “say” for in a location at a time can be obtained. The characteristics of these datasets shed new light on the analysis of human mobility, where some of new methodologies should be accordingly developed to handle them. Traditional methods such as neural networks, statistics and clustering have been applied to study human activity patterns using geosocial media data. Among them, clustering methods have been widely used to analyse spatiotemporal patterns. However, to our best knowledge, few of clustering algorithms are specifically developed for handling the datasets that contain spatial, temporal and semantic aspects all together. In this work, we propose a three-step human activity clustering method based on space, time and semantics to fill this gap. One-year Twitter data, posted in Toronto, Canada, is used to test the clustering-based method. The

Effects of Age, Season, Gender and Urban-Rural Status on Time-Activity: Canadian Human Activity Pattern Survey 2 (CHAPS 2)

OpenAIRE

Matz, Carlyn J.; Stieb, David M.; Davis, Karelyn; Egyed, Marika; Rose, Andreas; Chou, Benedito; Brion, Orly

2014-01-01

Estimation of population exposure is a main component of human health risk assessment for environmental contaminants. Population-level exposure assessments require time-activity pattern distributions in relation to microenvironments where people spend their time. Societal trends may have influenced time-activity patterns since previous Canadian data were collected 15 years ago. The Canadian Human Activity Pattern Survey 2 (CHAPS 2) was a national survey conducted in 2010–2011 to collect time-...

SME purchasing activity patterns delphi study : Recognizing patterns in the way Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) organize their procurement activities

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vegter, Geert

2015-01-01

This survey is about recognizing patterns in the way Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) organize their procurement activities. The scope of the survey is limited to the key commodities of the SME. A key commodity is defined as the purchased product or service group which is essential for realizing

Patterns of adolescent physical activity and dietary behaviours

Science.gov (United States)

Pearson, Natalie; Atkin, Andrew J; Biddle, Stuart JH; Gorely, Trish; Edwardson, Charlotte

2009-01-01

Background The potential synergistic effects of multiple dietary and physical activity behaviours on the risk of chronic conditions and health outcomes is a key issue for public health. This study examined the prevalence and clustering patterns of multiple health behaviours among a sample of adolescents in the UK. Methods Cross-sectional survey of 176 adolescents aged 12–16 years (49% boys). Adolescents wore accelerometers for seven days and completed a questionnaire assessing fruit, vegetable, and breakfast consumption. The prevalence of adolescents meeting the physical activity (≥ 60 minutes moderate-to-vigorous physical activity/day), fruit and vegetable (≥ 5 portions of FV per day) and breakfast recommendations (eating breakfast on ≥ 5 days per week), and clustering patterns of these health behaviours are described. Results Boys were more active than girls (p < 0.001) and younger adolescents were more active than older adolescents (p < 0.01). Boys ate breakfast on more days per week than girls (p < 0.01) and older adolescents ate more fruit and vegetables than younger adolescents (p < 0.01). Almost 54% of adolescents had multiple risk behaviours and only 6% achieved all three of the recommendations. Girls had significantly more risk factors than boys (p < 0.01). For adolescents with two risk behaviours, the most prevalent cluster was formed by not meeting the physical activity and fruit and vegetable recommendations. Conclusion Many adolescents fail to meet multiple diet and physical activity recommendations, highlighting that physical activity and dietary behaviours do not occur in isolation. Future research should investigate how best to achieve multiple health behaviour change in adolescent boys and girls. PMID:19624822

Children's organized physical activity patterns from childhood into adolescence.

Science.gov (United States)

Findlay, Leanne C; Garner, Rochelle E; Kohen, Dafna E

2009-11-01

Few longitudinal studies of physical activity have included young children or used nationally representative datasets. The purpose of the current study was to explore patterns of organized physical activity for Canadian children aged 4 through 17 years. Data from 5 cycles of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth were analyzed separately for boys (n = 4463) and girls (n = 4354) using multiple trajectory modeling. Boys' and girls' organized physical activity was best represented by 3 trajectory groups. For boys, these groups were labeled: high stable, high decreasing, and low decreasing participation. For girls, these groups were labeled: high decreasing, moderate stable, and low decreasing participation. Risk factors (parental education, household income, urban/rural dwelling, and single/dual parent) were explored. For boys and girls, having a parent with postsecondary education and living in a higher income household were associated with a greater likelihood of weekly participation in organized physical activity. Living in an urban area was also significantly associated with a greater likelihood of weekly participation for girls. Results suggest that Canadian children's organized physical activity is best represented by multiple patterns of participation that tend to peak in middle childhood and decline into adolescence.

fMRI activation patterns in an analytic reasoning task: consistency with EEG source localization

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Bian; Vasanta, Kalyana C.; O'Boyle, Michael; Baker, Mary C.; Nutter, Brian; Mitra, Sunanda

2010-03-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is used to model brain activation patterns associated with various perceptual and cognitive processes as reflected by the hemodynamic (BOLD) response. While many sensory and motor tasks are associated with relatively simple activation patterns in localized regions, higher-order cognitive tasks may produce activity in many different brain areas involving complex neural circuitry. We applied a recently proposed probabilistic independent component analysis technique (PICA) to determine the true dimensionality of the fMRI data and used EEG localization to identify the common activated patterns (mapped as Brodmann areas) associated with a complex cognitive task like analytic reasoning. Our preliminary study suggests that a hybrid GLM/PICA analysis may reveal additional regions of activation (beyond simple GLM) that are consistent with electroencephalography (EEG) source localization patterns.

West African spatial patterns of economic activities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Walther, Olivier; Howard, Allen; Retaillé, Denis

2015-01-01

Over the last 30 years, two different bodies of literature developed by both US historians and francophone geographers have moved toward similar conclusions regarding West African economic spatial patterns. Despite their different backgrounds, both the ‘spatial factor’ approach promoted by histor......Over the last 30 years, two different bodies of literature developed by both US historians and francophone geographers have moved toward similar conclusions regarding West African economic spatial patterns. Despite their different backgrounds, both the ‘spatial factor’ approach promoted...... by historians and the ‘mobile space’ approach developed by geographers view exchange centres as nodes of transnational trade networks and places in production territories, and perceive spatial dynamics as highly dependent on shifts of trade flows and production activities. The objective of this article...

Muscle activation patterns when passively stretching spastic lower limb muscles of children with cerebral palsy.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lynn Bar-On

Full Text Available The definition of spasticity as a velocity-dependent activation of the tonic stretch reflex during a stretch to a passive muscle is the most widely accepted. However, other mechanisms are also thought to contribute to pathological muscle activity and, in patients post-stroke and spinal cord injury can result in different activation patterns. In the lower-limbs of children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP these distinct activation patterns have not yet been thoroughly explored. The aim of the study was to apply an instrumented assessment to quantify different muscle activation patterns in four lower-limb muscles of children with CP. Fifty-four children with CP were included (males/females n = 35/19; 10.8 ± 3.8 yrs; bilateral/unilateral involvement n =  32/22; Gross Motor Functional Classification Score I-IV of whom ten were retested to evaluate intra-rater reliability. With the subject relaxed, single-joint, sagittal-plane movements of the hip, knee, and ankle were performed to stretch the lower-limb muscles at three increasing velocities. Muscle activity and joint motion were synchronously recorded using inertial sensors and electromyography (EMG from the adductors, medial hamstrings, rectus femoris, and gastrocnemius. Muscles were visually categorised into activation patterns using average, normalized root mean square EMG (RMS-EMG compared across increasing position zones and velocities. Based on the visual categorisation, quantitative parameters were defined using stretch-reflex thresholds and normalized RMS-EMG. These parameters were compared between muscles with different activation patterns. All patterns were dominated by high velocity-dependent muscle activation, but in more than half, low velocity-dependent activation was also observed. Muscle activation patterns were found to be both muscle- and subject-specific (p<0.01. The intra-rater reliability of all quantitative parameters was moderate to good. Comparing RMS-EMG between

Activity patterns of the stone marten Martes foina Erxleben, 1777, in relation to some environmental factors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mario Posillico

1995-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Three stone martens (2 males, 1 female Martes foina Erxleben, 1777, were radio-tracked for 4, 2.5 and 12 months respectively, in a rural hilly area in Siena County, Central Italy. Food habits were assessed by faecal analysis, as percentage of occurrence and estimated volume. Diel, nocturnal, diurnal and crepuscular activity were measured as the proportion of active fixes on a 48 hours/fortnight basis. Seasonal variation of all activities was assessed and correlated to mean T°C, daylength, food and trophic niche breadth. Daily time budgets were also measured and compared between months and seasons. Fruits were the staple food in summer/autumn, followed by vertebrates and invertebrates. Vertebrates and invertebrates were the main food source in winter and spring. No significant difference of activity could be found between the three animals. Diel activity reached its maximum in summer, and decreased significantly throughout the rest of the year. Die1 activity did not differ significantly between subsequent seasons, whereas a statistically significant difference was found between every other season. Nocturnal activity peaked in winter and dropped in summer. It significantly differed between seasons but for spring vs. summer and autumn vs. winter. Diurnal activity differed significantly between seasons, but for spring vs. summer, when it reached its maximum, and for autumn vs. winter when it was at its minimum. Crepuscular activity remained constant throughout the year. The 24-hour distribution of active fixes showed a bimodal pattern in spring and summer, while in autumn and winter the activity pattern was unimodal, with a nocturnal peak. Time budget differed between seasons, but for autumn and winter vs. spring. Significant correlations between activities and abiotical variables (except rainfall were direct, but for nocturnal activity. No significant correlation was found with precipitation. Activity was not

Bedtime activities, sleep environment, and sleep/wake patterns of Japanese elementary school children.

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Oka, Yasunori; Suzuki, Shuhei; Inoue, Yuich

2008-01-01

Bedtime activities, sleep environment, and their impact on sleep/wake patterns were assessed in 509 elementary school children (6-12 years of age; 252 males and 257 females). Television viewing, playing video games, and surfing the Internet had negative impact on sleep/wake parameters. Moreover, presence of a television set or video game in the child's bedroom increased their activity before bedtime. Time to return home later than 8 p.m. from after-school activity also had a negative impact on sleep/wake patterns. Health care practitioners should be aware of the potential negative impact of television, video games, and the Internet before bedtime, and also the possibility that late after-school activity can disturb sleep/wake patterns.

A cluster analysis of patterns of objectively measured physical activity in Hong Kong.

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Lee, Paul H; Yu, Ying-Ying; McDowell, Ian; Leung, Gabriel M; Lam, T H

2013-08-01

The health benefits of exercise are clear. In targeting interventions it would be valuable to know whether characteristic patterns of physical activity (PA) are associated with particular population subgroups. The present study used cluster analysis to identify characteristic hourly PA patterns measured by accelerometer. Cross-sectional design. Objectively measured PA in Hong Kong adults. Four-day accelerometer data were collected during 2009 to 2011 for 1714 participants in Hong Kong (mean age 44?2 years, 45?9% male). Two clusters were identified, one more active than the other. The ‘active cluster’ (n 480) was characterized by a routine PA pattern on weekdays and a more active and varied pattern on weekends; the other, the ‘less active cluster’ (n 1234), by a consistently low PA pattern on both weekdays and weekends with little variation from day to day. Demographic, lifestyle, PA level and health characteristics of the two clusters were compared. They differed in age, sex, smoking, income and level of PA required at work. The odds of having any chronic health conditions was lower for the active group (adjusted OR50?62, 95% CI 0?46, 0?84) but the two groups did not differ in terms of specific chronic health conditions or obesity. Implications are drawn for targeting exercise promotion programmes at the population level.

Operant conditioning of synaptic and spiking activity patterns in single hippocampal neurons.

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Ishikawa, Daisuke; Matsumoto, Nobuyoshi; Sakaguchi, Tetsuya; Matsuki, Norio; Ikegaya, Yuji

2014-04-02

Learning is a process of plastic adaptation through which a neural circuit generates a more preferable outcome; however, at a microscopic level, little is known about how synaptic activity is patterned into a desired configuration. Here, we report that animals can generate a specific form of synaptic activity in a given neuron in the hippocampus. In awake, head-restricted mice, we applied electrical stimulation to the lateral hypothalamus, a reward-associated brain region, when whole-cell patch-clamped CA1 neurons exhibited spontaneous synaptic activity that met preset criteria. Within 15 min, the mice learned to generate frequently the excitatory synaptic input pattern that satisfied the criteria. This reinforcement learning of synaptic activity was not observed for inhibitory input patterns. When a burst unit activity pattern was conditioned in paired and nonpaired paradigms, the frequency of burst-spiking events increased and decreased, respectively. The burst reinforcement occurred in the conditioned neuron but not in other adjacent neurons; however, ripple field oscillations were concomitantly reinforced. Neural conditioning depended on activation of NMDA receptors and dopamine D1 receptors. Acutely stressed mice and depression model mice that were subjected to forced swimming failed to exhibit the neural conditioning. This learning deficit was rescued by repetitive treatment with fluoxetine, an antidepressant. Therefore, internally motivated animals are capable of routing an ongoing action potential series into a specific neural pathway of the hippocampal network.

Micro-flock patterns and macro-clusters in chiral active Brownian disks

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Levis, Demian; Liebchen, Benno

2018-02-01

Chiral active particles (or self-propelled circle swimmers) feature a rich collective behavior, comprising rotating macro-clusters and micro-flock patterns which consist of phase-synchronized rotating clusters with a characteristic self-limited size. These patterns emerge from the competition of alignment interactions and rotations suggesting that they might occur generically in many chiral active matter systems. However, although excluded volume interactions occur naturally among typical circle swimmers, it is not yet clear if macro-clusters and micro-flock patterns survive their presence. The present work shows that both types of pattern do survive but feature strongly enhance fluctuations regarding the size and shape of the individual clusters. Despite these fluctuations, we find that the average micro-flock size still follows the same characteristic scaling law as in the absence of excluded volume interactions, i.e. micro-flock sizes scale linearly with the single-swimmer radius.

Patterns for election of active computing nodes in high availability distributed data acquisition systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nair, Preetha; Padmini, S.; Diwakar, M.P.; Gohel, Nilesh

2013-01-01

Computer based systems for power plant and research reactors are expected to have high availability. Redundancy is a common approach to improve the availability of a system. In redundant configuration the challenge is to select one node as active, and in case of failure of current active node provide automatic fast switchover by electing another node to function as active and restore normal operation. Additional constraints include: exactly one node should be elected as active in an n-way redundant architecture. This paper discusses various high availability configurations developed by Electronics Division and deployed in power and research reactors and patterns followed to elect active nodes of distributed data acquisition systems. The systems are categorized into two: Active/Passive where changeover takes effect only on the failure of Active node, and Active/Active, where changeover is effective in alternate cycles. A novel concept of priority driven state based Active (Master) node election pattern is described for Active/Passive systems which allows multiple redundancy and dynamic election of single master. The paper also discusses the Active/Active pattern, which uncovers failure early by activating all the nodes alternatively in a redundant system. This pattern can be extended to multiple redundant nodes. (author)

Dietary patterns as compared with physical activity in relation to metabolic syndrome among Chinese adults.

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He, Y; Li, Y; Lai, J; Wang, D; Zhang, J; Fu, P; Yang, X; Qi, L

2013-10-01

To examine the nationally-representative dietary patterns and their joint effects with physical activity on the likelihood of metabolic syndrome (MS) among 20,827 Chinese adults. CNNHS was a nationally representative cross-sectional observational study. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to the Joint Interim Statement definition. The "Green Water" dietary pattern, characterized by high intakes of rice and vegetables and moderate intakes in animal foods was related to the lowest prevalence of MS (15.9%). Compared to the "Green Water" dietary pattern, the "Yellow Earth" dietary pattern, characterized by high intakes of refined cereal products, tubers, cooking salt and salted vegetable was associated with a significantly elevated odds of MS (odds ratio 1.66, 95%CI: 1.40-1.96), after adjustment of age, sex, socioeconomic status and lifestyle factors. The "Western/new affluence" dietary pattern characterized by higher consumption of beef/lamb, fruit, eggs, poultry and seafood also significantly associated with MS (odds ratio: 1.37, 95%CI: 1.13-1.67). Physical activity showed significant interactions with the dietary patterns in relation to MS risk (P for interaction = 0.008). In the joint analysis, participants with the combination of sedentary activity with the "Yellow Earth" dietary pattern or the "Western/new affluence" dietary pattern both had more than three times (95%CI: 2.8-6.1) higher odds of MS than those with active activity and the "Green Water" dietary pattern. Our findings from the large Chinese national representative data indicate that dietary patterns affect the likelihood of MS. Combining healthy dietary pattern with active lifestyle may benefit more in prevention of MS. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Post-fire recovery of torpor and activity patterns of a small mammal.

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Stawski, Clare; Hume, Taylor; Körtner, Gerhard; Currie, Shannon E; Nowack, Julia; Geiser, Fritz

2017-05-01

To cope with the post-fire challenges of decreased availability of food and shelter, brown antechinus ( Antechinus stuartii ), a small marsupial mammal, increase the use of energy-conserving torpor and reduce activity. However, it is not known how long it takes for animals to resume pre-fire torpor and activity patterns during the recovery of burnt habitat. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that antechinus will adjust torpor use and activity after a fire depending on vegetation recovery. We simultaneously quantified torpor and activity patterns for female antechinus from three adjacent areas: (i) the area of a management burn 1 year post-fire, (ii) an area that was burned 2 years prior, and (iii) a control area. In comparison to shortly after the management burn, antechinus in all three groups displayed less frequent and less pronounced torpor while being more active. We provide the first evidence that only 1 year post-fire antechinus resume pre-fire torpor and activity patterns, probably in response to the return of herbaceous ground cover and foraging opportunities. © 2017 The Author(s).

Theories of Person Perception Predict Patterns of Neural Activity During Mentalizing.

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Thornton, Mark A; Mitchell, Jason P

2017-08-22

Social life requires making inferences about other people. What information do perceivers spontaneously draw upon to make such inferences? Here, we test 4 major theories of person perception, and 1 synthetic theory that combines their features, to determine whether the dimensions of such theories can serve as bases for describing patterns of neural activity during mentalizing. While undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging, participants made social judgments about well-known public figures. Patterns of brain activity were then predicted using feature encoding models that represented target people's positions on theoretical dimensions such as warmth and competence. All 5 theories of person perception proved highly accurate at reconstructing activity patterns, indicating that each could describe the informational basis of mentalizing. Cross-validation indicated that the theories robustly generalized across both targets and participants. The synthetic theory consistently attained the best performance-approximately two-thirds of noise ceiling accuracy--indicating that, in combination, the theories considered here can account for much of the neural representation of other people. Moreover, encoding models trained on the present data could reconstruct patterns of activity associated with mental state representations in independent data, suggesting the use of a common neural code to represent others' traits and states. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Thoracic posture, shoulder muscle activation patterns and isokinetic ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background. Shoulder injuries are the most severe injuries in rugby union players, accounting for almost 20% of injuries related to the sport and resulting in lost playing hours. Objective. To profile the thoracic posture, scapular muscle activation patterns and rotator cuff muscle isokinetic strength of semi-professional

Activity patterns of elderly men and women.

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Sidney, K H; Shephard, R J

1977-01-01

The activity patterns of elderly men and women (greater than 60 years) were examined by diaries, ECG taperecorders, and electro-chemical integrators. Although the subjects thought that they were active relative to others of their age, both activity measurements and initial assessments of fitness indicated an inactive life style. At different periods of the day, the heart rate averaged 70-90 beats per minute, and the physical training threshold was rarely approached. During the week, the women engaged in 90 min. more physical activity than the men. However, at the weekend the men added an average of 100 min. of physical activity, whereas the women carried out 30 min. less physical work. Introduction of a 1-hour physical activity class four times per week increased the average daily energy expenditure by 150-200 kCal, to 2500 kCal in the men and 2200 kCal in the women. The added activity was sufficient to augment aerobic power, to induce favorable changes in body composition and to initiate change in other areas of life style, including a diminished use of the car.

The effect of Wi-Fi electromagnetic waves in unimodal and multimodal object recognition tasks in male rats.

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Hassanshahi, Amin; Shafeie, Seyed Ali; Fatemi, Iman; Hassanshahi, Elham; Allahtavakoli, Mohammad; Shabani, Mohammad; Roohbakhsh, Ali; Shamsizadeh, Ali

2017-06-01

Wireless internet (Wi-Fi) electromagnetic waves (2.45 GHz) have widespread usage almost everywhere, especially in our homes. Considering the recent reports about some hazardous effects of Wi-Fi signals on the nervous system, this study aimed to investigate the effect of 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi radiation on multisensory integration in rats. This experimental study was done on 80 male Wistar rats that were allocated into exposure and sham groups. Wi-Fi exposure to 2.4 GHz microwaves [in Service Set Identifier mode (23.6 dBm and 3% for power and duty cycle, respectively)] was done for 30 days (12 h/day). Cross-modal visual-tactile object recognition (CMOR) task was performed by four variations of spontaneous object recognition (SOR) test including standard SOR, tactile SOR, visual SOR, and CMOR tests. A discrimination ratio was calculated to assess the preference of animal to the novel object. The expression levels of M1 and GAT1 mRNA in the hippocampus were assessed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Results demonstrated that rats in Wi-Fi exposure groups could not discriminate significantly between the novel and familiar objects in any of the standard SOR, tactile SOR, visual SOR, and CMOR tests. The expression of M1 receptors increased following Wi-Fi exposure. In conclusion, results of this study showed that chronic exposure to Wi-Fi electromagnetic waves might impair both unimodal and cross-modal encoding of information.

Cerebral Activity Changes in Different Traditional Chinese Medicine Patterns of Psychogenic Erectile Dysfunction Patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Qi; Zhang, Peihai; Pan, Junjie; Li, Zhengjie; Liu, Jixin; Li, Guangsen; Qin, Wei; You, Yaodong; Yu, Xujun; Sun, Jinbo; Dong, Minghao; Gong, Qiyong; Guo, Jun; Chang, Degui

2015-01-01

Background. Pattern differentiation is the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED). This study aims to investigate the differences in cerebral activity in ED patients with different TCM patterns. Methods. 27 psychogenic ED patients and 27 healthy subjects (HS) were enrolled in this study. Each participant underwent an fMRI scan in resting state. The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) was used to detect the brain activity changes in ED patients with different patterns. Results. Compared to HS, ED patients showed an increased cerebral activity in bilateral cerebellum, insula, globus pallidus, parahippocampal gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and middle cingulate cortex (MCC). Compared to the patients with liver-qi stagnation and spleen deficiency pattern (LSSDP), the patients with kidney-yang deficiency pattern (KDP) showed an increased activity in bilateral brainstem, cerebellum, hippocampus, and the right insula, thalamus, MCC, and a decreased activity in bilateral putamen, medial frontal gyrus, temporal pole, and the right caudate nucleus, OFC, anterior cingulate cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex (P emotion-related regions, including prefrontal cortex and cingulated cortex.

Physical activity patterns of youth with Down syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Esposito, Phil E; MacDonald, Megan; Hornyak, Joseph E; Ulrich, Dale A

2012-04-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the physical activity patterns of children with Down syndrome. A cross-sectional approach and accelerometry were used to measure the time children with Down syndrome (N = 104) spent in sedentary, light, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Results indicated that adolescents from ages 14 to 15 years were the most sedentary and spent the least amount of time in light and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. A general trend of decreasing physical activity as children increase in age was found. This trend is similar to that found among typically developing youth. Participants in this study were found to spend a majority of their day engaged in sedentary activities. Results indicate that most participants were not accumulating the recommended 60 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity.

Spatial-temporal patterns of retinal waves underlying activity-dependent refinement of retinofugal projections.

Science.gov (United States)

Stafford, Ben K; Sher, Alexander; Litke, Alan M; Feldheim, David A

2009-10-29

During development, retinal axons project coarsely within their visual targets before refining to form organized synaptic connections. Spontaneous retinal activity, in the form of acetylcholine-driven retinal waves, is proposed to be necessary for establishing these projection patterns. In particular, both axonal terminations of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and the size of receptive fields of target neurons are larger in mice that lack the beta2 subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (beta2KO). Here, using a large-scale, high-density multielectrode array to record activity from hundreds of RGCs simultaneously, we present analysis of early postnatal retinal activity from both wild-type (WT) and beta2KO retinas. We find that beta2KO retinas have correlated patterns of activity, but many aspects of these patterns differ from those of WT retina. Quantitative analysis suggests that wave directionality, coupled with short-range correlated bursting patterns of RGCs, work together to refine retinofugal projections.

Time shift in slope failure prediction between unimodal and bimodal modeling approaches

Science.gov (United States)

Ciervo, Fabio; Casini, Francesca; Nicolina Papa, Maria; Medina, Vicente

2016-04-01

Together with the need to use more appropriate mathematical expressions for describing hydro-mechanical soil processes, a challenge issue relates to the need of considering the effects induced by terrain heterogeneities on the physical mechanisms, taking into account the implications of the heterogeneities in affecting time-dependent hydro-mechanical variables, would improve the prediction capacities of models, such as the ones used in early warning systems. The presence of the heterogeneities in partially-saturated slopes results in irregular propagation of the moisture and suction front. To mathematically represent the "dual-implication" generally induced by the heterogeneities in describing the hydraulic terrain behavior, several bimodal hydraulic models have been presented in literature and replaced the conventional sigmoidal/unimodal functions; this presupposes that the scale of the macrostructure is comparable with the local scale (Darcy scale), thus the Richards' model can be assumed adequate to mathematically reproduce the processes. The purpose of this work is to focus on the differences in simulating flow infiltration processes and slope stability conditions originated from preliminary choices of hydraulic models and contextually between different approaches to evaluate the factor of safety (FoS). In particular, the results of two approaches are compared. The first one includes the conventional expression of the FoS under saturated conditions and the widespread used hydraulic model of van Genuchten-Mualem. The second approach includes a generalized FoS equation for infinite-slope model under variably saturated soil conditions (Lu and Godt, 2008) and the bimodal Romano et al.'s (2011) functions to describe the hydraulic response. The extension of the above mentioned approach to the bimodal context is based on an analytical method to assess the effects of the hydraulic properties on soil shear developed integrating a bimodal lognormal hydraulic function

Listening to sound patterns as a dynamic activity

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Mari Riess

2003-04-01

The act of listening to a series of sounds created by some natural event is described as involving an entrainmentlike process that transpires in real time. Some aspects of this dynamic process are suggested. In particular, real-time attending is described in terms of an adaptive synchronization activity that permits a listener to target attending energy to forthcoming elements within an acoustical pattern (e.g., music, speech, etc.). Also described are several experiments that illustrate features of this approach as it applies to attending to musiclike patterns. These involve listeners' responses to changes in either the timing or the pitch structure (or both) of various acoustical sequences.

Comparing rainfall patterns between regions in Peninsular Malaysia via a functional data analysis technique

Science.gov (United States)

Suhaila, Jamaludin; Jemain, Abdul Aziz; Hamdan, Muhammad Fauzee; Wan Zin, Wan Zawiah

2011-12-01

SummaryNormally, rainfall data is collected on a daily, monthly or annual basis in the form of discrete observations. The aim of this study is to convert these rainfall values into a smooth curve or function which could be used to represent the continuous rainfall process at each region via a technique known as functional data analysis. Since rainfall data shows a periodic pattern in each region, the Fourier basis is introduced to capture these variations. Eleven basis functions with five harmonics are used to describe the unimodal rainfall pattern for stations in the East while five basis functions which represent two harmonics are needed to describe the rainfall pattern in the West. Based on the fitted smooth curve, the wet and dry periods as well as the maximum and minimum rainfall values could be determined. Different rainfall patterns are observed among the studied regions based on the smooth curve. Using the functional analysis of variance, the test results indicated that there exist significant differences in the functional means between each region. The largest differences in the functional means are found between the East and Northwest regions and these differences may probably be due to the effect of topography and, geographical location and are mostly influenced by the monsoons. Therefore, the same inputs or approaches might not be useful in modeling the hydrological process for different regions.

Peak-valley-peak pattern of histone modifications delineates active regulatory elements and their directionality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pundhir, Sachin; Bagger, Frederik Otzen; Lauridsen, Felicia Kathrine Bratt

2016-01-01

Formation of nucleosome free region (NFR) accompanied by specific histone modifications at flanking nucleosomes is an important prerequisite for enhancer and promoter activity. Due to this process, active regulatory elements often exhibit a distinct shape of histone signal in the form of a peak......-valley-peak (PVP) pattern. However, different features of PVP patterns and their robustness in predicting active regulatory elements have never been systematically analyzed. Here, we present PARE, a novel computational method that systematically analyzes the H3K4me1 or H3K4me3 PVP patterns to predict NFRs. We show...... four ENCODE cell lines and four hematopoietic differentiation stages, we identified several enhancers whose regulatory activity is stage specific and correlates positively with the expression of proximal genes in a particular stage. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that PVP patterns delineate...

Motor control patterns during an active straight leg raise in pain-free subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Beales, Darren John; O'Sullivan, Peter Bruce; Briffa, N Kathryn

2009-01-01

Repeated measures. To investigate motor control (MC) patterns of normal subjects during the low level physical load of the active straight leg raise (ASLR). Aberrant MC patterns, as observed with the ASLR test, are considered to be a mechanism for ongoing pain and disability in subjects with chronic musculoskeletal pelvic girdle pain. These patterns may not only affect the provision of lumbopelvic stability, but also respiration and the control of continence. Greater understanding of MC patterns in pain-free subjects may improve the management of pelvic girdle pain. METHODS.: Fourteen pain-free nulliparous women were examined during the ASLR. Electromyography of the anterior abdominal wall, right chest wall and the anterior scaleni, intraabdominal pressure (IAP), intrathoracic pressure (ITP), respiratory rate, pelvic floor kinematics, and downward leg pressure of the nonlifted leg were compared between a left and right ASLR. There was greater activation of obliquus internus abdominis and obliquus externus abdominis on the side of the ASLR. The predominant pattern of activation for the chest wall was tonic activation during an ipsilateral ASLR, and phasic respiratory activation lifting the contralateral leg. Respiratory fluctuation of both IAP and ITP did not differ lifting either leg. The baseline shifts of these pressure variables in response to the physical demand of lifting the leg was also the same either side. There was no difference in respiratory rate, pelvic floor kinematics, or downward leg pressure. Pain-free subjects demonstrate a predominant pattern of greater ipsilateral tonic activation of the abdominal wall and chest wall on the side of the ASLR. This was achieved with minimal apparent disruption to IAP and ITP. The findings of this study demonstrate the plastic nature of the abdominal cylinder and the flexibility of the neuromuscular system in controlling load transference during an ASLR.

Precise shape reconstruction by active pattern in total-internal-reflection-based tactile sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

Saga, Satoshi; Taira, Ryosuke; Deguchi, Koichiro

2014-03-01

We are developing a total-internal-reflection-based tactile sensor in which the shape is reconstructed using an optical reflection. This sensor consists of silicone rubber, an image pattern, and a camera. It reconstructs the shape of the sensor surface from an image of a pattern reflected at the inner sensor surface by total internal reflection. In this study, we propose precise real-time reconstruction by employing an optimization method. Furthermore, we propose to use active patterns. Deformation of the reflection image causes reconstruction errors. By controlling the image pattern, the sensor reconstructs the surface deformation more precisely. We implement the proposed optimization and active-pattern-based reconstruction methods in a reflection-based tactile sensor, and perform reconstruction experiments using the system. A precise deformation experiment confirms the linearity and precision of the reconstruction.

Root activity patterns of some tree crops

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1975-01-01

A coordinated research programme was followed using a soil injection method which employed 32 P-labelled superphosphate solution. The technique was applied for determining the root activity distribution of various crops. Field experiments were carried out in Uganda on bananas, Spain and Taiwan on citrus, Ghana on cocoa, Columbia and Kenya on coffee, and Ivory Coast and Malaysia on oil palms, to study the patterns of root activity as a function of depth and distance from the tree base, soil type, tree age and season. A few weeks after injection, leaf samples of similar age were taken from well-defined morphological positions on the tree and analyzed for 32 P. The activity of the label in the sample reflects the root activity at the various positions in the soil. Some preliminary experiments were also carried out using 32 P-superphosphate to evaluate the efficiency of different methods of fertilizer placement in relation to phosphate uptake by the plantation as a whole

Physical activity levels and patterns of 11-14 year-old Turkish adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Kin-Isler, Ayse; Asci, F Hulya; Altintas, Atakan; Guven-Karahan, Bengu

2009-01-01

This study examined age and gender differences in physical activity levels and various physical activity patterns of 11-14-year-old Turkish adolescents and also determined if these differ between genders. Six hundred and fifty girls and 666 boys between the ages of 11 and 14 years constituted the sample of this study. Participants self-reported physical activity levels and patterns were determined by a Weekly Activity Checklist. A 2 x 4 (Gender x Age) MANOVA revealed overall significant main effect of gender and age on the physical activity level of adolescents; however, gender x age interaction effect was not significant. The findings indicated an interaction effect was not significant. The findings indicated an age-related decline in physical activity level, an increase in participation in low activities, and a decrease in participation in moderate and vigorous activities in 11-14-year-old Turkish adolescents. In addition it was found that boys were more active than girls and participated more in moderate and vigorous activities.

Actigraphy-Derived Daily Rest-Activity Patterns and Body Mass Index in Community-Dwelling Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Cespedes Feliciano, Elizabeth M; Quante, Mirja; Weng, Jia; Mitchell, Jonathan A; James, Peter; Marinac, Catherine R; Mariani, Sara; Redline, Susan; Kerr, Jacqueline; Godbole, Suneeta; Manteiga, Alicia; Wang, Daniel; Hipp, J Aaron

2017-12-01

To examine associations between 24-hour rest-activity patterns and body mass index (BMI) among community-dwelling US adults. Rest-activity patterns provide a field method to study exposures related to circadian rhythms. Adults (N = 578) wore an actigraph on their nondominant wrist for 7 days. Intradaily variability and interdaily stability (IS), M10 (most active 10-hours), L5 (least active 5-hours), and relative amplitude (RA) were derived using nonparametric rhythm analysis. Mesor, acrophase, and amplitude were calculated from log-transformed count data using the parametric cosinor approach. Participants were 80% female and mean (standard deviation) age was 52 (15) years. Participants with higher BMI had lower values for magnitude, RA, IS, total sleep time (TST), and sleep efficiency. In multivariable analyses, less robust 24-hour rest-activity patterns as represented by lower RA were consistently associated with higher BMI: comparing the bottom quintile (least robust) to the top quintile (most robust 24-hour rest-activity pattern) of RA, BMI was 3-kg/m2 higher (p = .02). Associations were similar in magnitude to an hour less of TST (1-kg/m2 higher BMI) or a 10% decrease in sleep efficiency (2-kg/m2 higher BMI), and independent of age, sex, race, education, and the duration of rest and/or activity. Lower RA, reflecting both higher night activity and lower daytime activity, was associated with higher BMI. Independent of the duration of rest or activity during the day or night, 24-hour rest, and activity patterns from actigraphy provide aggregated measures of activity that associate with BMI in community-dwelling adults. © Sleep Research Society 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

Characteristics of diurnal pattern of global photosynthetically-active ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A two year data (September 1992 August 1994) on photosynhetically-active radiation (PAR) measured at Ilorin (Lat.: 832´N. Long.:434´E) using LI-190SA quantum sensor are analysed both on daily and monthly mean diurnal bases. This was done with the aim of characterizing the diurnal pattern of this radiation at this ...

Extraction and characterization of essential discharge patterns from multisite recordings of spiking ongoing activity.

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Riccardo Storchi

Full Text Available Neural activation patterns proceed often by schemes or motifs distributed across the involved cortical networks. As neurons are correlated, the estimate of all possible dependencies quickly goes out of control. The complex nesting of different oscillation frequencies and their high non-stationariety further hamper any quantitative evaluation of spiking network activities. The problem is exacerbated by the intrinsic variability of neural patterns.Our technique introduces two important novelties and enables to insulate essential patterns on larger sets of spiking neurons and brain activity regimes. First, the sampling procedure over N units is based on a fixed spike number k in order to detect N-dimensional arrays (k-sequences, whose sum over all dimension is k. Then k-sequences variability is greatly reduced by a hierarchical separative clustering, that assigns large amounts of distinct k-sequences to few classes. Iterative separations are stopped when the dimension of each cluster comes to be smaller than a certain threshold. As threshold tuning critically impacts on the number of classes extracted, we developed an effective cost criterion to select the shortest possible description of our dataset. Finally we described three indexes (C,S,R to evaluate the average pattern complexity, the structure of essential classes and their stability in time.We validated this algorithm with four kinds of surrogated activity, ranging from random to very regular patterned. Then we characterized a selection of ongoing activity recordings. By the S index we identified unstable, moderatly and strongly stable patterns while by the C and the R indices we evidenced their non-random structure. Our algorithm seems able to extract interesting and non-trivial spatial dynamics from multisource neuronal recordings of ongoing and potentially stimulated activity. Combined with time-frequency analysis of LFPs could provide a powerful multiscale approach linking population

Cortisol patterns are associated with T cell activation in HIV.

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Sarah Patterson

Full Text Available The level of T cell activation in untreated HIV disease is strongly and independently associated with risk of immunologic and clinical progression. The factors that influence the level of activation, however, are not fully defined. Since endogenous glucocorticoids are important in regulating inflammation, we sought to determine whether less optimal diurnal cortisol patterns are associated with greater T cell activation.We studied 128 HIV-infected adults who were not on treatment and had a CD4(+ T cell count above 250 cells/µl. We assessed T cell activation by CD38 expression using flow cytometry, and diurnal cortisol was assessed with salivary measurements.Lower waking cortisol levels correlated with greater T cell immune activation, measured by CD38 mean fluorescent intensity, on CD4(+ T cells (r = -0.26, p = 0.006. Participants with lower waking cortisol also showed a trend toward greater activation on CD8(+ T cells (r = -0.17, p = 0.08. A greater diurnal decline in cortisol, usually considered a healthy pattern, correlated with less CD4(+ (r = 0.24, p = 0.018 and CD8(+ (r = 0.24, p = 0.017 activation.These data suggest that the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA axis contributes to the regulation of T cell activation in HIV. This may represent an important pathway through which psychological states and the HPA axis influence progression of HIV.

Unraveling dynamics of human physical activity patterns in chronic pain conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Paraschiv-Ionescu, Anisoara; Buchser, Eric; Aminian, Kamiar

2013-06-01

Chronic pain is a complex disabling experience that negatively affects the cognitive, affective and physical functions as well as behavior. Although the interaction between chronic pain and physical functioning is a well-accepted paradigm in clinical research, the understanding of how pain affects individuals' daily life behavior remains a challenging task. Here we develop a methodological framework allowing to objectively document disruptive pain related interferences on real-life physical activity. The results reveal that meaningful information is contained in the temporal dynamics of activity patterns and an analytical model based on the theory of bivariate point processes can be used to describe physical activity behavior. The model parameters capture the dynamic interdependence between periods and events and determine a `signature' of activity pattern. The study is likely to contribute to the clinical understanding of complex pain/disease-related behaviors and establish a unified mathematical framework to quantify the complex dynamics of various human activities.

Physical Activity and Pattern of Blood Pressure in Postmenopausal ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Hormonal changes during menopause have been attributed to hypertension-a common public health concern. This study investigated physical activity (PA) and pattern of blood pressure (BP) in postmenopausal women newly diagnosed with hypertension and referred for treatment at the medicine outpatient ...

Nocturnal activity patterns of northern myotis (Myotis septentrionalis) during the maternity season in West Virginia (USA)

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, J.B.; Edwards, J.W.; Ford, W.M.

2011-01-01

Nocturnal activity patterns of northern myotis (Myotis septentrionalis) at diurnal roost trees remain largely uninvestigated. For example, the influence of reproductive status, weather, and roost tree and surrounding habitat characteristics on timing of emergence, intra-night activity, and entrance at their roost trees is poorly known. We examined nocturnal activity patterns of northern myotis maternity colonies during pregnancy and lactation at diurnal roost trees situated in areas that were and were not subjected to recent prescribed fires at the Fernow Experimental Forest, West Virginia from 2007 to 2009. According to exit counts and acoustic data, northern myotis colony sizes were similar between reproductive periods and roost tree settings. However, intra-night activity patterns differed slightly between reproductive periods and roost trees in burned and non-burned areas. Weather variables poorly explained variation in activity patterns during pregnancy, but precipitation and temperature were negatively associated with activity patterns during lactation. ?? Museum and Institute of Zoology PAS.

Autogenic training alters cerebral activation patterns in fMRI.

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Schlamann, Marc; Naglatzki, Ryan; de Greiff, Armin; Forsting, Michael; Gizewski, Elke R

2010-10-01

Cerebral activation patterns during the first three auto-suggestive phases of autogenic training (AT) were investigated in relation to perceived experiences. Nineteen volunteers trained in AT and 19 controls were studied with fMRI during the first steps of autogenic training. FMRI revealed activation of the left postcentral areas during AT in those with experience in AT, which also correlated with the level of AT experience. Activation of prefrontal and insular cortex was significantly higher in the group with experience in AT while insular activation was correlated with number years of simple relaxation exercises. Specific activation in subjects experienced in AT may represent a training effect. Furthermore, the correlation of insular activation suggests that these subjects are different from untrained subjects in emotional processing or self-awareness.

The activity pattern of shoulder muscles in subjects with and without subacromial impingement

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Diederichsen, Louise Pyndt; Nørregaard, Jesper; Dyhre-Poulsen, Poul

2009-01-01

Altered shoulder muscle activity is frequently believed to be a pathogenetic factor of subacromial impingement (SI) and therapeutic interventions have been directed towards restoring normal motor patterns. Still, there is a lack of scientific evidence regarding the changes in muscle activity in p...... that the different motor patterns might be a pathogenetic factor of SI, perhaps due to inappropriate neuromuscular strategies affecting both shoulders....

Physical Activity Patterns among U.S. Adults with Disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Chiu, Chung-Yi; An, Ruopeng

2016-01-01

Purpose: To characterize physical activity patterns among people with disabilities using data from a nationally representative health survey. Method: Individual-level data came from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2011 survey. Pearson's chi-squared tests were conducted to assess the difference in the proportion distribution of…

Sintopia de duas espécies de Tropidurus (Squamata: Tropiduridae) em um habitat de Cerrado rupestre no Brasil Central

OpenAIRE

Faria, R. G.; Araujo, A. F. B.

2004-01-01

We studied the ecology of Tropidurus itambere and T. oreadicus that occur syntopically in rocky habitats of Cerrado vegetation in central Brazil during the dry season (April to September 2000). The two species are ecologically similar, but somewhat differentiated in vertical microhabitat use. The two species preferred rocky surface microhabitat. Both species demonstrated a unimodal activity pattern, with a peak between 10 and 15 h. Their diets were similar in composition and prey size. The mo...

Sintopy of two Tropidurus lizard species (Squamata: Tropiduridae) in a rocky Cerrado habitat in Central Brazil

OpenAIRE

Faria,R. G.; Araujo,A. F. B.

2004-01-01

We studied the ecology of Tropidurus itambere and T. oreadicus that occur syntopically in rocky habitats of Cerrado vegetation in central Brazil during the dry season (April to September 2000). The two species are ecologically similar, but somewhat differentiated in vertical microhabitat use. The two species preferred rocky surface microhabitat. Both species demonstrated a unimodal activity pattern, with a peak between 10 and 15 h. Their diets were similar in composition and prey size. The mo...

Recurrence analysis of ant activity patterns.

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Felipe Marcel Neves

Full Text Available In this study, we used recurrence quantification analysis (RQA and recurrence plots (RPs to compare the movement activity of individual workers of three ant species, as well as a gregarious beetle species. RQA and RPs quantify the number and duration of recurrences of a dynamical system, including a detailed quantification of signals that could be stochastic, deterministic, or both. First, we found substantial differences between the activity dynamics of beetles and ants, with the results suggesting that the beetles have quasi-periodic dynamics and the ants do not. Second, workers from different ant species varied with respect to their dynamics, presenting degrees of predictability as well as stochastic signals. Finally, differences were found among minor and major caste of the same (dimorphic ant species. Our results underscore the potential of RQA and RPs in the analysis of complex behavioral patterns, as well as in general inferences on animal behavior and other biological phenomena.

Mechanochemical pattern formation in simple models of active viscoelastic fluids and solids

Science.gov (United States)

Alonso, Sergio; Radszuweit, Markus; Engel, Harald; Bär, Markus

2017-11-01

The cytoskeleton of the organism Physarum polycephalum is a prominent example of a complex active viscoelastic material wherein stresses induce flows along the organism as a result of the action of molecular motors and their regulation by calcium ions. Experiments in Physarum polycephalum have revealed a rich variety of mechanochemical patterns including standing, traveling and rotating waves that arise from instabilities of spatially homogeneous states without gradients in stresses and resulting flows. Herein, we investigate simple models where an active stress induced by molecular motors is coupled to a model describing the passive viscoelastic properties of the cellular material. Specifically, two models for viscoelastic fluids (Maxwell and Jeffrey model) and two models for viscoelastic solids (Kelvin-Voigt and Standard model) are investigated. Our focus is on the analysis of the conditions that cause destabilization of spatially homogeneous states and the related onset of mechano-chemical waves and patterns. We carry out linear stability analyses and numerical simulations in one spatial dimension for different models. In general, sufficiently strong activity leads to waves and patterns. The primary instability is stationary for all active fluids considered, whereas all active solids have an oscillatory primary instability. All instabilities found are of long-wavelength nature reflecting the conservation of the total calcium concentration in the models studied.

Effect of Frustration on Brain Activation Pattern in Subjects with Different Temperament.

Science.gov (United States)

Bierzynska, Maria; Bielecki, Maksymilian; Marchewka, Artur; Debowska, Weronika; Duszyk, Anna; Zajkowski, Wojciech; Falkiewicz, Marcel; Nowicka, Anna; Strelau, Jan; Kossut, Malgorzata

2015-01-01

In spite of the prevalence of frustration in everyday life, very few neuroimaging studies were focused on this emotional state. In the current study we aimed to examine effects of frustration on brain activity while performing a well-learned task in participants with low and high tolerance for arousal. Prior to the functional magnetic resonance imaging session, the subjects underwent 2 weeks of Braille reading training. Frustration induction was obtained by using a novel highly difficult tactile task based on discrimination of Braille-like raised dots patterns and negative feedback. Effectiveness of this procedure has been confirmed in a pilot study using galvanic skin response and questionnaires. Brain activation pattern during tactile discrimination task before and after frustration were compared directly. Results revealed changes in brain activity in structures mostly reported in acute stress studies: striatum, cingulate cortex, insula, middle frontal gyrus and precuneus and in structures engaged in tactile Braille discrimination: SI and SII. Temperament type affected activation pattern. Subjects with low tolerance for arousal showed higher activation in the posterior cingulate gyrus, precuneus, and inferior parietal lobule than high reactivity group. Even though performance in the discrimination trials following frustration was unaltered, we observed increased activity of primary and secondary somatosensory cortex processing the tactile information. We interpret this effect as an indicator of additional involvement required to counteract the effects of frustration.

Distributed patterns of brain activity that lead to forgetting

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Ilke eOztekin

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Proactive interference (PI, in which irrelevant information from prior learning disrupts memory performance, is widely viewed as a major cause of forgetting. However, the hypothesized spontaneous recovery (i.e. automatic retrieval of interfering information presumed to be at the base of PI remains to be demonstrated directly. Moreover, it remains unclear at what point during learning and/or retrieval interference impacts memory performance. In order to resolve these open questions, we employed a machine-learning algorithm to identify distributed patterns of brain activity associated with retrieval of interfering information that engenders PI and causes forgetting. Participants were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging during an item recognition task. We induced PI by constructing sets of three consecutive study lists from the same semantic category. The classifier quantified the magnitude of category-related activity at encoding and retrieval. Category-specific activity during retrieval increased across lists, consistent with the category information becoming increasingly available and producing interference. Critically, this increase was correlated with individual differences in forgetting and the deployment of frontal lobe mechanisms that resolve interference. Collectively, these findings suggest that distributed patterns of brain activity pertaining to the interfering information during retrieval contribute to forgetting. The prefrontal cortex mediates the relationship between the spontaneous recovery of interfering information at retrieval and individual differences in memory performance.

Objective measurements of daily physical activity patterns and sedentary behaviour in older adults

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arnardottir, Nanna Yr; Koster, Annemarie; Van Domelen, Dane R

2013-01-01

objectively measured population physical activity (PA) data from older persons is lacking. The aim of this study was to describe free-living PA patterns and sedentary behaviours in Icelandic older men and women using accelerometer.......objectively measured population physical activity (PA) data from older persons is lacking. The aim of this study was to describe free-living PA patterns and sedentary behaviours in Icelandic older men and women using accelerometer....

Merlin : microsimulation system for predicting leisure activity-travel patterns

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Middelkoop, van M.; Borgers, A.W.J.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

2004-01-01

Development of a model of annual activity-travel patterns of leisure and vacation travel is reported. The simulation system, called Merlin, is a hybrid model system consisting of discrete choice models and rule-based models. It predicts the annual number of day trips and vacations, and the profile

Physical Activity Behavior Patterns during School Leisure Time in Children

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Chad Smith

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Optimizing physical activity (PA in children is paramount to attenuate the incidence of chronic disease and to improve social and cognitive health. Limited research exists examining the observed PA patterns during school leisure times in children from the U.S. The purpose of this study was to examine the observed PA patterns of children during three school leisure times: before school, during lunch, and after school. The SOPLAY instrument was used to observe PA during the three leisure times across six weeks at four elementary schools in the U.S. Observer PA counts were stratified by sex, PA intensity (sedentary, walking, and very active, and leisure time. Multi-level models were employed to examine the effect of leisure time and PA intensity on observer PA counts, adjusting for day and school-level clustering. Lunch displayed the greatest number of counts for sedentary, walking, and very active PA intensities (p 0.05. After school displayed the fewest counts for walking and very active PA in both sexes (p < 0.05. An emphasis should be placed on increasing walking and very active PA intensities before school and during lunch in girls and after school in both sexes. Keywords: after school, before school, lunch, SOPLAY, systematic observation

Brain activity patterns induced by interrupting the cognitive processes with online advertising.

Science.gov (United States)

Rejer, Izabela; Jankowski, Jarosław

2017-11-01

As a result of the increasing role of online advertising and strong competition among advertisers, intrusive techniques are commonly used to attract web users' attention. Moreover, since marketing content is usually delivered to the target audience when they are performing typical online tasks, like searching for information or reading online content, its delivery interrupts the web user's current cognitive process. The question posed by many researchers in the field of online advertising is: how should we measure the influence of interruption of cognitive processes on human behavior and emotional state? Much research has been conducted in this field; however, most of this research has focused on monitoring activity in the simulated environment, or processing declarative responses given by users in prepared questionnaires. In this paper, a more direct real-time approach is taken, and the effect of the interruption on a web user is analyzed directly by studying the activity of his brain. This paper presents the results of an experiment that was conducted to find the brain activity patterns associated with interruptions of the cognitive process by showing internet advertisements during a text-reading task. Three specific aspects were addressed in the experiment: individual patterns, the consistency of these patterns across trials, and the intra-subject correlation of the individual patterns. Two main effects were observed for most subjects: a drop in activity in the frontal and prefrontal cortical areas across all frequency bands, and significant changes in the frontal/prefrontal asymmetry index.

Associations among handgrip strength, dietary pattern, and physical activity level in Physical Education students.

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Cem KURT

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships among handgrip strength (HGS, dietary pattern, and physical activity level in students from a physical education and sport department. Material and Methods: In this study, 124 men and 77 women aged 18–29 y participated. HGS was evaluated in the dominant hand by using an adjustable handgrip dynamometer and expressed in Newton. Dietary pattern was evaluated by using the Dietary Pattern Index (DPI adapted into the Turkish. Physical activity level was measured by using the short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ. Results: The Spearman correlation coefficient showed that HGS positively correlated with IPAQ score (r=0.204, p=0.004, body mass index (r=0.559, p<0.001, and age (r=0.205, p=0.003, but negatively correlated with DPI score (r=−0.179, p=0.01. Conclusion: HGS is a useful, simple, and objective assessment tool for monitoring the physical activity levels and dietary patterns of young subjects.

Effects of Age, Season, Gender and Urban-Rural Status on Time-Activity: Canadian Human Activity Pattern Survey 2 (CHAPS 2

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Carlyn J. Matz

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Estimation of population exposure is a main component of human health risk assessment for environmental contaminants. Population-level exposure assessments require time-activity pattern distributions in relation to microenvironments where people spend their time. Societal trends may have influenced time-activity patterns since previous Canadian data were collected 15 years ago. The Canadian Human Activity Pattern Survey 2 (CHAPS 2 was a national survey conducted in 2010–2011 to collect time-activity information from Canadians of all ages. Five urban and two rural locations were sampled using telephone surveys. Infants and children, key groups in risk assessment activities, were over-sampled. Survey participants (n = 5,011 provided time-activity information in 24-hour recall diaries and responded to supplemental questionnaires concerning potential exposures to specific pollutants, dwelling characteristics, and socio-economic factors. Results indicated that a majority of the time was spent indoors (88.9%, most of which was indoors at home, with limited time spent outdoors (5.8% or in a vehicle (5.3%. Season, age, gender and rurality were significant predictors of time activity patterns. Compared to earlier data, adults reported spending more time indoors at home and adolescents reported spending less time outdoors, which could be indicative of broader societal trends. These findings have potentially important implications for assessment of exposure and risk. The CHAPS 2 data also provide much larger sample sizes to allow for improved precision and are more representative of infants, children and rural residents.

Effects of age, season, gender and urban-rural status on time-activity: CanadianHuman Activity Pattern Survey 2 (CHAPS 2).

Science.gov (United States)

Matz, Carlyn J; Stieb, David M; Davis, Karelyn; Egyed, Marika; Rose, Andreas; Chou, Benedito; Brion, Orly

2014-02-19

Estimation of population exposure is a main component of human health risk assessment for environmental contaminants. Population-level exposure assessments require time-activity pattern distributions in relation to microenvironments where people spend their time. Societal trends may have influenced time-activity patterns since previous Canadian data were collected 15 years ago. The Canadian Human Activity Pattern Survey 2 (CHAPS 2) was a national survey conducted in 2010-2011 to collect time-activity information from Canadians of all ages. Five urban and two rural locations were sampled using telephone surveys. Infants and children, key groups in risk assessment activities, were over-sampled. Survey participants (n = 5,011) provided time-activity information in 24-hour recall diaries and responded to supplemental questionnaires concerning potential exposures to specific pollutants, dwelling characteristics, and socio-economic factors. Results indicated that a majority of the time was spent indoors (88.9%), most of which was indoors at home, with limited time spent outdoors (5.8%) or in a vehicle (5.3%). Season, age, gender and rurality were significant predictors of time activity patterns. Compared to earlier data, adults reported spending more time indoors at home and adolescents reported spending less time outdoors, which could be indicative of broader societal trends. These findings have potentially important implications for assessment of exposure and risk. The CHAPS 2 data also provide much larger sample sizes to allow for improved precision and are more representative of infants, children and rural residents.

Effects of Age, Season, Gender and Urban-Rural Status on Time-Activity: Canadian Human Activity Pattern Survey 2 (CHAPS 2)

Science.gov (United States)

Matz, Carlyn J.; Stieb, David M.; Davis, Karelyn; Egyed, Marika; Rose, Andreas; Chou, Benedito; Brion, Orly

2014-01-01

Estimation of population exposure is a main component of human health risk assessment for environmental contaminants. Population-level exposure assessments require time-activity pattern distributions in relation to microenvironments where people spend their time. Societal trends may have influenced time-activity patterns since previous Canadian data were collected 15 years ago. The Canadian Human Activity Pattern Survey 2 (CHAPS 2) was a national survey conducted in 2010–2011 to collect time-activity information from Canadians of all ages. Five urban and two rural locations were sampled using telephone surveys. Infants and children, key groups in risk assessment activities, were over-sampled. Survey participants (n = 5,011) provided time-activity information in 24-hour recall diaries and responded to supplemental questionnaires concerning potential exposures to specific pollutants, dwelling characteristics, and socio-economic factors. Results indicated that a majority of the time was spent indoors (88.9%), most of which was indoors at home, with limited time spent outdoors (5.8%) or in a vehicle (5.3%). Season, age, gender and rurality were significant predictors of time activity patterns. Compared to earlier data, adults reported spending more time indoors at home and adolescents reported spending less time outdoors, which could be indicative of broader societal trends. These findings have potentially important implications for assessment of exposure and risk. The CHAPS 2 data also provide much larger sample sizes to allow for improved precision and are more representative of infants, children and rural residents. PMID:24557523

Plasmonic modulator optimized by patterning of active layer and tuning permittivity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Babicheva, Viktoriia; Lavrinenko, Andrei

2012-01-01

as electrodes. External field changes carrier density in the ultra-thin ITO layer, which influences the permittivity. The metal-insulator-metal system possesses a plasmon resonance, and it is strongly affected by changes in the permittivity of the active layer. To improve performance of the structure we propose...... several optimizations. We examine influence of the ITO permittivity on the modulator's performance and point out appropriate values. We analyze eigenmodes of the waveguide structure and specify the range for its efficient operation. We show that substituting the continuous active layer by a one......-dimension periodic stripes increases transmittance through the device and keeps the modulator's performance at the same level. The dependence on the pattern size and filling factor of the active material is analyzed and optimum parameters are found. Patterned ITO layers allow us to design a Bragg grating inside...

Urinary Lactate Dehydrogenase Activity and Its Isozyme Patterns in Kawasaki Disease

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Yoichi Kawamura

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Abnormal urinary findings, such as sterile pyuria, proteinuria, and microscopic hematuria, are often seen in the acute phase of Kawasaki disease (KD. We investigated the potential significance of urinary lactate dehydrogenase (U-LDH activity and its isozyme patterns in KD. Total U-LDH activity and its isozymes (U-LDH1-5 levels were compared among 120 patients with KD, 18 patients with viral infection (VI, and 43 patients with upper urinary tract infection (UTI and additionally compared between intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG responders (n=89 and nonresponders (n=31 with KD. Total U-LDH activity was higher in KD (35.4±4.8 IU/L, P<0.05 and UTI patients (66.0±8.0 IU/L, P<0.01 than in VI patients (17.0±6.2 IU/L. In the isozyme pattern analysis, KD patients had high levels of U-LDH1 and U-LDH2, while UTI patients had high levels of U-LDH3, U-LDH4, and U-LDH5. Furthermore, IVIG nonresponders of KD had significantly higher levels of total U-LDH activity (45.1±4.7 IU/L, P<0.05, especially U-LDH1 and U-LDH2 (P<0.05, than IVIG responders (32.0±2.8 IU/L. KD patients have increased levels of total U-LDH activity, especially U-LDH-1 and U-LDH2, indicating a unique pattern of U-LDH isozymes different from that in UTI patients.

Effects of moonlight on the capturability of frugivorous phyllostomid bats (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae at different time scales

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Marco A. R. Mello

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Some bat species seem to be lunar phobic, i.e., they avoid flying in bright areas or during bright periods of the night; however, the evidence is still controversial. We think that part of this controversy comes from pooling data on bat captures and moonlight intensity according to broad categories, such as moon phases, which conceal the high variability among nights. Therefore, we used detailed, long-term field data on three phyllostomid bat species, in order to test the hypothesis of lunar phobia at two different time scales: 1 among nights, by pooling data of different nights according to moon phases and testing for differences in the distribution of captures; and 2 within a night, by analyzing the relationship between capturability and moonlight intensity (measured as illuminance in one-hour intervals for 29 individual nights. Although most captures of the studied bat species occurred in the first half of the night, their activity pattern varied largely among nights, and was not always unimodal as commonly assumed. At the larger time scale, all studied bat species showed evidence of lunar phobia, as they were more frequently captured on dark moon phases. Nevertheless, at the smaller time scale, only Carollia perspicillata (Linnaeus, 1758 was less frequently captured on brighter periods of the night. We propose that the unimodal activity pattern assumed for frugivorous phyllostomid bats may be an artifact of data organization, and that activity and lunar phobia are much more variable than previously assumed.

Sensory modality specificity of neural activity related to memory in visual cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, J R; Maunsell, J H

1997-09-01

Previous studies have shown that when monkeys perform a delayed match-to-sample (DMS) task, some neurons in inferotemporal visual cortex are activated selectively during the delay period when the animal must remember particular visual stimuli. This selective delay activity may be involved in short-term memory. It does not depend on visual stimulation: both auditory and tactile stimuli can trigger selective delay activity in inferotemporal cortex when animals expect to respond to visual stimuli in a DMS task. We have examined the overall modality specificity of delay period activity using a variety of auditory/visual cross-modal and unimodal DMS tasks. The cross-modal DMS tasks involved making specific long-term memory associations between visual and auditory stimuli, whereas the unimodal DMS tasks were standard identity matching tasks. Delay activity existed in auditory/visual cross-modal DMS tasks whether the animal anticipated responding to visual or auditory stimuli. No evidence of selective delay period activation was seen in a purely auditory DMS task. Delay-selective cells were relatively common in one animal where they constituted up to 53% neurons tested with a given task. This was only the case for up to 9% of cells in a second animal. In the first animal, a specific long-term memory representation for learned cross-modal associations was observed in delay activity, indicating that this type of representation need not be purely visual. Furthermore, in this same animal, delay activity in one cross-modal task, an auditory-to-visual task, predicted correct and incorrect responses. These results suggest that neurons in inferotemporal cortex contribute to abstract memory representations that can be activated by input from other sensory modalities, but these representations are specific to visual behaviors.

User Activity Recognition in Smart Homes Using Pattern Clustering Applied to Temporal ANN Algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Bourobou, Serge Thomas Mickala; Yoo, Younghwan

2015-05-21

This paper discusses the possibility of recognizing and predicting user activities in the IoT (Internet of Things) based smart environment. The activity recognition is usually done through two steps: activity pattern clustering and activity type decision. Although many related works have been suggested, they had some limited performance because they focused only on one part between the two steps. This paper tries to find the best combination of a pattern clustering method and an activity decision algorithm among various existing works. For the first step, in order to classify so varied and complex user activities, we use a relevant and efficient unsupervised learning method called the K-pattern clustering algorithm. In the second step, the training of smart environment for recognizing and predicting user activities inside his/her personal space is done by utilizing the artificial neural network based on the Allen's temporal relations. The experimental results show that our combined method provides the higher recognition accuracy for various activities, as compared with other data mining classification algorithms. Furthermore, it is more appropriate for a dynamic environment like an IoT based smart home.

User Activity Recognition in Smart Homes Using Pattern Clustering Applied to Temporal ANN Algorithm

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Serge Thomas Mickala Bourobou

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the possibility of recognizing and predicting user activities in the IoT (Internet of Things based smart environment. The activity recognition is usually done through two steps: activity pattern clustering and activity type decision. Although many related works have been suggested, they had some limited performance because they focused only on one part between the two steps. This paper tries to find the best combination of a pattern clustering method and an activity decision algorithm among various existing works. For the first step, in order to classify so varied and complex user activities, we use a relevant and efficient unsupervised learning method called the K-pattern clustering algorithm. In the second step, the training of smart environment for recognizing and predicting user activities inside his/her personal space is done by utilizing the artificial neural network based on the Allen’s temporal relations. The experimental results show that our combined method provides the higher recognition accuracy for various activities, as compared with other data mining classification algorithms. Furthermore, it is more appropriate for a dynamic environment like an IoT based smart home.

Effect of frustration on brain activation pattern in subjects with different temperament.

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Maria eBierzynska

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In spite of the prevalence of frustration in everyday life, very few neuroimaging studies were focused on this emotional state. In the current study we aimed to examine effects of frustration on brain activity while performing a well-learned task in participants with low and high tolerance for arousal. Prior to the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI session, the subjects underwent two weeks of Braille reading training. Frustration induction was obtained by using a novel highly difficult tactile task based on discrimination of Braille-like raised dots patterns and negative feedback. Effectiveness of this procedure has been confirmed in a pilot study using galvanic skin response (GSR and questionnaires. Brain activation pattern during tactile discrimination task before and after frustration were compared directly. Results revealed changes in brain activity in structures mostly reported in acute stress studies: striatum, cingulate cortex, insula, middle frontal gyrus and precuneus and in structures engaged in tactile Braille discrimination: SI and SII. Temperament type affected activation pattern. Subjects with low tolerance for arousal showed higher activation in the posterior cingulate gyrus, precuneus and inferior parietal lobule (IPL than high reactivity group. Even though performance in the discrimination trials following frustration was unaltered, we observed increased activity of primary and secondary somatosensory cortex processing the tactile information. We interpret this effect as an indicator of additional involvement required to counteract the effects of frustration.

Patterns of physical activity and obesity indices among white-collar men in Taiwan.

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Liou, Yiing Mei

2007-06-01

The purposes of this study were to identify patterns of physical activity among white-collar men in Taiwan and to analyze the relationships between physical activity patterns and obesity indices. This cross-sectional survey included 350 subjects (between 21 and 75 years old). The Monitoring Trends and Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease Optional Study of Physical Activity Questionnaire (MOSPA-Q), developed and published by the World Health Organization (WHO) was used to measure subjects' daily energy expenditures attributed to physical activity. Obesity indices included body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist/hip ratio (WHR), body fat percentage, total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL). Three patterns of physical activity, namely work-oriented, active, and light-active lifestyles, were identified through cluster analysis. The work-oriented group reported spending the most amount of time on work-related activities (10.5 hours/week). The active group spent the most time (1 hour/day) of the three groups on leisure activities. The light-active group spent the most time (7 hours/day) of the three groups on light activities. Referencing the 150 minutes/week of moderate- intensity physical activity recommended by the US Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC) for health gain as a cut-off point, 1.1%, 15.2%, and 29.1% of subjects in the active, light-active and work-oriented groups, respectively, failed to achieve this minimal level. Those in the work-oriented group categorized in high work-overload and prevalent inactivity situations returned the worst obesity indices (Body weight, BMI, WHR, and body fat percentages) adjusted by age.

Axi-symmetric patterns of active polar filaments on spherical and composite surfaces

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Srivastava, Pragya; Rao, Madan

2014-03-01

Experiments performed on Fission Yeast cells of cylindrical and spherical shapes, rod-shaped bacteria and reconstituted cylindrical liposomes suggest the influence of cell geometry on patterning of cortical actin. A theoretical model based on active hydrodynamic description of cortical actin that includes curvature-orientation coupling predicts spontaneous formation of acto-myosin rings, cables and nodes on cylindrical and spherical geometries [P. Srivastava et al, PRL 110, 168104(2013)]. Stability and dynamics of these patterns is also affected by the cellular shape and has been observed in experiments performed on Fission Yeast cells of spherical shape. Motivated by this, we study the stability and dynamics of axi-symmetric patterns of active polar filaments on the surfaces of spherical, saddle shaped and conical geometry and classify the stable steady state patterns on these surfaces. Based on the analysis of the fluorescence images of Myosin-II during ring slippage we propose a simple mechanical model for ring-sliding based on force balance and make quantitative comparison with the experiments performed on Fission Yeast cells. NSF Grant DMR-1004789 and Syracuse Soft Matter Program.

Impact of urban setting on activity-travel patterns : comparison of performance indicators with quasi-experimental design data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Snellen, D.M.E.G.W.; Arentze, T.A.; Borgers, A.W.J.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

2001-01-01

The interest in activity-travel patterns has gained huge moment um lately. Most studies focus on analysis of particular aspects of such patterns and examine the relationships between aspects of activity patterns and sociodemographic variables. To complement this work, a study was conducted to

Dietary and physical activity patterns in French children are related to overweight and socioeconomic status.

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Lioret, Sandrine; Touvier, Mathilde; Lafay, Lionel; Volatier, Jean-Luc; Maire, Bernard

2008-01-01

Sedentary behavior (SED) has already been identified as a risk factor of childhood overweight (OW) but less is known about the dietary patterns related to adiposity. Our objective was to investigate if lifestyle patterns combining overall diet and physical activity were associated with childhood OW and if they were involved in the reverse association between socioeconomic status (SES) and OW. Dietary intake was assessed using a 7-d food record in 748 French children aged 3-11 y from the 1998-1999 cross-sectional French Enquête Individuelle et Nationale sur les Consommations Alimentaires national food consumption survey. Weight and height, leisure time physical activity, SED (television viewing), and SES were reported by parents or children by answering questionnaires. Scores for lifestyle patterns were assessed with factor analysis and their relationship with OW was explored by logistic regression analysis. Two similar lifestyle patterns were identified in children aged 3-6 y and 7-11 y: "snacking and sedentary" and "varied food and physically active." The snacking and sedentary pattern was positively associated with OW in the youngest children (P-trend = 0.0161) and partly mediated the negative association of SES to OW. The varied food and physically active pattern was inversely correlated with OW in the eldest children only (P-trend = 0.0401). A third pattern called "big eaters at main meals" was derived in children aged 7-11 y and was positively correlated with OW (P-trend = 0.0165). From a public health perspective, the combinations of identifiable dietary and physical activity behaviors may be useful as a basis for recommendations on preventing OW.

Leisure time physical activity in Saudi Arabia: prevalence, pattern and determining factors.

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Amin, Tarek Tawfik; Al Khoudair, Ali Salah; Al Harbi, Mohammad Abdulwahab; Al Ali, Ahmed Radi

2012-01-01

Identification of reliable predictors of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) will enable healthcare providers to intervene and change the patterns of LTPA in the population to improve community health. The objectives of this study were to determine prevalence and pattern of LTPA among adult Saudis aged 18-65 years, and to define the socio-demographic determinants that correlate with LTPA in Al-Hassa, Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study of 2176 adult Saudis attending urban and rural primary health care centers were selected using a multistage proportionate sampling method. Participants were personally interviewed to gather information regarding socio-demographics, physical activity pattern using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ). Physical activity (PA) in each domain was expressed in metabolic equivalents (METs). The median total METs minutes/week for LTPA for both genders was 256, higher for men (636 METs minutes/week) compared to women (249 METs minutes/week). Overall, only 19.8% of the total PA was derived from LTPA. Of the sampled population 50.0% reported doing no leisure activity. Using the cut off of 600 METs-minutes/day or 150 minutes of moderate intensity over 5 or more days/week, only 21.0% of the included sample were considered as being sufficiently active and 10.4% were in the high active category with beneficial health effects. Multivariate regression analysis showed that male, younger age (active in the LTPA domain. The prevalence and intensity of LTPA among the included sample demonstrated low levels. Nearly 80% of the included sample population did not achieve the recommended LTPA level with beneficial health effects. Female gender, urban residence and associated chronic diseases correlated with a low LTPA.

Improved Volitional Recall of Motor-Imagery-Related Brain Activation Patterns Using Real-Time Functional MRI-Based Neurofeedback.

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Bagarinao, Epifanio; Yoshida, Akihiro; Ueno, Mika; Terabe, Kazunori; Kato, Shohei; Isoda, Haruo; Nakai, Toshiharu

2018-01-01

Motor imagery (MI), a covert cognitive process where an action is mentally simulated but not actually performed, could be used as an effective neurorehabilitation tool for motor function improvement or recovery. Recent approaches employing brain-computer/brain-machine interfaces to provide online feedback of the MI during rehabilitation training have promising rehabilitation outcomes. In this study, we examined whether participants could volitionally recall MI-related brain activation patterns when guided using neurofeedback (NF) during training. The participants' performance was compared to that without NF. We hypothesized that participants would be able to consistently generate the relevant activation pattern associated with the MI task during training with NF compared to that without NF. To assess activation consistency, we used the performance of classifiers trained to discriminate MI-related brain activation patterns. Our results showed significantly higher predictive values of MI-related activation patterns during training with NF. Additionally, this improvement in the classification performance tends to be associated with the activation of middle temporal gyrus/inferior occipital gyrus, a region associated with visual motion processing, suggesting the importance of performance monitoring during MI task training. Taken together, these findings suggest that the efficacy of MI training, in terms of generating consistent brain activation patterns relevant to the task, can be enhanced by using NF as a mechanism to enable participants to volitionally recall task-related brain activation patterns.

Improved Volitional Recall of Motor-Imagery-Related Brain Activation Patterns Using Real-Time Functional MRI-Based Neurofeedback

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Epifanio Bagarinao

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Motor imagery (MI, a covert cognitive process where an action is mentally simulated but not actually performed, could be used as an effective neurorehabilitation tool for motor function improvement or recovery. Recent approaches employing brain–computer/brain–machine interfaces to provide online feedback of the MI during rehabilitation training have promising rehabilitation outcomes. In this study, we examined whether participants could volitionally recall MI-related brain activation patterns when guided using neurofeedback (NF during training. The participants’ performance was compared to that without NF. We hypothesized that participants would be able to consistently generate the relevant activation pattern associated with the MI task during training with NF compared to that without NF. To assess activation consistency, we used the performance of classifiers trained to discriminate MI-related brain activation patterns. Our results showed significantly higher predictive values of MI-related activation patterns during training with NF. Additionally, this improvement in the classification performance tends to be associated with the activation of middle temporal gyrus/inferior occipital gyrus, a region associated with visual motion processing, suggesting the importance of performance monitoring during MI task training. Taken together, these findings suggest that the efficacy of MI training, in terms of generating consistent brain activation patterns relevant to the task, can be enhanced by using NF as a mechanism to enable participants to volitionally recall task-related brain activation patterns.

Energy budgets and a climate space diagram for the turtle, Chrysemys scripta

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Foley, R. E.

1976-01-01

Heat energy budgets were computed and a steady state climate space was generated for a 1000 g red-eared turtle (Chrysemys scripta). Evaporative water loss (EWL) was measured from C. scripta at three wind speeds (10-400 cm sec/sup -1/) and at four air temperatures (5 to 35/sup 0/C) in a wind tunnel. EWL increased as air temperature and wind speed increased. Smaller turtles dehydrated at a faster rate than large turtles. Heat transfer by convection was measured from aluminum castings of C. scripta at three temperature differences between casting and air (..delta..T 15/sup 0/, 10/sup 0/ and 5/sup 0/C) for three windspeeds (10 to 400 cm sec/sup -1/). Convective heat transfer coefficients increased as wind speed and ..delta..T increased. Wind speed has a large effect on the shape of the climate space. At high wind speeds, heat loss by evaporation and convection are greatly increased. In still air (10 cm sec/sup -1/), a turtle cannot remain exposed to full sunlight when air temperatures exceed 19/sup 0/C. When wind speed increases to 400 cm sec/sup -1/, the turtle can bask for long periods of time at temperatures as high as 32/sup 0/C. Basking patterns of C. scripta probably shift from a unimodal pattern in the spring to a bimodal pattern in summer and return to a unimodal pattern in fall. Terrestrial activity may be extensive in the spring and fall but is limited during the hot summer months to periods of rainfall. Nesting activities cannot occur around solar noon because increased metabolic heat loading and high solar radiation intensity could cause death.

A MULTIDISCIPLINARY ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK FOR STUDYING ACTIVE MOBILITY PATTERNS

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D. Orellana

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Intermediate cities are urged to change and adapt their mobility systems from a high energy-demanding motorized model to a sustainable low-motorized model. In order to accomplish such a model, city administrations need to better understand active mobility patterns and their links to socio-demographic and cultural aspects of the population. During the last decade, researchers have demonstrated the potential of geo-location technologies and mobile devices to gather massive amounts of data for mobility studies. However, the analysis and interpretation of this data has been carried out by specialized research groups with relatively narrow approaches from different disciplines. Consequently, broader questions remain less explored, mainly those relating to spatial behaviour of individuals and populations with their geographic environment and the motivations and perceptions shaping such behaviour. Understanding sustainable mobility and exploring new research paths require an interdisciplinary approach given the complex nature of mobility systems and their social, economic and environmental impacts. Here, we introduce the elements for a multidisciplinary analytical framework for studying active mobility patterns comprised of three components: a Methodological, b Behavioural, and c Perceptual. We demonstrate the applicability of the framework by analysing mobility patterns of cyclists and pedestrians in an intermediate city integrating a range of techniques, including: GPS tracking, spatial analysis, auto-ethnography, and perceptual mapping. The results demonstrated the existence of non-evident spatial behaviours and how perceptual features affect mobility. This knowledge is useful for developing policies and practices for sustainable mobility planning.

a Multidisciplinary Analytical Framework for Studying Active Mobility Patterns

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Orellana, D.; Hermida, C.; Osorio, P.

2016-06-01

Intermediate cities are urged to change and adapt their mobility systems from a high energy-demanding motorized model to a sustainable low-motorized model. In order to accomplish such a model, city administrations need to better understand active mobility patterns and their links to socio-demographic and cultural aspects of the population. During the last decade, researchers have demonstrated the potential of geo-location technologies and mobile devices to gather massive amounts of data for mobility studies. However, the analysis and interpretation of this data has been carried out by specialized research groups with relatively narrow approaches from different disciplines. Consequently, broader questions remain less explored, mainly those relating to spatial behaviour of individuals and populations with their geographic environment and the motivations and perceptions shaping such behaviour. Understanding sustainable mobility and exploring new research paths require an interdisciplinary approach given the complex nature of mobility systems and their social, economic and environmental impacts. Here, we introduce the elements for a multidisciplinary analytical framework for studying active mobility patterns comprised of three components: a) Methodological, b) Behavioural, and c) Perceptual. We demonstrate the applicability of the framework by analysing mobility patterns of cyclists and pedestrians in an intermediate city integrating a range of techniques, including: GPS tracking, spatial analysis, auto-ethnography, and perceptual mapping. The results demonstrated the existence of non-evident spatial behaviours and how perceptual features affect mobility. This knowledge is useful for developing policies and practices for sustainable mobility planning.

Understanding the Functionality of Human Activity Hotspots from Their Scaling Pattern Using Trajectory Data

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Tao Jia

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Human activity hotspots are the clusters of activity locations in space and time, and a better understanding of their functionality would be useful for urban land use planning and transportation. In this article, using trajectory data, we aim to infer the functionality of human activity hotspots from their scaling pattern in a reliable way. Specifically, a large number of stopping locations are extracted from trajectory data, which are then aggregated into activity hotspots. Activity hotspots are found to display scaling patterns in terms of the sublinear scaling relationships between the number of stopping locations and the number of points of interest (POIs, which indicates economies of scale of human interactions with urban land use. Importantly, this scaling pattern remains stable over time. This finding inspires us to devise an allometric ruler to identify the activity hotspots, whose functionality could be reliably estimated using the stopping locations. Thereafter, a novel Bayesian inference model is proposed to infer their urban functionality, which examines the spatial and temporal information of stopping locations covering 75 days. Experimental results suggest that the functionality of identified activity hotspots are reliably inferred by stopping locations, such as the railway station.

Developmental heterogeneity in DNA packaging patterns influences T-cell activation and transmigration.

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Soumya Gupta

Full Text Available Cellular differentiation programs are accompanied by large-scale changes in nuclear organization and gene expression. In this context, accompanying transitions in chromatin assembly that facilitates changes in gene expression and cell behavior in a developmental system are poorly understood. Here, we address this gap and map structural changes in chromatin organization during murine T-cell development, to describe an unusual heterogeneity in chromatin organization and associated functional correlates in T-cell lineage. Confocal imaging of DNA assembly in cells isolated from bone marrow, thymus and spleen reveal the emergence of heterogeneous patterns in DNA organization in mature T-cells following their exit from the thymus. The central DNA pattern dominated in immature precursor cells in the thymus whereas both central and peripheral DNA patterns were observed in naïve and memory cells in circulation. Naïve T-cells with central DNA patterns exhibited higher mechanical pliability in response to compressive loads in vitro and transmigration assays in vivo, and demonstrated accelerated expression of activation-induced marker CD69. T-cell activation was characterized by marked redistribution of DNA assembly to a central DNA pattern and increased nuclear size. Notably, heterogeneity in DNA patterns recovered in cells induced into quiescence in culture, suggesting an internal regulatory mechanism for chromatin reorganization. Taken together, our results uncover an important component of plasticity in nuclear organization, reflected in chromatin assembly, during T-cell development, differentiation and transmigration.

The measurement of sedentary patterns and behaviors using the activPAL™ Professional physical activity monitor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dowd, Kieran P; Bourke, Alan K; Nelson, John; Donnelly, Alan E; Harrington, Deirdre M

2012-01-01

Epidemiological studies have associated the negative effects of sedentary time and sedentary patterns on health indices. However, these studies have used methodologies that do not directly measure the sedentary state. Recent technological developments in the area of motion sensors have incorporated inclinometers, which can measure the inclination of the body directly, without relying on self-report or count thresholds. This paper aims to provide a detailed description of methodologies used to examine a range of relevant variables, including sedentary levels and patterns from an inclinometer-based motion sensor. The activPAL Professional physical activity logger provides an output which can be interpreted and used without the need for further processing and additional variables were derived using a custom designed MATLAB® computer program. The methodologies described have been implemented on a sample of 44 adolescent females, and the results of a range of daily physical activity and sedentary variables are described and presented. The results provide a range of objectively measured and objectively processed variables, including total time spent sitting/lying, standing and stepping, number and duration of daily sedentary bouts and both bed hours and non-bed hours, which may be of interest when making association between physical activity, sedentary behaviors and health indices. (paper)

Understanding Activation Patterns in Shared Circuits: Toward a Value Driven Model

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Lisa Aziz-Zadeh

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Over the past decade many studies indicate that we utilize our own motor system to understand the actions of other people. This mirror neuron system (MNS has been proposed to be involved in social cognition and motor learning. However, conflicting findings regarding the underlying mechanisms that drive these shared circuits make it difficult to decipher a common model of their function. Here we propose adapting a “value-driven” model to explain discrepancies in the human mirror system literature and to incorporate this model with existing models. We will use this model to explain discrepant activation patterns in multiple shared circuits in the human data, such that a unified model may explain reported activation patterns from previous studies as a function of value.

Generation of activity-rest patterns by dual circadian pacemaker systems : a model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beersma, Domien G.M.; Daan, Serge

1992-01-01

Activity-rest patterns displayed by an animal under various circumstances are suggested to result from the combined influences of two virtually identical circadian pacemaker components. Increased output of each component proportionally increases the probability of activity of the animal. Such a dual

Physical activity levels and patterns of thirteen to fifteen year old ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

There is worldwide concern over the decline in physical activity (PA) levels among school children. The purpose of this study was to investigate the (PA) levels and PA patterns of thirteen to fifteen year old boys from different race groups in the North- West Province and to determine to what degree this physical activity profile ...

Predicting Neural Activity Patterns Associated with Sentences Using a Neurobiologically Motivated Model of Semantic Representation.

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Anderson, Andrew James; Binder, Jeffrey R; Fernandino, Leonardo; Humphries, Colin J; Conant, Lisa L; Aguilar, Mario; Wang, Xixi; Doko, Donias; Raizada, Rajeev D S

2017-09-01

We introduce an approach that predicts neural representations of word meanings contained in sentences then superposes these to predict neural representations of new sentences. A neurobiological semantic model based on sensory, motor, social, emotional, and cognitive attributes was used as a foundation to define semantic content. Previous studies have predominantly predicted neural patterns for isolated words, using models that lack neurobiological interpretation. Fourteen participants read 240 sentences describing everyday situations while undergoing fMRI. To connect sentence-level fMRI activation patterns to the word-level semantic model, we devised methods to decompose the fMRI data into individual words. Activation patterns associated with each attribute in the model were then estimated using multiple-regression. This enabled synthesis of activation patterns for trained and new words, which were subsequently averaged to predict new sentences. Region-of-interest analyses revealed that prediction accuracy was highest using voxels in the left temporal and inferior parietal cortex, although a broad range of regions returned statistically significant results, showing that semantic information is widely distributed across the brain. The results show how a neurobiologically motivated semantic model can decompose sentence-level fMRI data into activation features for component words, which can be recombined to predict activation patterns for new sentences. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Differential patterns of cortical activation as a function of fluid reasoning complexity.

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Perfetti, Bernardo; Saggino, Aristide; Ferretti, Antonio; Caulo, Massimo; Romani, Gian Luca; Onofrj, Marco

2009-02-01

Fluid intelligence (gf) refers to abstract reasoning and problem solving abilities. It is considered a human higher cognitive factor central to general intelligence (g). The regions of the cortex supporting gf have been revealed by recent bioimaging studies and valuable hypothesis on the neural correlates of individual differences have been proposed. However, little is known about the interaction between individual variability in gf and variation in cortical activity following task complexity increase. To further investigate this, two samples of participants (high-IQ, N = 8; low-IQ, N = 10) with significant differences in gf underwent two reasoning (moderate and complex) tasks and a control task adapted from the Raven progressive matrices. Functional magnetic resonance was used and the recorded signal analyzed between and within the groups. The present study revealed two opposite patterns of neural activity variation which were probably a reflection of the overall differences in cognitive resource modulation: when complexity increased, high-IQ subjects showed a signal enhancement in some frontal and parietal regions, whereas low-IQ subjects revealed a decreased activity in the same areas. Moreover, a direct comparison between the groups' activation patterns revealed a greater neural activity in the low-IQ sample when conducting moderate task, with a strong involvement of medial and lateral frontal regions thus suggesting that the recruitment of executive functioning might be different between the groups. This study provides evidence for neural differences in facing reasoning complexity among subjects with different gf level that are mediated by specific patterns of activation of the underlying fronto-parietal network.

Complementary Gli activity mediates early patterning of the mouse visual system.

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Furimsky, Marosh; Wallace, Valerie A

2006-03-01

The Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling pathway plays a key role in the development of the vertebrate central nervous system, including the eye. This pathway is mediated by the Gli transcription factors (Gli1, Gli2, and Gli3) that differentially activate and repress the expression of specific downstream target genes. In this study, we investigated the roles of the three vertebrate Glis in mediating midline Shh signaling in early ocular development. We examined the ocular phenotypes of Shh and Gli combination mutant mouse embryos and monitored proximodistal and dorsoventral patterning by the expression of specific eye development regulatory genes using in situ hybridization. We show that midline Shh signaling relieves the repressor activity of Gli3 adjacent to the midline and then promotes eye pattern formation through the nonredundant activities of all three Gli proteins. Gli3, in particular, is required to specify the dorsal optic stalk and to define the boundary between the optic stalk and the optic cup.

Biogeographical Interpretation of Elevational Patterns of Genus Diversity of Seed Plants in Nepal.

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Li, Miao; Feng, Jianmeng

2015-01-01

This study tests if the biogeographical affinities of genera are relevant for explaining elevational plant diversity patterns in Nepal. We used simultaneous autoregressive (SAR) models to investigate the explanatory power of several predictors in explaining the diversity-elevation relationships shown in genera with different biogeographical affinities. Delta akaike information criterion (ΔAIC) was used for multi-model inferences and selections. Our results showed that both the total and tropical genus diversity peaked below the mid-point of the elevational gradient, whereas that of temperate genera had a nearly symmetrical, unimodal relationship with elevation. The proportion of temperate genera increased markedly with elevation, while that of tropical genera declined. Compared to tropical genera, temperate genera had wider elevational ranges and were observed at higher elevations. Water-related variables, rather than mid-domain effects (MDE), were the most significant predictors of elevational patterns of tropical genus diversity. The temperate genus diversity was influenced by energy availability, but only in quadratic terms of the models. Though climatic factors and mid-domain effects jointly explained most of the variation in the diversity of temperate genera with elevation, the former played stronger roles. Total genus diversity was most strongly influenced by climate and the floristic overlap of tropical and temperate floras, while the influences of mid-domain effects were relatively weak. The influences of water-related and energy-related variables may vary with biogeographical affinities. The elevational patterns may be most closely related to climatic factors, while MDE may somewhat modify the patterns. Caution is needed when investigating the causal factors underlying diversity patterns for large taxonomic groups composed of taxa of different biogeographical affinities. Right-skewed diversity-elevation patterns may be produced by the differential

Bilateral versus ipsilesional cortico-subcortical activity patterns in stroke show hemispheric dependence.

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Vidal, Ana C; Banca, Paula; Pascoal, Augusto G; Cordeiro, Gustavo; Sargento-Freitas, João; Gouveia, Ana; Castelo-Branco, Miguel

2018-01-01

Background Understanding of interhemispheric interactions in stroke patients during motor control is an important clinical neuroscience quest that may provide important clues for neurorehabilitation. In stroke patients bilateral overactivation in both hemispheres has been interpreted as a poor prognostic indicator of functional recovery. In contrast, ipsilesional patterns have been linked with better motor outcomes. Aim We investigated the pathophysiology of hemispheric interactions during limb movement without and with contralateral restraint, to mimic the effects of constraint-induced movement therapy. We used neuroimaging to probe brain activity with such a movement-dependent interhemispheric modulation paradigm. Methods We used a functional magnetic resonance imaging block design during which the plegic/paretic upper limb was recruited/mobilized to perform unilateral arm elevation, as a function of presence versus absence of contralateral limb restriction (n = 20, with balanced left/right lesion sites). Results Analysis of 10 right hemispheric stroke participants yielded bilateral sensorimotor cortex activation in all movement phases in contrast with the unilateral dominance seen in the 10 left hemispheric stroke participants. Superimposition of contralateral restriction led to a prominent shift from activation to deactivation response patterns, in particular in cortical and basal ganglia motor areas in right hemispheric stroke. Left hemispheric stroke was, in general, characterized by reduced activation patterns, even in the absence of restriction, which induced additional cortical silencing. Conclusion The observed hemispheric-dependent activation/deactivation shifts is novel and these pathophysiological observations suggest short-term neuroplasticity that may be useful for hemisphere-tailored neurorehabilitation.

Management of synchronized network activity by highly active neurons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shein, Mark; Raichman, Nadav; Ben-Jacob, Eshel; Volman, Vladislav; Hanein, Yael

2008-01-01

Increasing evidence supports the idea that spontaneous brain activity may have an important functional role. Cultured neuronal networks provide a suitable model system to search for the mechanisms by which neuronal spontaneous activity is maintained and regulated. This activity is marked by synchronized bursting events (SBEs)—short time windows (hundreds of milliseconds) of rapid neuronal firing separated by long quiescent periods (seconds). However, there exists a special subset of rapidly firing neurons whose activity also persists between SBEs. It has been proposed that these highly active (HA) neurons play an important role in the management (i.e. establishment, maintenance and regulation) of the synchronized network activity. Here, we studied the dynamical properties and the functional role of HA neurons in homogeneous and engineered networks, during early network development, upon recovery from chemical inhibition and in response to electrical stimulations. We found that their sequences of inter-spike intervals (ISI) exhibit long time correlations and a unimodal distribution. During the network's development and under intense inhibition, the observed activity follows a transition period during which mostly HA neurons are active. Studying networks with engineered geometry, we found that HA neurons are precursors (the first to fire) of the spontaneous SBEs and are more responsive to electrical stimulations

Patterns recognition of electric brain activity using artificial neural networks

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Musatov, V. Yu.; Pchelintseva, S. V.; Runnova, A. E.; Hramov, A. E.

2017-04-01

An approach for the recognition of various cognitive processes in the brain activity in the perception of ambiguous images. On the basis of developed theoretical background and the experimental data, we propose a new classification of oscillating patterns in the human EEG by using an artificial neural network approach. After learning of the artificial neural network reliably identified cube recognition processes, for example, left-handed or right-oriented Necker cube with different intensity of their edges, construct an artificial neural network based on Perceptron architecture and demonstrate its effectiveness in the pattern recognition of the EEG in the experimental.

Firing patterns of spontaneously active motor units in spinal cord-injured subjects

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zijdewind, Inge; Thomas, Christine K.

Involuntary motor unit activity at low rates is common in hand muscles paralysed by spinal cord injury. Our aim was to describe these patterns of motor unit behaviour in relation to motoneurone and motor unit properties. Intramuscular electromyographic activity (EMG), surface EMG and force were

Soil Landscape Pattern Changes in Response to Rural Anthropogenic Activity across Tiaoxi Watershed, China

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Xiao, Rui; Jiang, Diwei; Christakos, George; Fei, Xufeng; Wu, Jiaping

2016-01-01

Soil sealing (loss of soil resources due to extensive land covering for the purpose of house building, road construction etc.) and subsequent soil landscape pattern changes constitute typical environmental problems in many places worldwide. Previous studies concentrated on soil sealing in urbanized regions, whereas rural areas have not been given sufficient attention. Accordingly, this paper studies soil landscape pattern dynamics (i.e., landscape pattern changes in response to rural anthropogenic activities) in the Tiaoxi watershed (Zhejiang province, eastern China), in which surface sealing is by far the predominant component of human forcing with respect to environmental change. A novel approach of quantifying the impacts of rural anthropogenic activities on soil resources is presented. Specifically, quantitative relationships were derived between five soil landscape pattern metrics (patch density, edge density, shape index, Shannon’s diversity index and aggregation index) and three rural anthropogenic activity indicators (anthropogenic activity intensity, distance to towns, and distance to roads) at two landscape block scales (3 and 5 km) between 1985 and 2010. The results showed that the Tiaoxi watershed experienced extensive rural settlement expansion and high rates of soil sealing. Soil landscapes became more fragmented, more irregular, more isolated, and less diverse. Relationships between soil landscape pattern changes and rural anthropogenic activities differed with the scale (spatial and temporal) and variable considered. In particular, the anthropogenic activity intensity was found to be the most important indicator explaining social development intensity, whereas the other two proximity indicators had a significant impact at certain temporal interval. In combination with scale effects, spatial dependency (correlation) was shown to play a key role that should be carefully taken into consideration in any relevant environmental study. Overall, the

Reproduction of overall spontaneous pain pattern by manual stimulation of active myofascial trigger points in fibromyalgia patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ge, Hong-You; Wang, Ying; Fernandez-de-las-Penas, Cesar

2011-01-01

It has previously been reported that local and referred pain from active myofascial trigger points (MTPs) in the neck and shoulder region contribute to fibromyalgia (FM) pain and that the pain pattern induced from active MTPs can reproduce parts of the spontaneous clinical FM pain pattern....... The current study investigated whether the overall spontaneous FM pain pattern can be reproduced by local and referred pain from active MTPs located in different muscles....

Sleep pattern and locomotor activity are impaired by doxorubicin in non-tumor-bearing rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Lira, Fabio Santos; Esteves, Andrea Maculano; Pimentel, Gustavo Duarte; Rosa, José Cesar; Frank, Miriam Kannebley; Mariano, Melise Oliveira; Budni, Josiane; Quevedo, João; Santos, Ronaldo Vagner Dos; de Mello, Marco Túlio

2016-01-01

We sought explore the effects of doxorubicin on sleep patterns and locomotor activity. To investigate these effects, two groups were formed: a control group and a Doxorubicin (DOXO) group. Sixteen rats were randomly assigned to either the control or DOXO groups. The sleep patterns were examined by polysomnographic recording and locomotor activity was evaluated in an open-field test. In the light period, the total sleep time and slow wave sleep were decreased, while the wake after sleep onset and arousal were increased in the DOXO group compared with the control group (plocomotor activity.

School and class-level variations and patterns of physical activity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Steenholt, Carina Bjørnskov; Pisinger, Veronica Sofie Clara; Danquah, Ida Høgstedt

2018-01-01

is to describe patterns of PA and assess variations between schools and classes in PA, in a large cohort of Danish high school students. METHODS: Self-reported cross-sectional data came from The Danish National Youth Study, comprising a total of 70,674 students attending 119 different schools and 3213 classes....... Multilevel logistic regressions were applied to evaluate the association between socio-demographic variables and patterns of PA, and to assess the impact of schools and classes on PA measures. RESULTS: Students whose parents have achieved a lower level of education, older students and girls of perceived......BACKGROUND: There is limited knowledge of physical activity (PA) patterns among high school students. High schools plays an important role as context for the students, but it is uncertain to what extent schools influence student participation in PA during leisure time. The purpose of this study...

Martian Dune Ripples as Indicators of Recent Surface Wind Patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, M.; Zimbelman, J. R.

2015-12-01

Sand dunes have been shown to preserve the most recent wind patterns in their ripple formations. This investigation continues the manual documentation of ripples on Martian dunes in order to assess surface wind flow. Study sites investigated must have clear HiRISE frames and be able to represent diverse locations across the surface, decided primarily by their spread of latitude and longitude values. Additionally, frames with stereo pairs are preferred because of their ability to create digital terrain models. This will assist in efforts to relate dune slopes and obstacles to ripple patterns. The search and analysis period resulted in 40 study sites with mapped ripples. Lines were drawn perpendicular to ripple crests across three adjacent ripples in order to document both ripple wavelength from line length and inferred wind direction from azimuth. It is not possible to infer a unique wind direction from ripple orientation alone and therefore these inferred directions have a 180 degree ambiguity. Initial results from all study sites support previous observations that the Martian surface has many dune types in areas with adequate sand supply. The complexity of ripple patterns varies greatly across sites as well as within individual sites. Some areas of uniform directionality for hundreds of kilometers suggest a unimodal wind regime while overlapping patterns suggest multiple dominant winds or seasonally varying winds. In most areas, form flow related to dune shape seems to have a large effect on orientation and must be considered along with the dune type. As long as the few steep slip faces on these small dunes are avoided, form flow can be considered the dominant cause of deviation from the regional wind direction. Regional results, wind roses, and comparisons to previous work will be presented for individual sites.

Physical Activity Patterns and Psychological Correlates of Physical Activity among Singaporean Primary, Secondary, and Junior College Students

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, C. K. John; Koh, K. T.; Biddle, Stuart J. H.; Liu, W. C.; Chye, Stefanie

2011-01-01

The purpose of this research was to examine physical activity patterns and psychological correlates of physical activity among primary, secondary, and junior college students in Singapore. A sample of 3,333 school students aged 10 to 18 years took part in the study. Results showed that the younger students had significantly higher physical…

Associations between dietary patterns, physical activity (leisure-time and occupational) and television viewing in middle-aged French adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Charreire, Hélène; Kesse-Guyot, Emmanuelle; Bertrais, Sandrine; Simon, Chantal; Chaix, Basile; Weber, Christiane; Touvier, Mathilde; Galan, Pilar; Hercberg, Serge; Oppert, Jean-Michel

2011-03-01

Diet and physical activity are considered to be major components of a healthy lifestyle. However, few studies have examined in detail the relationships between specific types of physical activity, sedentary behaviour and diet in adults. The objective of the present study was to assess differential relationships between dietary patterns, leisure-time and occupational physical activities and time spent watching television (TV), as an indicator of sedentary behaviour, in middle-aged French subjects. We performed a cross-sectional analysis using data from 1359 participants in the SUpplémentation en VItamines et Minéraux AntioXydants study, who completed a detailed physical activity questionnaire and at least six 24 h dietary records. Sex-specific dietary patterns were derived using factor analysis; their relationships with leisure-time and occupational physical activities and TV viewing were assessed using ANCOVA, after adjustment for age, educational level and smoking status. Three dietary patterns were identified in each sex. After adjustment for potential confounders, leisure-time physical activity was positively associated with a 'healthy' food pattern in both men (P for trend trend trend convenience' pattern in men and with a 'alcohol-appetiser' pattern in women. In conclusion, identification of relationships between dietary patterns, physical activity and sedentary behaviour can enable identification of different types of lifestyle and should help to target at-risk groups in nutrition prevention programmes.

Neighborhood walkability, income, and hour-by-hour physical activity patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Arvidsson, Daniel; Eriksson, Ulf; Lönn, Sara Larsson; Sundquist, Kristina

2013-04-01

This study aimed to investigate both the mean daily physical activity and the hour-by-hour physical activity patterns across the day using accelerometry and how they are associated with neighborhood walkability and individual income. Moderate physical activity (MPA) was assessed by accelerometry in 2252 adults in the city of Stockholm, Sweden. Neighborhood walkability (residential density, street connectivity, and land use mix) was objectively assessed within 1000m network buffers around the participants' residence and individual income was self-reported. Living in a high walkability neighborhood was associated with more mean daily MPA compared with living in a low walkability neighborhood on weekdays and weekend days. Hour-by-hour analyses showed that this association appeared mainly in the afternoon/early evening during weekdays, whereas it appeared across the middle of the day during weekend days. Individual income was associated with mean daily MPA on weekend days. On weekdays, the hour-by-hour analyses showed that high income was associated with more MPA around noon and in late afternoon/early evening, whereas low income was associated with more MPA at the hours before noon and in the early afternoon. During the weekend, high income was more consistently associated with higher MPA. Hour-by-hour accelerometry physical activity patterns provides a more comprehensive picture of the associations between neighborhood walkability and individual income and physical activity and the variability of these associations across the day.

Prevalence and patterns of physical activity among medical students in Bangalore, India

OpenAIRE

Padmapriya, Krishnakumar; Krishna, Pushpa; Rasu, Thenna

2013-01-01

Background: Physical activity is one of the leading health indicators. The objective was to study the prevalence and patterns of physical activity among young adults. Methods: 259 Medical students (Men: Women = 116:143) in the age group of 18?22 yrs were interviewed using the official English long version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The total level of physical activity and activity in each of the 4 life domains ? work, transport, domestic and gardening and lei...

Physical activity patterns in morbidly obese and normal-weight women.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Soyang; Mohammad, Jamal; Samuel, Isaac

2011-01-01

To compare physical activity patterns between morbidly obese and normal-weight women. Daily physical activity of 18 morbidly obese and 7 normal-weight women aged 30-58 years was measured for 2 days using the Intelligent Device for Energy Expenditure and Activity (IDEEA) device. The obese group spent about 2 hr/day less standing and 30 min/day less walking than did the normal-weight group. Time spent standing (standing time) was positively associated with time spent walking (walking time). Age- and walking time-adjusted standing time did not differ according to weight status. Promoting standing may be a strategy to increase walking.

Cerebral Activity Changes in Different Traditional Chinese Medicine Patterns of Psychogenic Erectile Dysfunction Patients

OpenAIRE

Liu, Qi; Zhang, Peihai; Pan, Junjie; Li, Zhengjie; Liu, Jixin; Li, Guangsen; Qin, Wei; You, Yaodong; Yu, Xujun; Sun, Jinbo; Dong, Minghao; Gong, Qiyong; Guo, Jun; Chang, Degui

2015-01-01

Background. Pattern differentiation is the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment for erectile dysfunction (ED). This study aims to investigate the differences in cerebral activity in ED patients with different TCM patterns. Methods. 27 psychogenic ED patients and 27 healthy subjects (HS) were enrolled in this study. Each participant underwent an fMRI scan in resting state. The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) was used to detect the brain activity ...

Lateralization of brain activity pattern during unilateral movement in Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Tao; Hou, Yanan; Hallett, Mark; Zhang, Jiarong; Chan, Piu

2015-05-01

We investigated the lateralization of brain activity pattern during performance of unilateral movement in drug-naïve Parkinson's disease (PD) patients with only right hemiparkinsonian symptoms. Functional MRI was obtained when the subjects performed strictly unilateral right hand movement. A laterality index was calculated to examine the lateralization. Patients had decreased activity in the left putamen and left supplementary motor area, but had increased activity in the right primary motor cortex, right premotor cortex, left postcentral gyrus, and bilateral cerebellum. The laterality index was significantly decreased in PD patients compared with controls (0.41 ± 0.14 vs. 0.84 ± 0.09). The connectivity from the left putamen to cortical motor regions and cerebellum was decreased, while the interactions between the cortical motor regions, cerebellum, and right putamen were increased. Our study demonstrates that in early PD, the lateralization of brain activity during unilateral movement is significantly reduced. The dysfunction of the striatum-cortical circuit, decreased transcallosal inhibition, and compensatory efforts from cortical motor regions, cerebellum, and the less affected striatum are likely reasons contributing to the reduced motor lateralization. The disruption of the lateralized brain activity pattern might be a reason underlying some motor deficits in PD, like mirror movements or impaired bilateral motor coordination. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Differential patterns of prefrontal MEG activation during verbal & visual encoding and retrieval.

Science.gov (United States)

Prendergast, Garreth; Limbrick-Oldfield, Eve; Ingamells, Ed; Gathercole, Susan; Baddeley, Alan; Green, Gary G R

2013-01-01

The spatiotemporal profile of activation of the prefrontal cortex in verbal and non-verbal recognition memory was examined using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Sixteen neurologically healthy right-handed participants were scanned whilst carrying out a modified version of the Doors and People Test of recognition memory. A pattern of significant prefrontal activity was found for non-verbal and verbal encoding and recognition. During the encoding, verbal stimuli activated an area in the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and non-verbal stimuli activated an area in the right. A region in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex also showed significant activation during the encoding of non-verbal stimuli. Both verbal and non-verbal stimuli significantly activated an area in the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the right anterior prefrontal cortex during successful recognition, however these areas showed temporally distinct activation dependent on material, with non-verbal showing activation earlier than verbal stimuli. Additionally, non-verbal material activated an area in the left anterior prefrontal cortex during recognition. These findings suggest a material-specific laterality in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex during encoding for verbal and non-verbal but also support the HERA model for verbal material. The discovery of two process dependent areas during recognition that showed patterns of temporal activation dependent on material demonstrates the need for the application of more temporally sensitive techniques to the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in recognition memory.

Acute caffeine administration effect on brain activation patterns in mild cognitive impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Haller, Sven; Montandon, Marie-Louise; Rodriguez, Cristelle; Moser, Dominik; Toma, Simona; Hofmeister, Jeremy; Sinanaj, Indrit; Lovblad, Karl-Olof; Giannakopoulos, Panteleimon

2014-01-01

Previous studies showed that acute caffeine administration enhances task-related brain activation in elderly individuals with preserved cognition. To explore the effects of this widely used agent on cognition and brain activation in early phases of cognitive decline, we performed a double-blinded, placebo-controlled functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study during an n-back working memory task in 17 individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) compared to 17 age-matched healthy controls (HC). All individuals were regular caffeine consumers with an overnight abstinence and given 200 mg caffeine versus placebo tablets 30 minutes before testing. Analyses included assessment of task-related activation (general linear model), functional connectivity (tensorial-independent component analysis, TICA), baseline perfusion (arterial spin labeling, ASL), grey matter density (voxel-based morphometry, VBM), and white matter microstructure (tract-based spatial statistics, TBSS). Acute caffeine administration induced a focal activation of the prefrontal areas in HC with a more diffuse and posteromedial activation pattern in MCI individuals. In MCI, TICA documented a significant caffeine-related enhancement in the prefrontal cortex, supplementary motor area, ventral premotor and parietal cortex as well as the basal ganglia and cerebellum. The absence of significant group differences in baseline ASL perfusion patterns supports a neuronal rather than a purely vascular origin of these differences. The VBM and TBSS analyses excluded potentially confounding differences in grey matter density and white matter microstructure between MCI and HC. The present findings suggest a posterior displacement of working memory-related brain activation patterns after caffeine administration in MCI that may represent a compensatory mechanism to counterbalance a frontal lobe dysfunction.

Classifying Human Activity Patterns from Smartphone Collected GPS data: a Fuzzy Classification and Aggregation Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, Neng; Lin, Ge

2016-12-01

Smartphones have emerged as a promising type of equipment for monitoring human activities in environmental health studies. However, degraded location accuracy and inconsistency of smartphone-measured GPS data have limited its effectiveness for classifying human activity patterns. This study proposes a fuzzy classification scheme for differentiating human activity patterns from smartphone-collected GPS data. Specifically, a fuzzy logic reasoning was adopted to overcome the influence of location uncertainty by estimating the probability of different activity types for single GPS points. Based on that approach, a segment aggregation method was developed to infer activity patterns, while adjusting for uncertainties of point attributes. Validations of the proposed methods were carried out based on a convenient sample of three subjects with different types of smartphones. The results indicate desirable accuracy (e.g., up to 96% in activity identification) with use of this method. Two examples were provided in the appendix to illustrate how the proposed methods could be applied in environmental health studies. Researchers could tailor this scheme to fit a variety of research topics.

Early patterns of commercial activity in graphene

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shapira, Philip; Youtie, Jan; Arora, Sanjay

2012-01-01

Graphene, a novel nanomaterial consisting of a single layer of carbon atoms, has attracted significant attention due to its distinctive properties, including great strength, electrical and thermal conductivity, lightness, and potential benefits for diverse applications. The commercialization of scientific discoveries such as graphene is inherently uncertain, with the lag time between the scientific development of a new technology and its adoption by corporate actors revealing the extent to which firms are able to absorb knowledge and engage in learning to implement applications based on the new technology. From this perspective, we test for the existence of three different corporate learning and activity patterns: (1) a linear process where patenting follows scientific discovery; (2) a double-boom phenomenon where corporate (patenting) activity is first concentrated in technological improvements and then followed by a period of technology productization; and (3) a concurrent model where scientific discovery in publications occurs in parallel with patenting. By analyzing corporate publication and patent activity across country and application lines, we find that, while graphene as a whole is experiencing concurrent scientific development and patenting growth, country- and application-specific trends offer some evidence of the linear and double-boom models.

Relationship between BOLD amplitude and pattern classification of orientation-selective activity in the human visual cortex

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Frank; Harrison, Stephenie A.; Dewey, John A.; Kamitani, Yukiyasu

2012-01-01

Orientation-selective responses can be decoded from fMRI activity patterns in the human visual cortex, using multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA). To what extent do these feature-selective activity patterns depend on the strength and quality of the sensory input, and might the reliability of these activity patterns be predicted by the gross amplitude of the stimulus-driven BOLD response? Observers viewed oriented gratings that varied in luminance contrast (4, 20 or 100%) or spatial frequency (0.25, 1.0 or 4.0 cpd). As predicted, activity patterns in early visual areas led to better discrimination of orientations presented at high than low contrast, with greater effects of contrast found in area V1 than in V3. A second experiment revealed generally better decoding of orientations at low or moderate as compared to high spatial frequencies. Interestingly however, V1 exhibited a relative advantage at discriminating high spatial frequency orientations, consistent with the finer scale of representation in the primary visual cortex. In both experiments, the reliability of these orientation-selective activity patterns was well predicted by the average BOLD amplitude in each region of interest, as indicated by correlation analyses, as well as decoding applied to a simple model of voxel responses to simulated orientation columns. Moreover, individual differences in decoding accuracy could be predicted by the signal-to-noise ratio of an individual's BOLD response. Our results indicate that decoding accuracy can be well predicted by incorporating the amplitude of the BOLD response into simple simulation models of cortical selectivity; such models could prove useful in future applications of fMRI pattern classification. PMID:22917989

The nocturnal bottleneck and the evolution of activity patterns in mammals

Science.gov (United States)

Gerkema, Menno P.; Davies, Wayne I. L.; Foster, Russell G.; Menaker, Michael; Hut, Roelof A.

2013-01-01

In 1942, Walls described the concept of a ‘nocturnal bottleneck’ in placental mammals, where these species could survive only by avoiding daytime activity during times in which dinosaurs were the dominant taxon. Walls based this concept of a longer episode of nocturnality in early eutherian mammals by comparing the visual systems of reptiles, birds and all three extant taxa of the mammalian lineage, namely the monotremes, marsupials (now included in the metatherians) and placentals (included in the eutherians). This review describes the status of what has become known as the nocturnal bottleneck hypothesis, giving an overview of the chronobiological patterns of activity. We review the ecological plausibility that the activity patterns of (early) eutherian mammals were restricted to the night, based on arguments relating to endothermia, energy balance, foraging and predation, taking into account recent palaeontological information. We also assess genes, relating to light detection (visual and non-visual systems) and the photolyase DNA protection system that were lost in the eutherian mammalian lineage. Our conclusion presently is that arguments in favour of the nocturnal bottleneck hypothesis in eutherians prevail. PMID:23825205

Food Patterns According to Sociodemographics, Physical Activity, Sleeping and Obesity in Portuguese Children

Science.gov (United States)

Moreira, Pedro; Santos, Susana; Padrão, Patrícia; Cordeiro, Tânia; Bessa, Mariana; Valente, Hugo; Barros, Renata; Teixeira, Vitor; Mitchell, Vanessa; Lopes, Carla; Moreira, André

2010-01-01

Our study aimed to describe the association between food patterns and gender, parental education, physical activity, sleeping and obesity in 1976 children aged 5−10 years old. Dietary intake was measured by a semi quantitative food frequency questionnaire; body mass index was calculated and categorized according to the IOTF classification. Factor analysis and generalized linear models were applied to identify food patterns and their associations. TV viewing and male gender were significant positive predictors for fast-food, sugar sweetened beverages and pastry pattern, while a higher level of maternal education and longer sleeping duration were positively associated with a dietary patterns that included fruit and vegetables. PMID:20617022

Food Patterns According to Sociodemographics, Physical Activity, Sleeping and Obesity in Portuguese Children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carla Lopes

2010-03-01

Full Text Available Our study aimed to describe the association between food patterns and gender, parental education, physical activity, sleeping and obesity in 1976 children aged 5−10 years old. Dietary intake was measured by a semi quantitative food frequency questionnaire; body mass index was calculated and categorized according to the IOTF classification. Factor analysis and generalized linear models were applied to identify food patterns and their associations. TV viewing and male gender were significant positive predictors for fast-food, sugar sweetened beverages and pastry pattern, while a higher level of maternal education and longer sleeping duration were positively associated with a dietary patterns that included fruit and vegetables.

Relations between social-perceptual ability in multi- and unisensory contexts, autonomic reactivity, and social functioning in individuals with Williams syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Järvinen, Anna; Ng, Rowena; Crivelli, Davide; Arnold, Andrew J; Woo-VonHoogenstyn, Nicholas; Bellugi, Ursula

2015-07-01

Compromised social-perceptual ability has been proposed to contribute to social dysfunction in neurodevelopmental disorders. While such impairments have been identified in Williams syndrome (WS), little is known about emotion processing in auditory and multisensory contexts. Employing a multidimensional approach, individuals with WS and typical development (TD) were tested for emotion identification across fearful, happy, and angry multisensory and unisensory face and voice stimuli. Autonomic responses were monitored in response to unimodal emotion. The WS group was administered an inventory of social functioning. Behaviorally, individuals with WS relative to TD demonstrated impaired processing of unimodal vocalizations and emotionally incongruent audiovisual compounds, reflecting a generalized deficit in social-auditory processing in WS. The TD group outperformed their counterparts with WS in identifying negative (fearful and angry) emotion, with similar between-group performance with happy stimuli. Mirroring this pattern, electrodermal activity (EDA) responses to the emotional content of the stimuli indicated that whereas those with WS showed the highest arousal to happy, and lowest arousal to fearful stimuli, the TD participants demonstrated the contrasting pattern. In WS, more normal social functioning was related to higher autonomic arousal to facial expressions. Implications for underlying neural architecture and emotional functions are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A specific metabolic pattern related to the hallucinatory activity in schizophrenia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huret, J.D.; Martinot, J.L.; Lesur, A.; Mazoyer, B.; Pappata, S.; Syrota, A.; Baron, J.C.; Lemperiere, T.

1988-01-01

A clinical and PEI study using 18 F - fluorodesoxyglucose for measuring local cerebral glucose metabolism with the aim of showing a specific pattern related to the hallucinatory activity, is presented in schizophrenic patients all experiencing hallucinations or pseudo-halluccinations

Dynamic response and transfer function of social systems: A neuro-inspired model of collective human activity patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Lymperopoulos, Ilias N

2017-10-01

The interaction of social networks with the external environment gives rise to non-stationary activity patterns reflecting the temporal structure and strength of exogenous influences that drive social dynamical processes far from an equilibrium state. Following a neuro-inspired approach, based on the dynamics of a passive neuronal membrane, and the firing rate dynamics of single neurons and neuronal populations, we build a state-of-the-art model of the collective social response to exogenous interventions. In this regard, we analyze online activity patterns with a view to determining the transfer function of social systems, that is, the dynamic relationship between external influences and the resulting activity. To this end, first we estimate the impulse response (Green's function) of collective activity, and then we show that the convolution of the impulse response with a time-varying external influence field accurately reproduces empirical activity patterns. To capture the dynamics of collective activity when the generating process is in a state of statistical equilibrium, we incorporate into the model a noisy input convolved with the impulse response function, thus precisely reproducing the fluctuations of stationary collective activity around a resting value. The outstanding goodness-of-fit of the model results to empirical observations, indicates that the model explains human activity patterns generated by time-dependent external influences in various socio-economic contexts. The proposed model can be used for inferring the temporal structure and strength of external influences, as well as the inertia of collective social activity. Furthermore, it can potentially predict social activity patterns. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Determination of root activity pattern in citrus under irrigation (Tumbaco)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aizaga, Jorge; Calvache, Marcelo

1992-01-01

This experiment was carried out in Tumbaco, province of Pichincha, from january to april 1991. The objective of the study was to determine the root activity patterns in citrus. Tangerine plants of two varieties(common and willowleaf on rugged lemon pattern) three years old were used. A solution of Na H 2 PO 4 labeled with 3 2 P was applied at four distances: 0.30, 0.60, 0.90 and 1.20 m, distributed in a circle around the trees. Leaf samples were taken at 20,37 and 64 days after application and 3 2 P activity was determined. Statistical analysis of the data showed a highly significant variation between treatments and two ranges of significance were defined: the first one included the treatments at 0.30 and 0.60 m, and the second, the treatments at 0.90 and 1.20 m. At the same time soil moisture data were collected. These data demonstrated the relation between soil moisture and root activity and efficiency. With the obtained information it can be concluded that in trees over three years old, and in Tumbaco conditions of citrus management and ecology, the best distance to apply fertilizer is in circles located at 0.30 to 0.60 . from the trunck of tree

Effects of Individual Health Topic Familiarity on Activity Patterns During Health Information Searches

Science.gov (United States)

Moriyama, Koichi; Fukui, Ken–ichi; Numao, Masayuki

2015-01-01

Background Non-medical professionals (consumers) are increasingly using the Internet to support their health information needs. However, the cognitive effort required to perform health information searches is affected by the consumer’s familiarity with health topics. Consumers may have different levels of familiarity with individual health topics. This variation in familiarity may cause misunderstandings because the information presented by search engines may not be understood correctly by the consumers. Objective As a first step toward the improvement of the health information search process, we aimed to examine the effects of health topic familiarity on health information search behaviors by identifying the common search activity patterns exhibited by groups of consumers with different levels of familiarity. Methods Each participant completed a health terminology familiarity questionnaire and health information search tasks. The responses to the familiarity questionnaire were used to grade the familiarity of participants with predefined health topics. The search task data were transcribed into a sequence of search activities using a coding scheme. A computational model was constructed from the sequence data using a Markov chain model to identify the common search patterns in each familiarity group. Results Forty participants were classified into L1 (not familiar), L2 (somewhat familiar), and L3 (familiar) groups based on their questionnaire responses. They had different levels of familiarity with four health topics. The video data obtained from all of the participants were transcribed into 4595 search activities (mean 28.7, SD 23.27 per session). The most frequent search activities and transitions in all the familiarity groups were related to evaluations of the relevancy of selected web pages in the retrieval results. However, the next most frequent transitions differed in each group and a chi-squared test confirmed this finding (Pinformation search patterns

Four Machine Learning Algorithms for Biometrics Fusion: A Comparative Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. G. Damousis

2012-01-01

Full Text Available We examine the efficiency of four machine learning algorithms for the fusion of several biometrics modalities to create a multimodal biometrics security system. The algorithms examined are Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs, Fuzzy Expert Systems (FESs, and Support Vector Machines (SVMs. The fusion of biometrics leads to security systems that exhibit higher recognition rates and lower false alarms compared to unimodal biometric security systems. Supervised learning was carried out using a number of patterns from a well-known benchmark biometrics database, and the validation/testing took place with patterns from the same database which were not included in the training dataset. The comparison of the algorithms reveals that the biometrics fusion system is superior to the original unimodal systems and also other fusion schemes found in the literature.

Time budgets and activity patterns of sub-Antarctic fur seals at ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

1993-04-15

Apr 15, 1993 ... tially influence the activity patterns of fur seals when they are ashore, and their relatively ... modified by cloud cover and shade (which advanced pro- gressively across the ..... Influence of climate on the distri- bution of walruses ...

Differential patterns of prefrontal MEG activation during verbal & visual encoding and retrieval.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Garreth Prendergast

Full Text Available The spatiotemporal profile of activation of the prefrontal cortex in verbal and non-verbal recognition memory was examined using magnetoencephalography (MEG. Sixteen neurologically healthy right-handed participants were scanned whilst carrying out a modified version of the Doors and People Test of recognition memory. A pattern of significant prefrontal activity was found for non-verbal and verbal encoding and recognition. During the encoding, verbal stimuli activated an area in the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and non-verbal stimuli activated an area in the right. A region in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex also showed significant activation during the encoding of non-verbal stimuli. Both verbal and non-verbal stimuli significantly activated an area in the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the right anterior prefrontal cortex during successful recognition, however these areas showed temporally distinct activation dependent on material, with non-verbal showing activation earlier than verbal stimuli. Additionally, non-verbal material activated an area in the left anterior prefrontal cortex during recognition. These findings suggest a material-specific laterality in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex during encoding for verbal and non-verbal but also support the HERA model for verbal material. The discovery of two process dependent areas during recognition that showed patterns of temporal activation dependent on material demonstrates the need for the application of more temporally sensitive techniques to the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in recognition memory.

Patterns of cerebral activation during lexical and phonological reading in Portuguese

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Senaha M.L.H.

2005-01-01

Full Text Available According to the concepts of cognitive neuropsychology, there are two principal routes of reading processing: a lexical route, in which global reading of words occurs and a phonological route, responsible for the conversion of the graphemes into their respective phonemes. In the present study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI was used to investigate the patterns of cerebral activation in lexical and phonological reading by 13 healthy women with a formal educational level greater than 11 years. Participants were submitted to a silent reading task containing three types of stimuli: real words (irregular and foreign words, nonwords and illegitimate graphic stimuli. An increased number of activated voxels were identified by fMRI in the word reading (lexical processing than in the nonword reading (phonological processing task. In word reading, activation was greater than for nonwords in the following areas: superior, middle and inferior frontal gyri, and bilateral superior temporal gyrus, right cerebellum and the left precentral gyrus, as indicated by fMRI. In the reading of nonwords, the activation was predominant in the right cerebellum and in the left superior temporal gyrus. The results of the present study suggest the existence of differences in the patterns of cerebral activation during lexical and phonological reading, with greater involvement of the right hemisphere in reading words than nonwords.

Pattern recognition in complex activity travel patterns : comparison of Euclidean distance, signal-processing theoretical, and multidimensional sequence alignment methods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Joh, C.H.; Arentze, T.A.; Timmermans, H.J.P.

2001-01-01

The application of a multidimensional sequence alignment method for classifying activity travel patterns is reported. The method was developed as an alternative to the existing classification methods suggested in the transportation literature. The relevance of the multidimensional sequence alignment

Activity patterns in malformed fetuses.

Science.gov (United States)

Rayburn, W F; Barr, M

1982-04-15

Knowledge of a malformed fetus before the onset of labor would assist the physician in preparing the expectant parents, managing the timing and method of delivery, and preparing for the immediate care of a salvageable infant. This 3-year prospective investigation compared the activity patterns of fetuses who were later found to have major malformation with those of fetuses who had no apparent defects. Fetal motion over prolonged periods was determined by daily charting of fetal movement by the mother. Although not a reliable predictor for all malformations, evidence of fetal inactivity was found to be more common (p less than 0.0001) among fetuses with anomalies (16 of 58 cases, 28%) than among those with no defects (39 of 1,098 cases, 4%). All malformations associated with fetal inactivity were strongly suspected ultrasonographically and included hydrocephalus, gastroschisis, nonimmune hydrops, bilateral renal agenesis, and bilateral dislocation of the hips. Documentation of fetal inactivity is helpful in recognizing certain major malformations and constitutes grounds for more detailed study by ultrasonography.

Habitat Selection and Activity Pattern of GPS Collared Sumateran Tigers

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Dolly Priatna

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Although translocation has been used in mitigating human-carnivore conflict for decades, few studies have been conducted on the behavioral ecology of released animals. Such information is necessary in the context of sustainable forest management. In this study we determine the type of land cover used as main habitat and examine the activity pattern of translocated tigers. Between 2008 and 2010 we captured six conflict tigers and translocated them 74-1,350 km from their capture sites in Sumatera. All tigers were fitted with global positioning system (GPS collars. The collars were set to fix 24-48 location coordinates per day.  All translocated tigers showed a preference for a certain habitat type within their new home range, and tended to select the majority of natural land cover type within the landscape as their main habitat, but the availability of natural forest habitat within the landscape remains essensial for their survival. The activity of male translocated tigers differed significantly between the six time intervals of 24 hours, and their most active periods were in the afternoon (14:00-18:00 hours and in the evening (18:00-22:00 hours. Despite being preliminary, the findings of this study-which was the first such study conducted in Sumatera-highlight the conservation value of tiger translocation and provide valuable information for improving future management of conflict tigers.Keywords: activity pattern, GPS collars, habitat selection, sumateran tiger, translocation

Active ultrasound pattern injection system (AUSPIS for interventional tool guidance.

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Xiaoyu Guo

Full Text Available Accurate tool tracking is a crucial task that directly affects the safety and effectiveness of many interventional medical procedures. Compared to CT and MRI, ultrasound-based tool tracking has many advantages, including low cost, safety, mobility and ease of use. However, surgical tools are poorly visualized in conventional ultrasound images, thus preventing effective tool tracking and guidance. Existing tracking methods have not yet provided a solution that effectively solves the tool visualization and mid-plane localization accuracy problem and fully meets the clinical requirements. In this paper, we present an active ultrasound tracking and guiding system for interventional tools. The main principle of this system is to establish a bi-directional ultrasound communication between the interventional tool and US imaging machine within the tissue. This method enables the interventional tool to generate an active ultrasound field over the original imaging ultrasound signals. By controlling the timing and amplitude of the active ultrasound field, a virtual pattern can be directly injected into the US machine B mode display. In this work, we introduce the time and frequency modulation, mid-plane detection, and arbitrary pattern injection methods. The implementation of these methods further improves the target visualization and guiding accuracy, and expands the system application beyond simple tool tracking. We performed ex vitro and in vivo experiments, showing significant improvements of tool visualization and accurate localization using different US imaging platforms. An ultrasound image mid-plane detection accuracy of ±0.3 mm and a detectable tissue depth over 8.5 cm was achieved in the experiment. The system performance is tested under different configurations and system parameters. We also report the first experiment of arbitrary pattern injection to the B mode image and its application in accurate tool tracking.

Ramadan major nutrient patterns are associated with anthropometric measurements and physical activity in Tehran, Iran

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Mahdieh Akhoundan

2015-05-01

Full Text Available During Ramadan fasting quantity and quality of dietary intake may change. There was no data on nutrient patterns in Ramadan fasting. The purpose of this study was to identify Ramadan major nutrient patterns among those who fast in Tehran, Iran. 510 fasting people aged 18-65 years and BMI 18.5-40 Kg/m2 were recruited in our study by 2-stage cluster sampling method in June-July 2014. Data on the socio-demographic and physical activity level were collected by questionnaire. Usual diet during Ramadan was estimated by valid and reliable food frequency questionnaire. BMI was calculated based on measured height and weight. Three nutrient patterns derived by conducting principal component factor analysis on 30 major nutrients. Micronutrient and fiber pattern which characterized by high intake of vitamin K, total fiber, iron, manganese, magnesium, β-carotene, folate, vitamin B12, potassium and calcium was adversely associated with weight (b=-0.16, P= 0.004. High protein pattern had great loadings on protein, riboflavin, phosphorous and zinc which physical activity level was decreased by tertiles of this pattern (b=0.13, P=0.02. High carbohydrate pattern which presented high positive loadings on carbohydrate and thiamin and negative loading on total fat, poly unsaturated fatty acids and monounsaturated fatty acids was positively associated with BMI (b= 0.12, P=0.03. Adherence to different Ramadan nutrient patterns is associated with weight, BMI and physical activity level. People on high in carbohydrate may have a higher BMI and low micronutrient density diet that should be considered in Ramadan fasting nutrition educational programs.

Physical activity patterns in patients with early and late age-related macular degeneration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Subhi, Yousif; Sørensen, Torben Lykke

2016-01-01

INTRODUCTION: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) leads to visual impairment that affects visual functioning and thereby the ability to be physically active. We investigated physical activity patterns in patients with AMD. METHODS: Patients with early and late AMD and elderly controls were...

Analysis on the time/activity curve of salivary gland scintigraphy in salivary gland diseases; The correlation between the pattern of time/activity curve and the amount of saliva

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suzuki, Kazufumi; Hosokawa, Yoichiro; Kaneko, Masanori; Ohmori, Keiichi; Minowa, Kazuyuki; Fukuda, Hiroshi; Yamasaki, Michio (Hokkaido Univ., Sapporo (Japan). School of Dentistry)

1992-04-01

Salivary gland scintigraphy with {sup 99m}TcO{sub 4}{sup -} is a simple method to evaluate salivary gland function and has been available as a technique using a time/activity curve for a number of years. But, there were few reports on the relationship between the various patterns of the time/activity curves and the salivary flow rate from the gland. This presents correlation between the time/activity curve pattern and the salivary flow rate from the parotid gland. Sixty-five patients complaining of xerostomia were examined. Sixty-two were female and 3 male (average age 45.6 years, range 17-69 years). Their diagnosis were 26 Sjoegren Syndrome, 28 suspicion of Sjoegren Syndrome and 11 parotiditis. The salivary flow rate from parotid gland was measured by stimulation with 10% citric acid using modified Carlson crittenden cup every 10 seconds for 5 min. 185 MBq {sup 99m}TcO{sub 4}{sup -} was injected intravenously and sequential scintigraphy was performed. Time/activity curves were recorded on film. Six kinds of basic patterns were as follows: normal pattern, median pattern, flat pattern and sloped pattern (Mita et al 1981), reaccumulation flat pattern and poor secretion (Stimulant secretory ratio: less than 70%) pattern by us. The amount of saliva was as follows: normal pattern (n=31), 5.4+0.4 ml; reaccumulation flat pattern (n=3), 4.2+0.6 ml; poor secretion pattern (n=18), 4.1+0.5 ml; median pattern (n=20), 3.5+0.5 ml; flat pattern (n=11), 2.6+0.5 ml and sloped pattern (n=1), 1.5 ml. Normal pattern versus poor secretion pattern, median pattern and flat pattern in the salivary flow rate were statistically significant as determined by Students' t-test. We assessed the correlation between the pattern of time/activity curve in the salivary gland scintigraphy and the amount of saliva. (author).

Neural signatures of attention: insights from decoding population activity patterns.

Science.gov (United States)

Sapountzis, Panagiotis; Gregoriou, Georgia G

2018-01-01

Understanding brain function and the computations that individual neurons and neuronal ensembles carry out during cognitive functions is one of the biggest challenges in neuroscientific research. To this end, invasive electrophysiological studies have provided important insights by recording the activity of single neurons in behaving animals. To average out noise, responses are typically averaged across repetitions and across neurons that are usually recorded on different days. However, the brain makes decisions on short time scales based on limited exposure to sensory stimulation by interpreting responses of populations of neurons on a moment to moment basis. Recent studies have employed machine-learning algorithms in attention and other cognitive tasks to decode the information content of distributed activity patterns across neuronal ensembles on a single trial basis. Here, we review results from studies that have used pattern-classification decoding approaches to explore the population representation of cognitive functions. These studies have offered significant insights into population coding mechanisms. Moreover, we discuss how such advances can aid the development of cognitive brain-computer interfaces.

Binding activity of patterned concanavalin A studied by atomic force microscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lebed, Kateryna; Pyka-Fosciak, Grazyna; Raczkowska, Joanna; Lekka, Malgorzata; Styczen, Jan

2005-01-01

The mode of protein immobilization plays a crucial role in the preparation of protein microarrays used for a wide spectrum of applications in analytical biochemistry. The microcontact printing technique was used to form a protein pattern using concanavalin A (Con A) since Con A belongs to a group of proteins widely used in analytical assays due to their selectivity as regards different kinds of carbohydrates. Atomic force microscopy was used to image surface topography, delivering information about the quality of the protein pattern. The force spectroscopy mode was used to verify the functional activity of deposited proteins via determination of the forces of interaction between Con A and carboxypeptidase Y bearing carbohydrate structure recognized by Con A. The calculated binding force between Con A and CaY was 105 ± 2 pN and it was compared with that measured for Con A deposited directly from the protein solution. The similarity of the value obtained for the interaction force was independent of the mode of protein deposition, thereby verifying that the microcontact printing technique did not influence the carbohydrate binding activity of Con A. The correlation between the surface topography of patterned samples and adhesion maps obtained showed the possible use of AFM for studying the chemical properties of different regions of the micropatterns produced

Objective assessment of levels and patterns of physical activity in preschool children

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brasholt, Martin; Chawes, Bo; Kreiner-Møller, Eskil

2013-01-01

Background:To study in detail levels and patterns of physical activity in preschool children and the effect of gender and body mass index on this activity.Methods:Two hundred and fifty-three children aged 5 years participating in the Copenhagen Prospective Studies on Asthma in Childhood (COPSAC20....... A high body mass index tended to be associated with lower levels of physical activity.Pediatric Research (2013); doi:10.1038/pr.2013.99....

Dynamical patterns in nematic active matter on a sphere

Science.gov (United States)

Henkes, Silke; Marchetti, M. Cristina; Sknepnek, Rastko

2018-04-01

Using simulations of self-propelled agents with short-range repulsion and nematic alignment, we explore the dynamical phases of a dense active nematic confined to the surface of a sphere. We map the nonequilibrium phase diagram as a function of curvature, alignment strength, and activity. Our model reproduces several phases seen in recent experiments on active microtubule bundles confined the surfaces of vesicles. At low driving, we recover the equilibrium nematic ground state with four +1 /2 defects. As the driving is increased, geodesic forces drive the transition to a polar band wrapping around an equator, with large empty spherical caps corresponding to two +1 defects at the poles. Upon further increasing activity, the bands fold onto themselves, and the system eventually transitions to a turbulent state marked by the proliferation of pairs of topological defects. We highlight the key role of the nematic persistence length in controlling pattern formation in these confined systems with positive Gaussian curvature.

Effects of potassium concentration on firing patterns of low-calcium epileptiform activity in anesthetized rat hippocampus: inducing of persistent spike activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Zhouyan; Durand, Dominique M

2006-04-01

It has been shown that a low-calcium high-potassium solution can generate ictal-like epileptiform activity in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, during status epileptiform activity, the concentration of [K+]o increases, and the concentration of [Ca2+]o decreases in brain tissue. Therefore we tested the hypothesis that long-lasting persistent spike activity, similar to one of the patterns of status epilepticus, could be generated by a high-potassium, low-calcium solution in the hippocampus in vivo. Artificial cerebrospinal fluid was perfused over the surface of the exposed left dorsal hippocampus of anesthetized rats. A stimulating electrode and a recording probe were placed in the CA1 region. By elevating K+ concentration from 6 to 12 mM in the perfusate solution, the typical firing pattern of low-calcium ictal bursts was transformed into persistent spike activity in the CA1 region with synaptic transmission being suppressed by calcium chelator EGTA. The activity was characterized by double spikes repeated at a frequency approximately 4 Hz that could last for >1 h. The analysis of multiple unit activity showed that both elevating [K+]o and lowering [Ca2+]o decreased the inhibition period after the response of paired-pulse stimulation, indicating a suppression of the after-hyperpolarization (AHP) activity. These results suggest that persistent status epilepticus-like spike activity can be induced by nonsynaptic mechanisms when synaptic transmission is blocked. The unique double-spike pattern of this activity is presumably caused by higher K+ concentration augmenting the frequency of typical low-calcium nonsynaptic burst activity.

A Multi-Agent Modelling Approach to Simulate Dynamic Activity-Travel Patterns

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Han, Q.; Arentze, T.A.; Timmermans, H.J.P.; Janssens, D.; Wets, G.; Bazzan, A.L.C.; Klügl, F.

2009-01-01

Contributing to the recent interest in the dynamics of activity-travel patterns, this chapter discusses a framework of an agent-based modeling approach focusing on the dynamic formation of (location) choice sets. Individual travelers are represented as agents, each with their cognition of the

Distribution patterns of firearm discharge residues as revealed by neutron activation analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pillay, K.K.S.; Driscoll, D.C.; Jester, W.A.

1975-01-01

A systematic investigation using a variety of handguns has revealed the existence of distinguisable distribution patterns of firearm discharge residues on surfaces below the flight path of a bullet. The residues are identificable even at distances of 12 meters from the gun using nondestructive neutron activation analysis. The results of these investigations show that the distribution pattern for a gun is reproducible using similar ammunition and that there exist two distinct regions to the patterns developed between the firearm and the target-one with respect to the position of the gun and the other in the vicinity of the target. The judicious applications of these findings could be of significant value in criminal investigations. (T.G.)

HEART RATE AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PATTERNS IN PERSONS WITH PROFOUND INTELLECTUAL AND MULTIPLE DISABILITIES

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Waninge, Aly; van der Putten, Annette A. J.; Stewart, Roy E.; Steenbergen, Bert; van Wijck, Ruud; van der Schans, Cees P.

2013-01-01

Because physical fitness and health are related to physical activity, it is important to gain an insight into the physical activity levels of persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). The purpose of this study was to examine heart rate patterns to measure the activity

Fetal functional brain age assessed from universal developmental indices obtained from neuro-vegetative activity patterns.

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Dirk Hoyer

Full Text Available Fetal brain development involves the development of the neuro-vegetative (autonomic control that is mediated by the autonomic nervous system (ANS. Disturbances of the fetal brain development have implications for diseases in later postnatal life. In that context, the fetal functional brain age can be altered. Universal principles of developmental biology applied to patterns of autonomic control may allow a functional age assessment. The work aims at the development of a fetal autonomic brain age score (fABAS based on heart rate patterns. We analysed n = 113 recordings in quiet sleep, n = 286 in active sleep, and n = 29 in active awakeness from normals. We estimated fABAS from magnetocardiographic recordings (21.4-40.3 weeks of gestation preclassified in quiet sleep (n = 113, 63 females and active sleep (n = 286, 145 females state by cross-validated multivariate linear regression models in a cross-sectional study. According to universal system developmental principles, we included indices that address increasing fluctuation range, increasing complexity, and pattern formation (skewness, power spectral ratio VLF/LF, pNN5. The resulting models constituted fABAS. fABAS explained 66/63% (coefficient of determination R(2 of training and validation set of the variance by age in quiet, while 51/50% in active sleep. By means of a logistic regression model using fluctuation range and fetal age, quiet and active sleep were automatically reclassified (94.3/93.1% correct classifications. We did not find relevant gender differences. We conclude that functional brain age can be assessed based on universal developmental indices obtained from autonomic control patterns. fABAS reflect normal complex functional brain maturation. The presented normative data are supplemented by an explorative study of 19 fetuses compromised by intrauterine growth restriction. We observed a shift in the state distribution towards active awakeness. The lower WGA

Root activity pattern of banana under irrigated and rain conditions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sobhana, A.; Aravindakshan, M.; Wahid, P.A.

1989-01-01

Root morphology by excavation method and root activity pattern by 32 P soil-injection technique have been studied in banana var., Nendran under rainfed/irrigated conditions. The number of roots, length and diameter of roots and dry weight of roots were found to be more for the rainfed banana crop compared to the irrigated. The results of the radiotracer studies indicated that about 60 per cent of the active roots of irrigated banana lie within 20 cm distance and about 90 per cent of the total root activity is found within 40 cm distance from the plant. In the case of rainfed crop about 85 per cent of the active roots were found within a radius of 40 cm around the plant. Active roots were found to be more concentrated at 15 to 30 cm depth under rainfed conditions while the density of active roots was more or less uniform along the profile upto a dpeth of 60 cm in irrigated banana. (author). 4 refs., 3 figs

Distinct patterns of brain activity characterise lexical activation and competition in spoken word production.

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Vitória Piai

Full Text Available According to a prominent theory of language production, concepts activate multiple associated words in memory, which enter into competition for selection. However, only a few electrophysiological studies have identified brain responses reflecting competition. Here, we report a magnetoencephalography study in which the activation of competing words was manipulated by presenting pictures (e.g., dog with distractor words. The distractor and picture name were semantically related (cat, unrelated (pin, or identical (dog. Related distractors are stronger competitors to the picture name because they receive additional activation from the picture relative to other distractors. Picture naming times were longer with related than unrelated and identical distractors. Phase-locked and non-phase-locked activity were distinct but temporally related. Phase-locked activity in left temporal cortex, peaking at 400 ms, was larger on unrelated than related and identical trials, suggesting differential activation of alternative words by the picture-word stimuli. Non-phase-locked activity between roughly 350-650 ms (4-10 Hz in left superior frontal gyrus was larger on related than unrelated and identical trials, suggesting differential resolution of the competition among the alternatives, as reflected in the naming times. These findings characterise distinct patterns of activity associated with lexical activation and competition, supporting the theory that words are selected by competition.

Reproduction of overall spontaneous pain pattern by manual stimulation of active myofascial trigger points in fibromyalgia patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ge, Hong-You; Wang, Ying; Fernández-de-las-Peñas, César

2011-01-01

It has previously been reported that local and referred pain from active myofascial trigger points (MTPs) in the neck and shoulder region contribute to fibromyalgia (FM) pain and that the pain pattern induced from active MTPs can reproduce parts of the spontaneous clinical FM pain pattern. The cu...

Deviations in daily physical activity patterns in patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome: A case control study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Evering, R.M.H.; Tönis, Thijs; Vollenbroek-Hutten, Miriam Marie Rosé

2011-01-01

Deviations in daily physical activity patterns may play an important role in the development and maintenance of fatigue in the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The aim of this study is to gain insight into the objective daily physical activity pattern of patients with CFS in comparison with healthy

Influence of patterned electrical neuromuscular stimulation on quadriceps activation in individuals with knee joint injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Glaviano, Neal R; Langston, William T; Hart, Joseph M; Saliba, Susan

2014-12-01

Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation is a common intervention to address muscle weakness, however presents with many limitations such as fatigue, muscle damage, and patient discomfort that may influence its effectiveness. One novel form of electrical stimulation purported to improve neuromuscular re-education is Patterned Electrical Neuromuscular Stimulation (PENS), which is proposed to mimic muscle-firing patterns of healthy individuals. PENS provides patterned stimulating to the agonist muscle, antagonist muscle and then agonist muscle again in an effort to replicate firing patterns. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a single PENS treatment on knee extension torque and quadriceps activation in individuals with quadriceps inhibition. 18 subjects (10 males and 8 females: 24.2±3.4 years, 175.3±11.8cm, 81.8±12.4kg) with a history of knee injury/pain participated in this double-blinded randomized controlled laboratory trial. Participants demonstrated quadriceps inhibition with a central activation ratio of ≤90%. Maximal voluntary isometric contraction of the quadriceps and central activation ratio were measured before and after treatment. The treatment intervention was a 15-minute patterned electrical stimulation applied to the quadriceps and hamstring muscles with a strong motor contraction or a sham group, who received an identical set up as the PENS group, but received a 1mA subsensory stimulation. A 2×2 (group × time) ANCOVA was used to determine differences in maximal voluntary isometric contraction and central activation ratio between groups. The maximal voluntary isometric contraction was selected as a covariate due to baseline differences. There were no differences in change scores between pre- and post-intervention for maximal voluntary isometric contraction: (PENS: 0.09±0.32Nm/kg and Sham 0.15±0.18Nm/kg, p=0.713), or central activation ratio:(PENS: -1.22±6.06 and Sham: 1.48±3.7, p=0.270). A single Patterned Electrical

Variations in adolescents' motivational characteristics across gender and physical activity patterns: A latent class analysis approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Lawler, Margaret; Heary, Caroline; Nixon, Elizabeth

2017-08-17

Neglecting to take account of the underlying context or type of physical activity (PA) that underpins overall involvement has resulted in a limited understanding of adolescents' PA participation. The purpose of the present research was to identify male and female adolescents' leisure time PA patterns and examine whether psychological processes derived from self-determination theory differ as a function of the pattern of PA undertaken. Nine hundred ninety-five students (61.2% females, 38.8% males; M age = 13.72 years, SD = 1.25) from eight secondary schools in Dublin, Ireland completed a physical activity recall 7 day diary and measures of intrinsic motivation, competence, relatedness, autonomy and autonomy support. Based on the diary five binary indicators of physical activity were derived reflecting recommended levels of MVPA on a minimum of 3 days, at least three sessions of non-organized physical activity (e.g. jog), team sport, individual sport, and organized non-sport physical activity (e.g. dance). Latent class analysis was used to identify subgroups of adolescents that engaged in similar patterns of physical activity. Profiles of physical activity participation were subsequently compared on motivational characteristics using Kruskal-Wallis tests. Latent class analysis revealed six distinct classes for girls (Organized Run/Swim & Dance/Gym; Organized Dance; Leisure Active Team Sport; Active Individual Sport; Walk/Run/Outdoor games; Non-Participation) and five for boys (Leisure Active Gym; Leisure Active Individual Sport; Active Team Sport; Active Mixed Type; Non-Participation). Significant differences were found between the classes. Girls characterized by participation in team or individual sport, and boys represented by team sport participation demonstrated significantly higher self-determined motivational characteristics relative to other profiles of physical activity. This research offers a nuanced insight into the underlying type of activities that

Variations in adolescents’ motivational characteristics across gender and physical activity patterns: A latent class analysis approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Margaret Lawler

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Neglecting to take account of the underlying context or type of physical activity (PA that underpins overall involvement has resulted in a limited understanding of adolescents’ PA participation. The purpose of the present research was to identify male and female adolescents’ leisure time PA patterns and examine whether psychological processes derived from self-determination theory differ as a function of the pattern of PA undertaken. Methods Nine hundred ninety-five students (61.2% females, 38.8% males; M age = 13.72 years, SD = 1.25 from eight secondary schools in Dublin, Ireland completed a physical activity recall 7 day diary and measures of intrinsic motivation, competence, relatedness, autonomy and autonomy support. Based on the diary five binary indicators of physical activity were derived reflecting recommended levels of MVPA on a minimum of 3 days, at least three sessions of non-organized physical activity (e.g. jog, team sport, individual sport, and organized non-sport physical activity (e.g. dance. Latent class analysis was used to identify subgroups of adolescents that engaged in similar patterns of physical activity. Profiles of physical activity participation were subsequently compared on motivational characteristics using Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results Latent class analysis revealed six distinct classes for girls (Organized Run/Swim & Dance/Gym; Organized Dance; Leisure Active Team Sport; Active Individual Sport; Walk/Run/Outdoor games; Non-Participation and five for boys (Leisure Active Gym; Leisure Active Individual Sport; Active Team Sport; Active Mixed Type; Non-Participation. Significant differences were found between the classes. Girls characterized by participation in team or individual sport, and boys represented by team sport participation demonstrated significantly higher self-determined motivational characteristics relative to other profiles of physical activity. Conclusion This research

Time budgets and activity patterns of sub-Antarctic fur seals at ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... location and distribution on site, and the prevailing weather conditions influence the pattern of interaction and allocation of time to the various activities in A. tropicalis. The predominance of inactivity is considered to be a behavioural thermoregulatory response to limit endogenous heat production as is energy conservation ...

Exploring associations between gaze patterns and putative human mirror neuron system activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Donaldson, Peter H; Gurvich, Caroline; Fielding, Joanne; Enticott, Peter G

2015-01-01

The human mirror neuron system (MNS) is hypothesized to be crucial to social cognition. Given that key MNS-input regions such as the superior temporal sulcus are involved in biological motion processing, and mirror neuron activity in monkeys has been shown to vary with visual attention, aberrant MNS function may be partly attributable to atypical visual input. To examine the relationship between gaze pattern and interpersonal motor resonance (IMR; an index of putative MNS activity), healthy right-handed participants aged 18-40 (n = 26) viewed videos of transitive grasping actions or static hands, whilst the left primary motor cortex received transcranial magnetic stimulation. Motor-evoked potentials recorded in contralateral hand muscles were used to determine IMR. Participants also underwent eyetracking analysis to assess gaze patterns whilst viewing the same videos. No relationship was observed between predictive gaze and IMR. However, IMR was positively associated with fixation counts in areas of biological motion in the videos, and negatively associated with object areas. These findings are discussed with reference to visual influences on the MNS, and the possibility that MNS atypicalities might be influenced by visual processes such as aberrant gaze pattern.

Exploring associations between gaze patterns and putative human mirror neuron system activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Hugh Donaldson

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The human mirror neuron system (MNS is hypothesised to be crucial to social cognition. Given that key MNS-input regions such as the superior temporal sulcus are involved in biological motion processing, and mirror neuron activity in monkeys has been shown to vary with visual attention, aberrant MNS function may be partly attributable to atypical visual input. To examine the relationship between gaze pattern and interpersonal motor resonance (IMR; an index of putative MNS activity, healthy right-handed participants aged 18-40 (n = 26 viewed videos of transitive grasping actions or static hands, whilst the left primary motor cortex received transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS. Motor-evoked potentials (MEPs recorded in contralateral hand muscles were used to determine IMR. Participants also underwent eyetracking analysis to assess gaze patterns whilst viewing the same videos. No relationship was observed between predictive gaze (PG and IMR. However, IMR was positively associated with fixation counts in areas of biological motion in the videos, and negatively associated with object areas. These findings are discussed with reference to visual influences on the MNS, and the possibility that MNS atypicalities might be influenced by visual processes such as aberrant gaze pattern.

Passenger transport and household activity patterns

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jørgensen, Kaj

1997-01-01

Review of Danish passenger transport patterns and analysis of energy consumption, emissions and safety impacts for selected typical households' travelling......Review of Danish passenger transport patterns and analysis of energy consumption, emissions and safety impacts for selected typical households' travelling...

Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) change their activity patterns in response to frugivory.

Science.gov (United States)

Masi, Shelly; Cipolletta, Chloé; Robbins, Martha M

2009-02-01

The most important environmental factor explaining interspecies variation in ecology and sociality of the great apes is likely to be variation in resource availability. Relatively little is known about the activity patterns of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), which inhabit a dramatically different environment from the well-studied mountain gorillas (G. beringei beringei). This study aims to provide a detailed quantification of western lowland gorillas' activity budgets using direct observations on one habituated group in Bai Hokou, Central African Republic. We examined how activity patterns of both sexes are shaped by seasonal frugivory. Activity was recorded with 5-min instantaneous sampling between December 2004 and December 2005. During the high-frugivory period the gorillas spent less time feeding and more time traveling than during the low-frugivory period. The silverback spent less time feeding but more time resting than both females and immatures, which likely results from a combination of social and physiological factors. When compared with mountain gorillas, western lowland gorillas spend more time feeding (67 vs. 55%) and traveling (12 vs. 6.5%), but less time resting (21 vs. 34%) and engaging in social/other activities (0.5 vs. 3.6%). This disparity in activity budgets of western lowland gorillas and mountain gorillas may be explained by the more frugivorous diet and the greater dispersion of food resources experienced by western lowland gorillas. Like other apes, western lowland gorillas change their activity patterns in response to changes in the diet. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Leisure-time physical activity patterns by weight control status: 1999-2002 NHANES.

Science.gov (United States)

Kruger, Judy; Yore, Michelle M; Kohl, Harold W

2007-05-01

Regular physical activity reduces the risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and some cancers. Physical activity is associated inversely with overweight and obesity prevalence, thus potentially assisting in weight control efforts. The purpose of this paper is to examine the variability of physical activity levels and their patterns by self-reported weight control status in a nationally representative sample. Four years of data from the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were used to examine leisure-time physical activity patterns (regular, irregular, inactive) and the prevalence of weight control practices (trying to lose, trying to maintain, not trying to lose or maintain) among U.S. adults (N = 9496). The prevalence of regular physical activity was 32.6% among people trying to lose weight, 37.9% among people trying to maintain weight, and 21.8% among those not trying to lose or maintain weight. Those trying to lose weight were almost three times as likely to be regularly active (vs inactive), and those trying to maintain weight were over three times more likely to be regularly active (vs inactive) than those not trying to lose or maintain weight. The most commonly reported activities among those trying to lose weight were walking (38.3%), yard work (14.5%), biking (12.5%), and running (11.6%). Despite the importance of physical activity, fewer than half the people trying to lose or maintain weight were regularly active during leisure-time. People trying to lose or maintain weight had a higher likelihood of being regularly active than those not trying to lose or maintain weight. Walking was the most common type of physical activity among all weight control groups. Health promotion efforts should promote increased levels of physical activity among all adults.

Macro-Scale Patterns in Upwelling/Downwelling Activity at North American West Coast.

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Romeo Saldívar-Lucio

Full Text Available The seasonal and interannual variability of vertical transport (upwelling/downwelling has been relatively well studied, mainly for the California Current System, including low-frequency changes and latitudinal heterogeneity. The aim of this work was to identify potentially predictable patterns in upwelling/downwelling activity along the North American west coast and discuss their plausible mechanisms. To this purpose we applied the min/max Autocorrelation Factor technique and time series analysis. We found that spatial co-variation of seawater vertical movements present three dominant low-frequency signals in the range of 33, 19 and 11 years, resembling periodicities of: atmospheric circulation, nodal moon tides and solar activity. Those periodicities might be related to the variability of vertical transport through their influence on dominant wind patterns, the position/intensity of pressure centers and the strength of atmospheric circulation cells (wind stress. The low-frequency signals identified in upwelling/downwelling are coherent with temporal patterns previously reported at the study region: sea surface temperature along the Pacific coast of North America, catch fluctuations of anchovy Engraulis mordax and sardine Sardinops sagax, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, changes in abundance and distribution of salmon populations, and variations in the position and intensity of the Aleutian low. Since the vertical transport is an oceanographic process with strong biological relevance, the recognition of their spatio-temporal patterns might allow for some reasonable forecasting capacity, potentially useful for marine resources management of the region.

Plant biodiversity patterns on Helan Mountain, China

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Jiang, Yuan; Kang, Muyi; Zhu, Yuan; Xu, Guangcai

2007-09-01

A case study was conducted to mountainous ecosystems in the east side of Helan Mountain, located in the transitional zone between steppe and desert regions of China, aiming to reveal the influences of four environmental factors on features of plant biodiversity—the spatial pattern of vegetation types, and the variation of α- and β-diversities in vegetation and flora. Field surveys on vegetation and flora and on environmental factors were conducted, and those field data were analyzed through CCA (Canonical Correspondence Analysis), and through Shannon-Weiner index for α-diversity and Sørensen index for β-diversity. The preliminary results are: (1) Ranked in terms of their impacts on spatial patterns of plant biodiversity, the four selected environmental factors would be: elevation > location > slope > exposure. (2) The variation of Shannon-Weiner index along the altitudinal gradient is similar to that of species amount within altitudinal belts spanning 200 m each, which suggests a unimodal relationship between the species richness and the environmental condition with regards to altitudinal factors. Both the Shannon-Weiner index and the species richness within each altitudinal belt reach their maximum at elevation range from about 1700 to 2000 m a.s.l. (3) The altitudinal extent with the highest Shannon-Weiner index is identical to the range, where both the deciduous broad-leaved forest, and the temperate evergreen coniferous and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest distribute. The altitudinal range from 1700 to 2200 m a.s.l. is the sector with both high level of species richness and diversified vegetation types. (4) The variation of β-diversity along the altitude is consistent with the vegetation vertical zones. According to the Sørensen index between each pair of altitudinal belts, the transition of vegetation spectrum from one zone to another, as from the base horizontal zone, the desert steppe, to the first vertical zone, the mountain open forest and

Motives for using Facebook, patterns of Facebook activities, and late adolescents' social adjustment to college.

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Yang, Chia-chen; Brown, B Bradford

2013-03-01

Previous studies have confirmed that Facebook, the leading social networking site among young people, facilitates social connections among college students, but the specific activities and motives that foster social adjustment remain unclear. This study examined associations between patterns of Facebook activity, motives for using Facebook, and late adolescents' social adjustment to the college environment. Anonymous self-report survey data from 193 mostly European American students (M age = 20.32; 54 % female) attending a major Midwestern university indicated that motives and activity patterns were associated directly with social adjustment, but the association between one activity, status updating, and social adjustment also was moderated by the motive of relationship maintenance. Findings provide a more comprehensive portrait of how Facebook use may foster or inhibit social adjustment in college.

Dissecting patterns of preparatory activity in the frontal eye fields during pursuit target selection.

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Raghavan, Ramanujan T; Joshua, Mati

2017-10-01

We investigated the composition of preparatory activity of frontal eye field (FEF) neurons in monkeys performing a pursuit target selection task. In response to the orthogonal motion of a large and a small reward target, monkeys initiated pursuit biased toward the direction of large reward target motion. FEF neurons exhibited robust preparatory activity preceding movement initiation in this task. Preparatory activity consisted of two components, ramping activity that was constant across target selection conditions, and a flat offset in firing rates that signaled the target selection condition. Ramping activity accounted for 50% of the variance in the preparatory activity and was linked most strongly, on a trial-by-trial basis, to pursuit eye movement latency rather than to its direction or gain. The offset in firing rates that discriminated target selection conditions accounted for 25% of the variance in the preparatory activity and was commensurate with a winner-take-all representation, signaling the direction of large reward target motion rather than a representation that matched the parameters of the upcoming movement. These offer new insights into the role that the frontal eye fields play in target selection and pursuit control. They show that preparatory activity in the FEF signals more strongly when to move rather than where or how to move and suggest that structures outside the FEF augment its contributions to the target selection process. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We used the smooth eye movement pursuit system to link between patterns of preparatory activity in the frontal eye fields and movement during a target selection task. The dominant pattern was a ramping signal that did not discriminate between selection conditions and was linked, on trial-by-trial basis, to movement latency. A weaker pattern was composed of a constant signal that discriminated between selection conditions but was only weakly linked to the movement parameters. Copyright © 2017 the American

Food Patterns According to Sociodemographics, Physical Activity, Sleeping and Obesity in Portuguese Children

OpenAIRE

Moreira; Santos; Padrão; Cordeiro; Bessa; Valente; Barros; Teixeira; Mitchell; Lopes; Moreira

2010-01-01

Our study aimed to describe the association between food patterns and gender, parental education, physical activity, sleeping and obesity in 1976 children aged 5−10 years old. Dietary intake was measured by a semi quantitative food frequency questionnaire; body mass index was calculated and categorized according to the IOTF classification. Factor analysis and generalized linear models were applied to identify food patterns and their associations. TV viewing and male gender were significant po...

Longitudinal variability of time-location/activity patterns of population at different ages: a longitudinal study in California

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Cassady Diana L

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Longitudinal time-activity data are important for exposure modeling, since the extent to which short-term time-activity data represent long-term activity patterns is not well understood. This study was designed to evaluate longitudinal variations in human time-activity patterns. Method We report on 24-hour recall diaries and questionnaires collected via the internet from 151 parents of young children (mostly under age 55, and from 55 older adults of ages 55 and older, for both a weekday and a weekend day every three months over an 18-month period. Parents also provided data for their children. The self-administrated diary and questionnaire distinguished ~30 frequently visited microenvironments and ~20 activities which we selected to represent opportunities for exposure to toxic environmental compounds. Due to the non-normal distribution of time-location/activity data, we employed generalized linear mixed-distribution mixed-effect models to examine intra- and inter-individual variations. Here we describe variation in the likelihood of and time spent engaging in an activity or being in a microenvironment by age group, day-type (weekday/weekend, season (warm/cool, sex, employment status, and over the follow-up period. Results As expected, day-type and season influence time spent in many location and activity categories. Longitudinal changes were also observed, e.g., young children slept less with increasing follow-up, transit time increased, and time spent on working and shopping decreased during the study, possibly related to human physiological changes with age and changes in macro-economic factors such as gas prices and the economic recession. Conclusions This study provides valuable new information about time-activity assessed longitudinally in three major age groups and greatly expands our knowledge about intra- and inter-individual variations in time-location/activity patterns. Longitudinal variations beyond weekly and

Associative-memory representations emerge as shared spatial patterns of theta activity spanning the primate temporal cortex.

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Nakahara, Kiyoshi; Adachi, Ken; Kawasaki, Keisuke; Matsuo, Takeshi; Sawahata, Hirohito; Majima, Kei; Takeda, Masaki; Sugiyama, Sayaka; Nakata, Ryota; Iijima, Atsuhiko; Tanigawa, Hisashi; Suzuki, Takafumi; Kamitani, Yukiyasu; Hasegawa, Isao

2016-06-10

Highly localized neuronal spikes in primate temporal cortex can encode associative memory; however, whether memory formation involves area-wide reorganization of ensemble activity, which often accompanies rhythmicity, or just local microcircuit-level plasticity, remains elusive. Using high-density electrocorticography, we capture local-field potentials spanning the monkey temporal lobes, and show that the visual pair-association (PA) memory is encoded in spatial patterns of theta activity in areas TE, 36, and, partially, in the parahippocampal cortex, but not in the entorhinal cortex. The theta patterns elicited by learned paired associates are distinct between pairs, but similar within pairs. This pattern similarity, emerging through novel PA learning, allows a machine-learning decoder trained on theta patterns elicited by a particular visual item to correctly predict the identity of those elicited by its paired associate. Our results suggest that the formation and sharing of widespread cortical theta patterns via learning-induced reorganization are involved in the mechanisms of associative memory representation.

Early sensory cortex is activated in the absence of explicit input during crossmodal item retrieval: evidence from MEG.

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Pillai, Ajay S; Gilbert, Jessica R; Horwitz, Barry

2013-02-01

Crossmodal associations form a fundamental aspect of our daily lives. In this study we investigated the neural correlates of crossmodal association in early sensory cortices using magnetoencephalography (MEG). We used a paired associate recognition paradigm in which subjects were tested after multiple training sessions over a span of four weeks. Subjects had to learn 12 abstract, nonlinguistic, pairs of auditory and visual objects that consisted of crossmodal (visual-auditory, VA; auditory-visual, AV) and unimodal (visual-visual, VV; auditory-auditory, AA) paired items. Visual objects included abstract, non-nameable, fractal-like images, and auditory objects included abstract tone sequences. During scanning, subjects were shown the first item of a pair (S1), followed by a delay, then the simultaneous presentation of a visual and auditory stimulus (S2). Subjects were instructed to indicate whether either of the S2 stimuli contained the correct paired associate of S1. Synthetic aperture magnetometry (SAMspm), a minimum variance beamformer, was then used to assess source power differences between the crossmodal conditions and their corresponding unimodal conditions (i.e., AV-AA and VA-VV) in the beta (15-30 Hz) and low gamma frequencies (31-54 Hz) during the S1 period. We found greater power during S1 in the corresponding modality-specific association areas for crossmodal compared with unimodal stimuli. Thus, even in the absence of explicit sensory input, the retrieval of well-learned, crossmodal pairs activate sensory areas associated with the corresponding modality. These findings support theories which posit that modality-specific regions of cortex are involved in the storage and retrieval of sensory-specific items from long-term memory. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mechanochemical activation and patterning of an adhesive surface toward nanoparticle deposition.

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Baytekin, H Tarik; Baytekin, Bilge; Huda, Sabil; Yavuz, Zelal; Grzybowski, Bartosz A

2015-02-11

Mechanical pulling of adhesive tape creates radicals on the tape's surface. These radicals are capable of reducing metal salts to the corresponding metal nanoparticles. In this way, the mechanically activated tape can be decorated with various types of nanoparticles, including Au, Ag, Pd, or Cu. While retaining their mechanical properties and remaining "sticky," the tapes can exhibit new properties derived from the presence of metal nanoparticles (e.g., bacteriostaticity, increased electrical conductivity). They can also be patterned with nanoparticles only at selective locations of mechanical activation.

Thermal ecology and activity patterns of the lizard community of the Restinga of Jurubatiba, Macaé, RJ.

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Hatano, F H; Vrcibradic, D; Galdino, C A; Cunha-Barros, M; Rocha, C F; Van Sluys, M

2001-05-01

We analyzed the thermal ecology and activity patterns of the lizard community from the Restinga of Jurubatiba, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The broadest activity was that of Tropidurus torquatus, a sit-and-wait forager, while the active foraging teiid Cnemidophorus littoralis had the shortest activity. The nocturnal gekkonid Hemidactylus mabouia was found active during the day only during early morning and late afternoon, when environmental temperatures are low. Body temperature was highest for Cnemidophorus littoralis and lowest for the two Mabuya species. The patterns found here are discussed and compared to those of congeneric species in other habitats in Brazil.

Longitudinal patterns of predominant asthma disease activity in pediatric patients enrolled in an asthma-specific disease management program.

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Scott, Lyne; Nichols, Breck; Choi Kwong, Kenny Yat; Morphew, Tricia; Jones, Craig A

2008-08-01

To determine if patterns of predominant asthma disease activity are more closely related than baseline asthma severity to measures of morbidity (acute asthma attack, emergency room visit/hospitalization, missed school days, and/or steroid burst). Retrospective analysis was performed for inner-city Los Angeles asthmatic children (3 to 18 years of age) during their first year of enrollment in an asthma-specific disease management program. All measures of morbidity were more closely related to patterns of predominant disease activity than baseline severity. We conclude that patterns of predominant disease activity are a more significant predictor of asthma morbidity than is baseline severity.

Characterising infant inter-breath interval patterns during active and quiet sleep using recurrence plot analysis.

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Terrill, Philip I; Wilson, Stephen J; Suresh, Sadasivam; Cooper, David M

2009-01-01

Breathing patterns are characteristically different between active and quiet sleep states in infants. It has been previously identified that breathing dynamics are governed by a non-linear controller which implies the need for a nonlinear analytical tool. Further, it has been shown that quantified nonlinear variables are different between adult sleep states. This study aims to determine whether a nonlinear analytical tool known as recurrence plot analysis can characterize breath intervals of active and quiet sleep states in infants. Overnight polysomnograms were obtained from 32 healthy infants. The 6 longest periods each of active and quiet sleep were identified and a software routine extracted inter-breath interval data for recurrence plot analysis. Determinism (DET), laminarity (LAM) and radius (RAD) values were calculated for an embedding dimension of 4, 6, 8 and 16, and fixed recurrence of 0.5, 1, 2, 3.5 and 5%. Recurrence plots exhibited characteristically different patterns for active and quiet sleep. Active sleep periods typically had higher values of RAD, DET and LAM than for quiet sleep, and this trend was invariant to a specific choice of embedding dimension or fixed recurrence. These differences may provide a basis for automated sleep state classification, and the quantitative investigation of pathological breathing patterns.

Brain activation patterns during memory of cognitive agency.

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Vinogradov, Sophia; Luks, Tracy L; Simpson, Gregory V; Schulman, Brian J; Glenn, Shenly; Wong, Amy E

2006-06-01

Agency is the awareness that one's own self is the agent or author of an action, a thought, or a feeling. The implicit memory that one's self was the originator of a cognitive event - the sense of cognitive agency - has not yet been fully explored in terms of relevant neural systems. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we examined brain activation patterns differentiating memory for the source of previously self-generated vs. experimenter-presented word items from a sentence completion paradigm designed to be emotionally neutral and semantically constrained in content. Accurate memory for the source of self-generated vs. externally-presented word items resulted in activation of dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) bilaterally, supporting an emerging body of work that indicates a key role for this region in self-referential processing. Our data extend the function of mPFC into the domain of memory and the accurate retrieval of the sense of cognitive agency under conditions where agency was encoded implicitly.

National youth sedentary behavior and physical activity daily patterns using latent class analysis applied to accelerometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Evenson, Kelly R; Wen, Fang; Hales, Derek; Herring, Amy H

2016-05-03

Applying latent class analysis (LCA) to accelerometry can help elucidated underlying patterns. This study described the patterns of accelerometer-determined sedentary behavior and physical activity among youth by applying LCA to a nationally representative United States (US) sample. Using 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data, 3998 youths 6-17 years wore an ActiGraph 7164 accelerometer for one week, providing > =3 days of wear for > =8 h/day from 6:00 am-midnight. Cutpoints defined sedentary behavior ( = 2296 counts/minute), and vigorous activity (> = 4012 counts/minute). To account for wear time differences, outcomes were expressed as percent of day in a given intensity. LCA was used to classify daily (Monday through Sunday) patterns of average counts/minute, sedentary behavior, light activity, MVPA, and vigorous activity separately. The latent classes were explored overall and by age (6-11, 12-14, 15-17 years), gender, and whether or not youth attended school during measurement. Estimates were weighted to account for the sampling frame. For average counts/minute/day, four classes emerged from least to most active: 40.9% of population (mean 323.5 counts/minute/day), 40.3% (559.6 counts/minute/day), 16.5% (810.0 counts/minute/day), and 2.3% (1132.9 counts/minute/day). For percent of sedentary behavior, four classes emerged: 13.5% of population (mean 544.6 min/day), 30.1% (455.1 min/day), 38.5% (357.7 min/day), and 18.0% (259.2 min/day). For percent of light activity, four classes emerged: 12.3% of population (mean 222.6 min/day), 29.3% (301.7 min/day), 41.8% (384.0 min/day), and 16.6% (455.5 min/day). For percent of MVPA, four classes emerged: 59.9% of population (mean 25.0 min/day), 33.3% (60.9 min/day), 3.1% (89.0 min/day), and 3.6% (109.3 min/day). For percent of vigorous activity, three classes emerged: 76.8% of population (mean 7.1 min/day), 18.5% (23.9 min/day), and 4.7% (47.4 min/day). Classes were developed by age

Atrial natriuretic peptide and feeding activity patterns in rats

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Oliveira M.H.A.

1997-01-01

Full Text Available This review presents historical data about atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP from its discovery as an atrial natriuretic factor (ANF to its role as an atrial natriuretic hormone (ANH. As a hormone, ANP can interact with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-A and is related to feeding activity patterns in the rat. Food restriction proved to be an interesting model to investigate this relationship. The role of ANP must be understood within a context of peripheral and central interactions involving different peptides and pathways

Altered movement patterns and muscular activity during single and double leg squats in individuals with anterior cruciate ligament injury.

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Trulsson, Anna; Miller, Michael; Hansson, Gert-Åke; Gummesson, Christina; Garwicz, Martin

2015-02-13

Individuals with Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury often show altered movement patterns, suggested to be partly due to impaired sensorimotor control. Here, we therefore aimed to assess muscular activity during movements often used in ACL-rehabilitation and to characterize associations between deviations in muscular activity and specific altered movement patterns, using and further exploring the previously developed Test for substitution Patterns (TSP). Sixteen participants (10 women) with unilateral ACL rupture performed Single and Double Leg Squats (SLS; DLS). Altered movement patterns were scored according to TSP, and Surface Electromyography (SEMG) was recorded bilaterally in six hip, thigh and shank muscles. To quantify deviations in muscular activity, SEMG ratios were calculated between homonymous muscles on injured and non-injured sides, and between antagonistic muscles on the same side. Correlations between deviations of injured/non-injured side SEMG ratios and specific altered movement patterns were calculated. Injured/non-injured ratios were low at transition from knee flexion to extension in quadriceps in SLS, and in quadriceps and hamstrings in DLS. On injured side, the quadriceps/hamstrings ratio prior to the beginning of DLS and end of DLS and SLS, and tibialis/gastrocnemius ratio at end of DLS were lower than on non-injured side. Correlations were found between specific altered movement patterns and deviating muscular activity at transition from knee flexion to extension in SLS, indicating that the more deviating the muscular activity on injured side, the more pronounced the altered movement pattern. "Knee medial to supporting foot" correlated to lower injured/non-injured ratios in gluteus medius (rs = -0.73, p = 0.001), "lateral displacement of hip-pelvis-region" to lower injured/non-injured ratios in quadriceps (rs = -0.54, p = 0.03) and "displacement of trunk" to higher injured/non-injured ratios in gluteus medius (rs = 0.62, p = 0

Playing and Listening to Tailor-Made Notched Music: Cortical Plasticity Induced by Unimodal and Multimodal Training in Tinnitus Patients

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Janna Pape

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background. The generation and maintenance of tinnitus are assumed to be based on maladaptive functional cortical reorganization. Listening to modified music, which contains no energy in the range of the individual tinnitus frequency, can inhibit the corresponding neuronal activity in the auditory cortex. Music making has been shown to be a powerful stimulator for brain plasticity, inducing changes in multiple sensory systems. Using magnetoencephalographic (MEG and behavioral measurements we evaluated the cortical plasticity effects of two months of (a active listening to (unisensory versus (b learning to play (multisensory tailor-made notched music in nonmusician tinnitus patients. Taking into account the fact that uni- and multisensory trainings induce different patterns of cortical plasticity we hypothesized that these two protocols will have different affects. Results. Only the active listening (unisensory group showed significant reduction of tinnitus related activity of the middle temporal cortex and an increase in the activity of a tinnitus-coping related posterior parietal area. Conclusions. These findings indicate that active listening to tailor-made notched music induces greater neuroplastic changes in the maladaptively reorganized cortical network of tinnitus patients while additional integration of other sensory modalities during training reduces these neuroplastic effects.

Playing and listening to tailor-made notched music: cortical plasticity induced by unimodal and multimodal training in tinnitus patients.

Science.gov (United States)

Pape, Janna; Paraskevopoulos, Evangelos; Bruchmann, Maximilian; Wollbrink, Andreas; Rudack, Claudia; Pantev, Christo

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND. The generation and maintenance of tinnitus are assumed to be based on maladaptive functional cortical reorganization. Listening to modified music, which contains no energy in the range of the individual tinnitus frequency, can inhibit the corresponding neuronal activity in the auditory cortex. Music making has been shown to be a powerful stimulator for brain plasticity, inducing changes in multiple sensory systems. Using magnetoencephalographic (MEG) and behavioral measurements we evaluated the cortical plasticity effects of two months of (a) active listening to (unisensory) versus (b) learning to play (multisensory) tailor-made notched music in nonmusician tinnitus patients. Taking into account the fact that uni- and multisensory trainings induce different patterns of cortical plasticity we hypothesized that these two protocols will have different affects. RESULTS. Only the active listening (unisensory) group showed significant reduction of tinnitus related activity of the middle temporal cortex and an increase in the activity of a tinnitus-coping related posterior parietal area. CONCLUSIONS. These findings indicate that active listening to tailor-made notched music induces greater neuroplastic changes in the maladaptively reorganized cortical network of tinnitus patients while additional integration of other sensory modalities during training reduces these neuroplastic effects.

SEASONAL DIFFERENCES IN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND SEDENTARY PATTERNS: THE RELEVANCE OF THE PA CONTEXT

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Pedro Silva

2011-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of this pilot study was to characterize seasonal variation in the moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA and sedentary behavior of Portuguese school youth, and understand the influence of activity choices and settings. The participants in this study were 24 students, aged 10-13 years. Accelerometers measured daily PA over 7 consecutive days, in different seasons May - June and January - February. In summer, boys accumulated more minutes in MVPA (928 minutes/week than girls (793 minutes/week. In winter the pattern was reversed with girls accumulating more activity than boys (736 minutes/week vs. 598 minutes/week. The repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant effects for season (F = 5.98, p = 0.023 and in- school vs. out-of-school (F = 6.53, p = 0.018. Youth were more active in the summer and activity levels were higher after school than in school. Summer season provided relevant contexts for youth physical activity accumulation. Winter season may have been a significant barrier to boy's preferred PA context. Differences in choices of outdoor or indoor PA, after school, explained the gender differences in seasonal activity patterns

Stochastic demand patterns for Markov service facilities with neutral and active periods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Csenki, Attila

2009-01-01

In an earlier paper, a closed form expression was obtained for the joint interval reliability of a Markov system with a partitioned state space S=U union D, i.e. for the probability that the system will reside in the set of up states U throughout the union of some specific disjoint time intervals I l =[θ l ,θ l +ζ l ],l=1,...,k. The deterministic time intervals I l formed a demand pattern specifying the desired active periods. In the present paper, we admit stochastic demand patterns by assuming that the lengths of the active periods, ζ l , as well as the lengths of the neutral periods, θ l -(θ l-1 +ζ l-1 ), are random. We explore two mechanisms for modelling random demand: (1) by alternating renewal processes; (2) by sojourn times of some continuous time Markov chain with a partitioned state space. The first construction results in an expression in terms of a revised version of the moment generating functions of the sojourns of the alternating renewal process. The second construction involves the probability that a Markov chain follows certain patterns of visits to some groups of states and yields an expression using Kronecker matrix operations. The model of a small computer system is analysed to exemplify the ideas

The Impact of Nutrient State and Lake Depth on Top-down Control in the Pelagic Zone of Lakes: A Study of 466 Lakes from the Temperate Zone to the Arctic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jeppesen, E.; Jensen, J. P.; Jensen, C.

2003-01-01

is unimodally related to TP and is highest in the most nutrient-rich and nutrient-poor lakes and generally higher in shallow than deep lakes, (b) the cascading effect of changes in predator control on phytoplankton decreases with increasing TP, and (c) these general patterns occur with significant variations......%, respectively, at all TP levels. Moreover, deep lakes (more than 6 m) had a higher percentage of Daphnia than shallow (less than 6 m) lakes. The median percentage of Daphnia peaked at 0.15 mg L-1 in shallow lakes and 0.09 mg L-1 in deep lakes. The assumption that fish are responsible for the unimodality...

Analysis on Residents’ Travel Activity Pattern in Historic Urban Areas: A Case Study of Historic Urban Area of Yangzhou, China

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Mao Ye

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Travel behaviors and activity patterns in the historic urban area of a city are expected to be different from the overall situations in the city area. The primary objective of this study is to analyze the residents’ travel activity patterns in historic urban area. Based on survey data conducted in the historic urban area of Yangzhou, the travel activities of local residents in a whole day were classified into five types of patterns. The multinomial logit (MNL model was developed to evaluate the impacts of explanatory variables on the choices of activity patterns. The results showed that the choice of activity pattern was significantly impacted by five contributing factors including the gender, age, occupation, car ownership, and number of electric bikes in household. The other variables, which were the family population, preschoolers, number of conventional bikes in household, motorcycle ownership, and income, were found to be not significantly related to the choice of activities. The results of this study from historic urban area were compared to findings of previous studies from overall urban area. The comparison showed that the impacts of factors on activity pattern in the historic urban area were different from those in the overall area. Findings of this study provide important suggestions for the policy makings to improve the traffic situations in historic urban areas of cities.

Differences in the EMG pattern of lea muscle activation during locomotion in Parkinson's disease

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Albani, G; Sandrini, G; Kunig, G; Martin-Soelch, C; Mauro, A; Pignatti, R; Pacchetti, C; Dietz, [No Value; Leenders, KL

2003-01-01

In this pilot study, EMG patterns of leg muscle activation were studied in five parkinsonian patients with (B1) and five without (B2) freezing. Gastrocnemius medialis (GM) and tibialis anterior (TA) activity was analysed, by means of surface electromyography (EMG), during treadmill walking at two

Correlations between human mobility and social interaction reveal general activity patterns

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mollgaard, Anders; Jørgensen, Sune Lehmann; Mathiesen, Joachim

2017-01-01

A day in the life of a person involves a broad range of activities which are common across many people. Going beyond diurnal cycles, a central question is: to what extent do individuals act according to patterns shared across an entire population? Here we investigate the interplay between differe...... they be of social or of physical character....

Seasonal and Diel Activity Patterns of Eight Sympatric Mammals in Northern Japan Revealed by an Intensive Camera-Trap Survey.

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Takashi Ikeda

Full Text Available The activity patterns of mammals are generally categorized as nocturnal, diurnal, crepuscular (active at twilight, and cathemeral (active throughout the day. These patterns are highly variable across regions and seasons even within the same species. However, quantitative data is still lacking, particularly for sympatric species. We monitored the seasonal and diel activity patterns of terrestrial mammals in Hokkaido, Japan. Through an intensive camera-trap survey a total of 13,279 capture events were recorded from eight mammals over 20,344 camera-trap days, i.e., two years. Diel activity patterns were clearly divided into four categories: diurnal (Eurasian red squirrels, nocturnal (raccoon dogs and raccoons, crepuscular (sika deer and mountain hares, and cathemeral (Japanese martens, red foxes, and brown bears. Some crepuscular and cathemeral mammals shifted activity peaks across seasons. Particularly, sika deer changed peaks from twilight during spring-autumn to day-time in winter, possibly because of thermal constraints. Japanese martens were cathemeral during winter-summer, but nocturnal in autumn. We found no clear indication of predator-prey and competitive interactions, suggesting that animal densities are not very high or temporal niche partitioning is absent among the target species. This long-term camera-trap survey was highly cost-effective and provided one of the most detailed seasonal and diel activity patterns in multiple sympatric mammals under natural conditions.

Patterns of health behaviour associated with active travel: a compositional data analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Foley, Louise; Dumuid, Dorothea; Atkin, Andrew J; Olds, Timothy; Ogilvie, David

2018-03-21

Active travel (walking or cycling for transport) is associated with favourable health outcomes in adults. However, little is known about the concurrent patterns of health behaviour associated with active travel. We used compositional data analysis to explore differences in how people doing some active travel used their time compared to those doing no active travel, incorporating physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep. We analysed cross-sectional data from the 2014/15 United Kingdom Harmonised European Time Use Survey. Participants recorded two diary days of activity, and we randomly selected one day from participants aged 16 years or over. Activities were categorised into six mutually exclusive sets, accounting for the entire 24 h: (1) sleep; (2) leisure moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA); (3) leisure sedentary screen time; (4) non-discretionary time (work, study, chores and caring duties); (5) travel and (6) other. This mixture of activities was defined as a time-use composition. A binary variable was created indicating whether participants reported any active travel on their selected diary day. We used compositional multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to test whether mean time-use composition differed between individuals reporting some active travel and those reporting no active travel, adjusted for covariates. We then used adjusted linear regression models and bootstrap confidence intervals to identify which of the six activity sets differed between groups. 6143 participants (mean age 48 years; 53% female) provided a valid diary day. There was a statistically significant difference in time-use composition between those reporting some active travel and those reporting no active travel. Those undertaking active travel reported a relatively greater amount of time in leisure MVPA and travel, and a relatively lower amount of time in leisure sedentary screen time and sleep. Compared to those not undertaking active travel, those who did

Tracking urban human activity from mobile phone calling patterns.

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Monsivais, Daniel; Ghosh, Asim; Bhattacharya, Kunal; Dunbar, Robin I M; Kaski, Kimmo

2017-11-01

Timings of human activities are marked by circadian clocks which in turn are entrained to different environmental signals. In an urban environment the presence of artificial lighting and various social cues tend to disrupt the natural entrainment with the sunlight. However, it is not completely understood to what extent this is the case. Here we exploit the large-scale data analysis techniques to study the mobile phone calling activity of people in large cities to infer the dynamics of urban daily rhythms. From the calling patterns of about 1,000,000 users spread over different cities but lying inside the same time-zone, we show that the onset and termination of the calling activity synchronizes with the east-west progression of the sun. We also find that the onset and termination of the calling activity of users follows a yearly dynamics, varying across seasons, and that its timings are entrained to solar midnight. Furthermore, we show that the average mid-sleep time of people living in urban areas depends on the age and gender of each cohort as a result of biological and social factors.

Tracking urban human activity from mobile phone calling patterns.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Monsivais

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Timings of human activities are marked by circadian clocks which in turn are entrained to different environmental signals. In an urban environment the presence of artificial lighting and various social cues tend to disrupt the natural entrainment with the sunlight. However, it is not completely understood to what extent this is the case. Here we exploit the large-scale data analysis techniques to study the mobile phone calling activity of people in large cities to infer the dynamics of urban daily rhythms. From the calling patterns of about 1,000,000 users spread over different cities but lying inside the same time-zone, we show that the onset and termination of the calling activity synchronizes with the east-west progression of the sun. We also find that the onset and termination of the calling activity of users follows a yearly dynamics, varying across seasons, and that its timings are entrained to solar midnight. Furthermore, we show that the average mid-sleep time of people living in urban areas depends on the age and gender of each cohort as a result of biological and social factors.

Geographical patterns of the standing and active human gut microbiome in health and IBD.

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Rehman, Ateequr; Rausch, Philipp; Wang, Jun; Skieceviciene, Jurgita; Kiudelis, Gediminas; Bhagalia, Ketan; Amarapurkar, Deepak; Kupcinskas, Limas; Schreiber, Stefan; Rosenstiel, Philip; Baines, John F; Ott, Stephan

2016-02-01

A global increase of IBD has been reported, especially in countries that previously had low incidence rates. Also, the knowledge of the human gut microbiome is steadily increasing, however, limited information regarding its variation on a global scale is available. In the light of the microbial involvement in IBDs, we aimed to (1) identify shared and distinct IBD-associated mucosal microbiota patterns from different geographical regions including Europe (Germany, Lithuania) and South Asia (India) and (2) determine whether profiling based on 16S rRNA transcripts provides additional resolution, both of which may hold important clinical relevance. In this study, we analyse a set of 89 mucosal biopsies sampled from individuals of German, Lithuanian and Indian origins, using bacterial community profiling of a roughly equal number of healthy controls, patients with Crohn's disease and UC from each location, and analyse 16S rDNA and rRNA as proxies for standing and active microbial community structure, respectively. We find pronounced population-specific as well as general disease patterns in the major phyla and patterns of diversity, which differ between the standing and active communities. The geographical origin of samples dominates the patterns of β diversity with locally restricted disease clusters and more pronounced effects in the active microbial communities. However, two genera belonging to the Clostridium leptum subgroup, Faecalibacteria and Papillibacter, display consistent patterns with respect to disease status and may thus serve as reliable 'microbiomarkers'. These analyses reveal important interactions of patients' geographical origin and disease in the interpretation of disease-associated changes in microbial communities and highlight the added value of analysing communities on both the 16S rRNA gene (DNA) and transcript (RNA) level. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go

Detectable elements in a particles pattern of suspended urban matter analysed by neutron activation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Herrera, L.; Beltran, C.; Alemon, E.; Ortiz, M.E.

2001-01-01

The multielement composition of a Standard Reference Material 1648 pattern certified is reported and it is used for the suspended in air aerosol samples analysis from urban localities of the Valley of Mexico, which was irradiated in the same geometry of the sample. The bottom of laboratory is analysed where was made the gamma spectrometry and it is compared the ratio of country up of bottom photo peaks with pattern photo peaks in nearer interest regions. The bottom natural gamma transmitters were identified and those of the activated pattern in the TRIGA Mark III nuclear reactor. (Author)

Making inferences about patterns in wildlife tourism activities in Scotland using social media

OpenAIRE

Mancini, Francesca

2016-01-01

The Power Point file contains the slides of my talk for the BES 2016 annual meeting. The title of the talk is: "Making inferences about patterns in wildlife tourism activities in Scotland using social media".

Acute stress evokes sexually dimorphic, stressor-specific patterns of neural activation across multiple limbic brain regions in adult rats.

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Sood, Ankit; Chaudhari, Karina; Vaidya, Vidita A

2018-03-01

Stress enhances the risk for psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression. Stress responses vary across sex and may underlie the heightened vulnerability to psychopathology in females. Here, we examined the influence of acute immobilization stress (AIS) and a two-day short-term forced swim stress (FS) on neural activation in multiple cortical and subcortical brain regions, implicated as targets of stress and in the regulation of neuroendocrine stress responses, in male and female rats using Fos as a neural activity marker. AIS evoked a sex-dependent pattern of neural activation within the cingulate and infralimbic subdivisions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), lateral septum (LS), habenula, and hippocampal subfields. The degree of neural activation in the mPFC, LS, and habenula was higher in males. Female rats exhibited reduced Fos positive cell numbers in the dentate gyrus hippocampal subfield, an effect not observed in males. We addressed whether the sexually dimorphic neural activation pattern noted following AIS was also observed with the short-term stress of FS. In the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and the amygdala, FS similar to AIS resulted in robust increases in neural activation in both sexes. The pattern of neural activation evoked by FS was distinct across sexes, with a heightened neural activation noted in the prelimbic mPFC subdivision and hippocampal subfields in females and differed from the pattern noted with AIS. This indicates that the sex differences in neural activation patterns observed within stress-responsive brain regions are dependent on the nature of stressor experience.

Physical activity patterns in older men and women in Germany: a cross-sectional study

OpenAIRE

Trampisch Ulrike; Klaaßen-Mielke Renate; Platen Petra; Moschny Anna; Hinrichs Timo

2011-01-01

Abstract Background Data on physical activity in older adults in Germany is scarce. The aim of this study was to analyze physical activity patterns and to explore factors associated with physical activity in different domains, i.e. sporting activities (SA) and domestic activities (DA), in older men and women. Methods As part of the 7-year follow-up telephone interviews of the getABI cohort (community-dwelling older adults in Germany), the PRISCUS-PAQ was used to survey participants about thei...

Detecting bladder fullness through the ensemble activity patterns of the spinal cord unit population in a somatovisceral convergence environment

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Park, Jae Hong; Kim, Chang-Eop; Shin, Jaewoo; Im, Changkyun; Koh, Chin Su; Seo, In Seok; Kim, Sang Jeong; Shin, Hyung-Cheul

2013-10-01

Objective. Chronic monitoring of the state of the bladder can be used to notify patients with urinary dysfunction when the bladder should be voided. Given that many spinal neurons respond both to somatic and visceral inputs, it is necessary to extract bladder information selectively from the spinal cord. Here, we hypothesize that sensory information with distinct modalities should be represented by the distinct ensemble activity patterns within the neuronal population and, therefore, analyzing the activity patterns of the neuronal population could distinguish bladder fullness from somatic stimuli. Approach. We simultaneously recorded 26-27 single unit activities in response to bladder distension or tactile stimuli in the dorsal spinal cord of each Sprague-Dawley rat. In order to discriminate between bladder fullness and tactile stimulus inputs, we analyzed the ensemble activity patterns of the entire neuronal population. A support vector machine (SVM) was employed as a classifier, and discrimination performance was measured by k-fold cross-validation tests. Main results. Most of the units responding to bladder fullness also responded to the tactile stimuli (88.9-100%). The SVM classifier precisely distinguished the bladder fullness from the somatic input (100%), indicating that the ensemble activity patterns of the unit population in the spinal cord are distinct enough to identify the current input modality. Moreover, our ensemble activity pattern-based classifier showed high robustness against random losses of signals. Significance. This study is the first to demonstrate that the two main issues of electroneurographic monitoring of bladder fullness, low signals and selectiveness, can be solved by an ensemble activity pattern-based approach, improving the feasibility of chronic monitoring of bladder fullness by neural recording.

Measuring the Actual Levels and Patterns of Physical Activity/Inactivity of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

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Finlayson, Janet; Turner, Angela; Granat, Malcolm H.

2011-01-01

Background: Lack of regular physical activity is a significant risk to health. The aim of this study was to objectively measure the levels and patterns of activity of adults with intellectual disabilities, to inform the design of studies aimed at increasing activity and health in this population. Materials and Methods: Interviews were conducted…

Sedentary and Physical Activity Patterns in Adults with Intellectual Disability

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Oviedo, Guillermo R.; Travier, Noémie; Guerra-Balic, Myriam

2017-01-01

Little is known about the patterns of sedentary time (ST) and physical activity (PA) levels throughout the week among adults and older adults with Intellectual Disability (ID). We analyzed ST and PA patterns of adults and older adults with ID. Forty-two adults and 42 older adults with mild to severe ID participated in this study. Height and weight were obtained to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI). Body fat and fat-free mass percentages were also obtained. Patterns of PA levels and ST were assessed with GT3X Actigraph accelerometers. Adults performed higher amounts of total PA and moderate to vigorous PA than older adults during the week, on weekdays and in center time (all p > 0.05). No differences between males and females were found for either PA levels or ST. Only 10.7% of the participants met the global recommendations on PA for health. The participants of the current study showed low PA levels and a high prevalence of ST. Interestingly, when comparing age and/or sex groups, no differences were observed for ST. Our findings provide novel and valuable information to be considered in future interventions aiming to increase PA levels and reduce ST. PMID:28880236

Sedentary and Physical Activity Patterns in Adults with Intellectual Disability

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Guillermo R. Oviedo

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Little is known about the patterns of sedentary time (ST and physical activity (PA levels throughout the week among adults and older adults with Intellectual Disability (ID. We analyzed ST and PA patterns of adults and older adults with ID. Forty-two adults and 42 older adults with mild to severe ID participated in this study. Height and weight were obtained to calculate Body Mass Index (BMI. Body fat and fat-free mass percentages were also obtained. Patterns of PA levels and ST were assessed with GT3X Actigraph accelerometers. Adults performed higher amounts of total PA and moderate to vigorous PA than older adults during the week, on weekdays and in center time (all p > 0.05. No differences between males and females were found for either PA levels or ST. Only 10.7% of the participants met the global recommendations on PA for health. The participants of the current study showed low PA levels and a high prevalence of ST. Interestingly, when comparing age and/or sex groups, no differences were observed for ST. Our findings provide novel and valuable information to be considered in future interventions aiming to increase PA levels and reduce ST.

Spoken Language Activation Alters Subsequent Sign Language Activation in L2 Learners of American Sign Language

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Williams, Joshua T.; Newman, Sharlene D.

2017-01-01

A large body of literature has characterized unimodal monolingual and bilingual lexicons and how neighborhood density affects lexical access; however there have been relatively fewer studies that generalize these findings to bimodal (M2) second language (L2) learners of sign languages. The goal of the current study was to investigate parallel…

Spatial Patterns and Interspecific Associations of Three Canopy Species at Different Life Stages in a Subtropical Forest,China

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Lin Li; Shi-Guang Wei; Zhong-Liang Huang; Wan-Hui Ye; Hong-Lin Cao

2008-01-01

Spatial patterns of species at different life stages are an important aspect for understanding causal mechanisms that facilitate species co-existence.Using Ripley's univariate L(t) and bivariate L12(t) functions,we analyzed the spatial patterns and interspecific associations of three canopy species at different life history stages in a 20-ha subtropical forest plot in Dinghushan Nature Reserve.Based on diameter at breast height (DBH),four life stages were distinguished.Castanopsis chinensis and Schima superba showed a unimodal DBH distribution.Engelhardtia roxburghiana showed a bimodal curve.L(t) function analysis showed significantly aggregated distributions of all three species at later life stages and random distribution at early life stages at some scales.From the analysis of L12(t) function,the results showed the positive association was a dominant pattern for most species pairs at most scales but the intensity of association decreases with the increase of life stages.Juveniles of the three species had no negative intra- and interspecific associations with the older life stages.Only premature trees were suppressed by overmature trees at some scales.Considering these results,we found three canopy-dominant species that lacked regeneration.There was no direct competition occurring between understorey individuals.Young trees can grow well under conspecific species with two other species.Longevity and lack of regeneration led to a large number of trees stored in mature and overmature stages,therefore,intra-and inter-competition can be strong at later life stages.

Household food security and nutritional status of vulnerable groups in Kenya : a seasonal study among low income smallholder rural households

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kigutha, H.N.

1994-01-01

Climatic seasonality is now recognized as being a constraint to agricultural production and to household food security in many countries within the tropical regions of the world. This study investigated the extent to which a unimodal climatic pattern affects food production and food

Area PEc Neurons Use a Multiphasic Pattern of Activity to Signal the Spatial Properties of Optic Flow

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Milena Raffi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The cortical representation of visual perception requires the integration of several-signal processing distributed across many cortical areas, but the neural substrates of such perception are largely unknown. The type of firing pattern exhibited by single neurons is an important indicator of dynamic circuitry within or across cortical areas. Neurons in area PEc are involved in the spatial mapping of the visual field; thus, we sought to analyze the firing pattern of activity of PEc optic flow neurons to shed some light on the cortical processing of visual signals. We quantified the firing activity of 152 optic flow neurons using a spline interpolation function, which allowed determining onset, end, and latency of each neuronal response. We found that many PEc neurons showed multiphasic activity, which is strictly related to the position of the eye and to the position of the focus of expansion (FOE of the flow field. PEc neurons showed a multiphasic activity comprised of excitatory phases interspersed with inhibitory pauses. This phasic pattern seems to be a very efficient way to signal the spatial location of visual stimuli, given that the same neuron sends different firing patterns according to a specific combination of FOE/eye position.

Multiagent-Based Simulation of Temporal-Spatial Characteristics of Activity-Travel Patterns Using Interactive Reinforcement Learning

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Min Yang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a multiagent-based reinforcement learning algorithm, in which the interactions between travelers and the environment are considered to simulate temporal-spatial characteristics of activity-travel patterns in a city. Road congestion degree is added to the reinforcement learning algorithm as a medium that passes the influence of one traveler’s decision to others. Meanwhile, the agents used in the algorithm are initialized from typical activity patterns extracted from the travel survey diary data of Shangyu city in China. In the simulation, both macroscopic activity-travel characteristics such as traffic flow spatial-temporal distribution and microscopic characteristics such as activity-travel schedules of each agent are obtained. Comparing the simulation results with the survey data, we find that deviation of the peak-hour traffic flow is less than 5%, while the correlation of the simulated versus survey location choice distribution is over 0.9.

Physical activity patterns and risk of depression in young adulthood: a 20-year cohort study since childhood.

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McKercher, Charlotte; Sanderson, Kristy; Schmidt, Michael D; Otahal, Petr; Patton, George C; Dwyer, Terence; Venn, Alison J

2014-11-01

Little is known about how physical activity patterns during childhood and adolescence are associated with risk of subsequent depression. We examined prospective and retrospective associations between leisure physical activity patterns from childhood to adulthood and risk of clinical depression in young adulthood. Participants (759 males, 871 females) in a national survey, aged 9-15 years, were re-interviewed approximately 20 years later. Leisure physical activity was self-reported at baseline (1985) and follow-up (2004-2006). To bridge the interval between the two time-points, historical leisure activity from age 15 years to adulthood was self-reported retrospectively at follow-up. Physical activity was categorized into groups that, from a public health perspective, compared patterns that were least beneficial (persistently inactive) with those increasingly beneficial (decreasing, increasing and persistently active). Depression (major depressive or dysthymic disorder) was assessed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Compared with those persistently inactive, males who were increasingly and persistently active had a 69 and 65 % reduced risk of depression in adulthood, respectively (all p active had a 51 % reduced risk of depression in adulthood (p = 0.01). Similar but non-significant trends were observed for leisure physical activity in females and historical leisure activity in males. Results excluded those with childhood onset of depression and were adjusted for various sociodemographic and health covariates. Findings from both prospective and retrospective analyses indicate a beneficial effect of habitual discretionary physical activity since childhood on risk of depression in young adulthood.

Using visual information analysis to explore complex patterns in the activity of designers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cash, Philip; Stanković, Tino; Štorga, Mario

2014-01-01

The analysis of complex interlinked datasets poses a significant problem for design researchers. This is addressed by proposing an information visualisation method for analysing patterns of design activity, qualitatively and quantitatively, with respect to time. This method visualises the tempora...

Differential Activation Patterns of fMRI in Sleep-Deprived Brain: Restoring Effects of Acupuncture

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Lei Gao

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Previous studies suggested a remediation role of acupuncture in insomnia, and acupuncture also has been used in insomnia empirically and clinically. In this study, we employed fMRI to test the role of acupuncture in sleep deprivation (SD. Sixteen healthy volunteers (8 males were recruited and scheduled for three fMRI scanning procedures, one following the individual’s normal sleep and received acupuncture SP6 (NOR group and the other two after 24 h of total SD with acupuncture on SP6 (SD group or sham (Sham group. The sessions were counterbalanced approximately two weeks apart. Acupuncture stimuli elicited significantly different activation patterns of three groups. In NOR group, the right superior temporal lobe, left inferior parietal lobule, and left postcentral gyrus were activated; in SD group, the anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral insula, left basal ganglia, and thalamus were significantly activated while, in Sham group, the bilateral thalamus and left cerebellum were activated. Different activation patterns suggest a unique role of acupuncture on SP6 in remediation of SD. SP6 elicits greater and anatomically different activations than those of sham stimuli; that is, the salience network, a unique interoceptive autonomic circuit, may indicate the mechanism underlying acupuncture in restoring sleep deprivation.

Dusk to dawn activity patterns of anopheline mosquitoes in West Timor and Java, Indonesia.

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Ndoen, Ermi; Wild, Clyde; Dale, Pat; Sipe, Neil; Dale, Mike

2011-05-01

Malaria is a serious health issue in Indonesia. We investigated the dusk to dawn anopheline mosquito activity patterns, host-seeking and resting locations in coastal plain, hilly and highland areas in West Timor and Java. Adult mosquitoes were captured landing on humans or resting in houses or animal barns. Data analyzed were: mosquito night-time activities; period of peak activity; night-time activity in specific periods of time and for mosquito resting locations. Eleven species were recorded; data were sparse for some species therefore detailed analyses were performed for four species only. In Java Anopheles vagus was common, with a bimodal pattern of high activity. In West Timor, its activity peaked around midnight. Other species with peak activity around the middle of the night were An. barbirostris and An. subpictus. Most species showed no biting and resting preference for indoors or outdoors, although An. barbirostris preferred indoors in West Timor, but outdoors in Java. An. aconitus and An. annularis preferred resting in human dwellings; An. subpictus and An. vagus preferred resting in animal barns. An. barbirostris preferred resting in human dwellings in West Timor and in animal barns in Java. The information is useful for planning the mosquito control aspect of malaria management. For example, where mosquito species have peak activity at night indoors, bednets and indoor residual spraying should reduce malaria risk, but where mosquitoes are most active outdoors, other options may be more effective.

Relations among physical activity patterns, lifestyle activities, and fundamental movement skills for Finnish students in grade 7.

Science.gov (United States)

Jaakkola, Timo; Kalaja, Sami; Liukkonen, Jarmo; Jutila, Ari; Virtanen, Petri; Watt, Anthony

2009-02-01

To investigate the relations among leisure time physical activity and in sport clubs, lifestyle activities, and the locomotor, balance manipulative skills of Grade 7 students participating in Finnish physical education at a secondary school in central Finland completed self-report questionnaires on their physical activity patterns at leisure time and during sport club participation, and time spent watching television and using the computer and other electronic media. Locomotor skills were analyzed by the leaping test, balance skills by the flamingo standing test, and manipulative skills by the accuracy throwing test. Analysis indicated physical activity in sport clubs positively explained scores on balance and locomotor tests but not on accuracy of throwing. Leisure time physical activity and lifestyle activities were not statistically significant predictors of performance on any movement skill tests. Girls scored higher on the static balance skill and boys higher on the throwing task. Overall, physical activity in sport clubs was more strongly associated with performance on the fundamental movement tasks than was physical activity during leisure.

Transcultural differences in brain activation patterns during theory of mind (ToM) task performance in Japanese and Caucasian participants.

Science.gov (United States)

Koelkebeck, Katja; Hirao, Kazuyuki; Kawada, Ryousaku; Miyata, Jun; Saze, Teruyasu; Ubukata, Shiho; Itakura, Shoji; Kanakogi, Yasuhiro; Ohrmann, Patricia; Bauer, Jochen; Pedersen, Anya; Sawamoto, Nobukatsu; Fukuyama, Hidenao; Takahashi, Hidehiko; Murai, Toshiya

2011-01-01

Theory of mind (ToM) functioning develops during certain phases of childhood. Factors such as language development and educational style seem to influence its development. Some studies that have focused on transcultural aspects of ToM development have found differences between Asian and Western cultures. To date, however, little is known about transcultural differences in neural activation patterns as they relate to ToM functioning. The aim of our study was to observe ToM functioning and differences in brain activation patterns, as assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This study included a sample of 18 healthy Japanese and 15 healthy Caucasian subjects living in Japan. We presented a ToM task depicting geometrical shapes moving in social patterns. We also administered questionnaires to examine empathy abilities and cultural background factors. Behavioral data showed no significant group differences in the subjects' post-scan descriptions of the movies. The imaging results displayed stronger activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) in the Caucasian sample during the presentation of ToM videos. Furthermore, the task-associated activation of the MPFC was positively correlated with autistic and alexithymic features in the Japanese sample. In summary, our results showed evidence of culturally dependent sociobehavioral trait patterns, which suggests that they have an impact on brain activation patterns during information processing involving ToM.

Relationships between the home environment and physical activity and dietary patterns of preschool children: a cross-sectional study

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Curnow Fiona

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Objective To assess relationships between characteristics of the home environment and preschool children's physical activity and dietary patterns. Methods Homes of 280 preschool children were visited and information obtained by direct observation and parent interview regarding physical and nutritional characteristics of the home environment. Children's physical activity, sedentary behaviour and dietary patterns were measured using standardised parent-report questionnaires. Associations were analysed using analysis of variance and correlation. Results Parental physical activity (p = 0.03–0.008, size of backyard (p = 0.001 and amount of outdoor play equipment (p = 0.003 were associated with more outdoor play. Fewer rules about television viewing (p Conclusion Physical attributes of the home environment and parental behaviours are associated with preschool children's physical activity, sedentary behaviour and dietary patterns. Many of these variables are modifiable and could be targeted in childhood obesity prevention and management.

Geographic Variation in Daily Temporal Activity Patterns of a Neotropical Marsupial (Gracilinanus agilis.

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Emerson M Vieira

Full Text Available The temporal activity of animals is an outcome of both biotic and abiotic factors, which may vary along the geographic range of the species. Therefore, studies conducted with a species in different localities with distinct features could elucidate how animals deal with such factors. In this study, we used live traps equipped with timing devices to investigate the temporal activity patterns of the didelphid Gracilinanus agilis in two dry-woodland areas of the Brazilian savanna (Cerrado. These areas were located about 660 km apart, one in Central Brazil and the other in Southeastern Brazil. We compared such patterns considering both reproductive and non-reproductive periods, and how it varies as a function of temperature on a seasonal basis. In Central Brazil, we found a constant, and temperature-independent activity during the night in both reproductive and non-reproductive periods. On the other hand, in Southeastern Brazil, we detected a constant activity during the reproductive period, but in the non-reproductive period G. agilis presented a peak of activity between two and four hours after sunset. Moreover, in this latter we found a relation between temporal activity and temperature during the autumn and spring. These differences in temporal activity between areas, observed during the non-reproductive period, might be associated with the higher seasonal variability in temperature, and lower mean temperatures in the Southeastern site in comparison to the Central one. In Southeastern Brazil, the decrease in temperature during the non-reproductive season possibly forced G. agilis to be active only at certain hours of the night. However, likely due to the reproductive activities (intensive foraging and searching for mates this marsupial showed constant, temperature-independent activity during the night in the reproductive period at both sites.

Chimera distribution amplitudes for the pion and the longitudinally polarized ρ-meson

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stefanis, N.G., E-mail: stefanis@tp2.ruhr-uni-bochum.de [Institut für Theoretische Physik II, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum (Germany); Pimikov, A.V., E-mail: pimikov@theor.jinr.ru [Bogoliubov Laboratory of Theoretical Physics, JINR, 141980 Dubna (Russian Federation); Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000 (China)

2016-01-15

Using QCD sum rules with nonlocal condensates, we show that the distribution amplitude of the longitudinally polarized ρ-meson may have a shorttailed platykurtic profile in close analogy to our recently proposed platykurtic distribution amplitude for the pion. Such a chimera distribution de facto amalgamates the broad unimodal profile of the distribution amplitude, obtained with a Dyson–Schwinger equations-based computational scheme, with the suppressed tails characterizing the bimodal distribution amplitudes derived from QCD sum rules with nonlocal condensates. We argue that pattern formation, emerging from the collective synchronization of coupled oscillators, can provide a single theoretical scaffolding to study unimodal and bimodal distribution amplitudes of light mesons without recourse to particular computational schemes and the reasons for them.

The Cladistic Basis for the Phylogenetic Diversity (PD Measure Links Evolutionary Features to Environmental Gradients and Supports Broad Applications of Microbial Ecology’s “Phylogenetic Beta Diversity” Framework

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Rob Knight

2009-11-01

Full Text Available The PD measure of phylogenetic diversity interprets branch lengths cladistically to make inferences about feature diversity. PD calculations extend conventional specieslevel ecological indices to the features level. The “phylogenetic beta diversity” framework developed by microbial ecologists calculates PD-dissimilarities between community localities. Interpretation of these PD-dissimilarities at the feature level explains the framework’s success in producing ordinations revealing environmental gradients. An example gradients space using PD-dissimilarities illustrates how evolutionary features form unimodal response patterns to gradients. This features model supports new application of existing species-level methods that are robust to unimodal responses, plus novel applications relating to climate change, commercial products discovery, and community assembly.

Emergence of long-range correlations and bursty activity patterns in online communication

Science.gov (United States)

Panzarasa, Pietro; Bonaventura, Moreno

2015-12-01

Research has suggested that the activity occurring in a variety of social, economic, and technological systems exhibits long-range fluctuations in time. Pronounced levels of rapidly occurring events are typically observed over short periods of time, followed by long periods of inactivity. Relatively few studies, however, have shed light on the degree to which inhomogeneous temporal processes can be detected at, and emerge from, different levels of analysis. Here we investigate patterns of human activity within an online forum in which communication can be assessed at three intertwined levels: the micro level of the individual users; the meso level of discussion groups and continuous sessions; and the macro level of the whole system. To uncover the relation between different levels, we conduct a number of numerical simulations of a zero-crossing model in which users' behavior is constrained by progressively richer and more realistic rules of social interaction. Results indicate that, when users are solipsistic, their bursty behavior is not sufficient for generating heavy-tailed interevent time distributions at a higher level. However, when users are socially interdependent, the power spectra and interevent time distributions of the simulated and real forums are remarkably similar at all levels of analysis. Social interaction is responsible for the aggregation of multiple bursty activities at the micro level into an emergent bursty activity pattern at a higher level. We discuss the implications of the findings for an emergentist account of burstiness in complex systems.

Voluntary resistance running wheel activity pattern and skeletal muscle growth in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Legerlotz, Kirsten; Elliott, Bradley; Guillemin, Bernard; Smith, Heather K

2008-06-01

The aims of this study were to characterize the pattern of voluntary activity of young rats in response to resistance loading on running wheels and to determine the effects of the activity on the growth of six limb skeletal muscles. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (4 weeks old) were housed individually with a resistance running wheel (R-RUN, n = 7) or a conventional free-spinning running wheel (F-RUN, n = 6) or without a wheel, as non-running control animals (CON, n = 6). The torque required to move the wheel in the R-RUN group was progressively increased, and the activity (velocity, distance and duration of each bout) of the two running wheel groups was recorded continuously for 45 days. The R-RUN group performed many more, shorter and faster bouts of running than the F-RUN group, yet the mean daily distance was not different between the F-RUN (1.3 +/- 0.2 km) and R-RUN group (1.4 +/- 0.6 km). Only the R-RUN resulted in a significantly (P RUN and R-RUN led to a significantly greater wet mass relative to increase in body mass and muscle fibre cross-sectional area in the soleus muscle compared with CON. We conclude that the pattern of voluntary activity on a resistance running wheel differs from that on a free-spinning running wheel and provides a suitable model to induce physiological muscle hypertrophy in rats.

Walking or dancing: patterns of physical activity by cross-sectional age among U.S. women.

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Fan, Jessie X; Kowaleski-Jones, Lori; Wen, Ming

2013-10-01

To identify age differences in physical activity (PA) participation for women. Data from 3,952 women 25+ from the 2003-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) were used to analyze participation patterns for 17 PA types. The top five leisure PAs by participation rate for all ages were walking (42%), dancing (20%), treadmill (15%), biking (11%), and yoga (10%). Participation in running, dancing, treadmill, and team sports declined around ages 35 to 44, and participation in household PA, walking, weightlifting, and hiking declined around ages 55 to 64. At age 75+ further substantial decline in most activities occurred. Nativity status was the most important moderator for age-related PA decline. Total PA declines with age but significant decline does not occur until ages 55 to 64. Major decline in leisure PA participation starts earlier at ages 35 to 44. While age-related declining patterns differ for different activities, the top five most popular leisure activities are similar for all age groups.

A Longitudinal Study in Learning Preferences and Academic Performance in First Year Medical School.

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Hu, Yenya; Gao, Hong; Wofford, Marcia M; Violato, Claudio

2017-12-18

This is a longitudinal study of first year medical students that investigates the relationship between the pattern change of the learning preferences and academic performance. Using the visual, auditory, reading-writing, and kinesthetic inventory at the beginning of the first and second year for the same class, it was found that within the first year, 36% of the class remained unimodal (single) modality learners (SS), 14% changed from unimodal to multimodality learners (SM), 27% changed from multimodality to unimodal modality learners (MS) and 21% remained as multimodality learners (MM). Among the academic performance through subsequent didactic blocks from Clinical Anatomy, Cell and Subcellular Processes to Medical Neuroscience during first year, the SM group made more significant improvement compared to the SS group. Semi-structured interview results from the SM group showed that students made this transition between the Clinical Anatomy course and the middle of the Medical Neuroscience course, in an effort to improve their performance. This study suggests that the transition from unimodal to multimodality learning among academically struggling students improved their academic performance in the first year of medical school. Therefore, this may be considered as part of academic advising tools for struggling students to improve their academic performances. Anat Sci Educ. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.

Patterns of acoustical activity of bats prior to and following White-nose Syndrome occurrence

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Ford, W. Mark; Britzke, Eric R.; Dobony, Christopher A.; Rodrigue, Jane L.; Johnson, Joshua B.

2011-01-01

White-nose Syndrome (WNS), a wildlife health concern that has decimated cave-hibernating bat populations in eastern North America since 2006, began affecting source-caves for summer bat populations at Fort Drum, a U.S. Army installation in New York in the winter of 2007–2008. As regional die-offs of bats became evident, and Fort Drum's known populations began showing declines, we examined whether WNS-induced change in abundance patterns and seasonal timing of bat activity could be quantified using acoustical surveys, 2003–2010, at structurally uncluttered riparian–water habitats (i.e., streams, ponds, and wet meadows). As predicted, we observed significant declines in overall summer activity between pre-WNS and post-WNS years for little brown bats Myotis lucifugus, northern bats M. septentrionalis, and Indiana bats M. sodalis. We did not observe any significant change in activity patterns between pre-WNS and post-WNS years for big brown bats Eptesicus fuscus, eastern red bats Lasiurus borealis, or the small number of tri-colored bats Perimyotis subflavus. Activity of silver-haired bats Lasionycteris noctivagans increased from pre-WNS to post-WNS years. Activity levels of hoary bats Lasiurus cinereus significantly declined between pre- and post-WNS years. As a nonhibernating, migratory species, hoary bat declines might be correlated with wind-energy development impacts occurring in the same time frame rather than WNS. Intraseason activity patterns also were affected by WNS, though the results were highly variable among species. Little brown bats showed an overall increase in activity from early to late summer pre-WNS, presumably due to detections of newly volant young added to the local population. However, the opposite occurred post-WNS, indicating that reproduction among surviving little brown bats may be declining. Our data suggest that acoustical monitoring during the summer season can provide insights into species' relative abundance on the

Histogram-based automatic thresholding for bruise detection of apples by structured-illumination reflectance imaging

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Thresholding is an important step in the segmentation of image features, and the existing methods are not all effective when the image histogram exhibits a unimodal pattern, which is common in defect detection of fruit. This study was aimed at developing a general automatic thresholding methodology ...

Complement activating soluble pattern recognition molecules with collagen-like regions, mannan-binding lectin, ficolins and associated proteins

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thiel, Steffen

2007-01-01

Mannan-binding lectin (MBL), L-ficolin, M-ficolin and H-ficolin are all complement activating soluble pattern recognition molecules with recognition domains linked to collagen-like regions. All four may form complexes with four structurally related proteins, the three MBL-associated serine...... proteases (MASPs), MASP-1, MASP-2 and MASP-3, and a smaller MBL-associated protein (MAp19). The four recognition molecules recognize patterns of carbohydrate or acetyl-group containing ligands. After binding to the relevant targets all four are able to activate the complement system. We thus have a system...... where four different and/or overlapping patterns of microbial origin or patterns of altered-self may be recognized, but in all cases the signalling molecules, the MASPs, are shared. MASP-1 and MASP-3 are formed from one gene, MASP1/3, by alternative splicing generating two different mRNAs from a single...

Increasing ocean temperatures reduce activity patterns of a large commercially important coral reef fish.

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Johansen, J L; Messmer, V; Coker, D J; Hoey, A S; Pratchett, M S

2014-04-01

Large-bodied fish are critical for sustaining coral reef fisheries, but little is known about the vulnerability of these fish to global warming. This study examined the effects of elevated temperatures on the movement and activity patterns of the common coral trout Plectropomus leopardus (Serranidae), which is an important fishery species in tropical Australia and throughout the Indo West-Pacific. Adult fish were collected from two locations on Australia's Great Barrier Reef (23°S and 14°S) and maintained at one of four temperatures (24, 27, 30, 33 °C). Following >4 weeks acclimation, the spontaneous swimming speeds and activity patterns of individuals were recorded over a period of 12 days. At 24-27 °C, spontaneous swimming speeds of common coral trout were 0.43-0.45 body lengths per second (bls(-1)), but dropped sharply to 0.29 bls(-1) at 30 °C and 0.25 bls(-1) at 33 °C. Concurrently, individuals spent 9.3-10.6% of their time resting motionless on the bottom at 24-27 °C, but this behaviour increased to 14.0% at 30 °C and 20.0% of the time at 33 °C (mean ± SE). The impact of temperature was greatest for smaller individuals (55 cm TL) were first affected by 30 °C and 33 °C, respectively. Importantly, there was some indication that populations can adapt to elevated temperature if presented with adequate time, as the high-latitude population decreased significantly in swimming speeds at both 30 °C and 33 °C, while the low-latitude population only showed significant reductions at 33 °C. Given that movement and activity patterns of large mobile species are directly related to prey encounter rates, ability to capture prey and avoid predators, any reductions in activity patterns are likely to reduce overall foraging and energy intake, limit the energy available for growth and reproduction, and affect the fitness and survival of individuals and populations. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A multimodal spectral approach to characterize rhythm in natural speech.

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Alexandrou, Anna Maria; Saarinen, Timo; Kujala, Jan; Salmelin, Riitta

2016-01-01

Human utterances demonstrate temporal patterning, also referred to as rhythm. While simple oromotor behaviors (e.g., chewing) feature a salient periodical structure, conversational speech displays a time-varying quasi-rhythmic pattern. Quantification of periodicity in speech is challenging. Unimodal spectral approaches have highlighted rhythmic aspects of speech. However, speech is a complex multimodal phenomenon that arises from the interplay of articulatory, respiratory, and vocal systems. The present study addressed the question of whether a multimodal spectral approach, in the form of coherence analysis between electromyographic (EMG) and acoustic signals, would allow one to characterize rhythm in natural speech more efficiently than a unimodal analysis. The main experimental task consisted of speech production at three speaking rates; a simple oromotor task served as control. The EMG-acoustic coherence emerged as a sensitive means of tracking speech rhythm, whereas spectral analysis of either EMG or acoustic amplitude envelope alone was less informative. Coherence metrics seem to distinguish and highlight rhythmic structure in natural speech.

Distributed patterns of activity in sensory cortex reflect the precision of multiple items maintained in visual short-term memory.

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Emrich, Stephen M; Riggall, Adam C; Larocque, Joshua J; Postle, Bradley R

2013-04-10

Traditionally, load sensitivity of sustained, elevated activity has been taken as an index of storage for a limited number of items in visual short-term memory (VSTM). Recently, studies have demonstrated that the contents of a single item held in VSTM can be decoded from early visual cortex, despite the fact that these areas do not exhibit elevated, sustained activity. It is unknown, however, whether the patterns of neural activity decoded from sensory cortex change as a function of load, as one would expect from a region storing multiple representations. Here, we use multivoxel pattern analysis to examine the neural representations of VSTM in humans across multiple memory loads. In an important extension of previous findings, our results demonstrate that the contents of VSTM can be decoded from areas that exhibit a transient response to visual stimuli, but not from regions that exhibit elevated, sustained load-sensitive delay-period activity. Moreover, the neural information present in these transiently activated areas decreases significantly with increasing load, indicating load sensitivity of the patterns of activity that support VSTM maintenance. Importantly, the decrease in classification performance as a function of load is correlated with within-subject changes in mnemonic resolution. These findings indicate that distributed patterns of neural activity in putatively sensory visual cortex support the representation and precision of information in VSTM.

Exotic high activity surface patterns in PtAu nanoclusters

KAUST Repository

Mokkath, Junais Habeeb

2013-05-09

The structure and chemical ordering of PtAu nanoclusters of 79, 135, and 201 atoms are studied via a combination of a basin hopping atom-exchange technique (to locate the lowest energy homotops at fixed composition), a symmetry orbit technique (to find the high symmetry isomers), and density functional theory local reoptimization (for determining the most stable homotop). The interatomic interactions between Pt and Au are derived from the empirical Gupta potential. The lowest energy structures show a marked tendency toward PtcoreAushell chemical ordering by enrichment of the more cohesive Pt in the core region and of Au in the shell region. We observe a preferential segregation of Pt atoms to (111) facets and Au atoms to (100) facets of the truncated octahedron cluster motif. Exotic surface patterns are obtained particularly for Pt-rich compositions, where Pt atoms are being surrounded by Au atoms. These surface arrangements boost the catalytic activity by creating a large number of active sites. © 2013 American Chemical Society.

Evidence for similar patterns of neural activity elicited by picture- and word-based representations of natural scenes.

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Kumar, Manoj; Federmeier, Kara D; Fei-Fei, Li; Beck, Diane M

2017-07-15

A long-standing core question in cognitive science is whether different modalities and representation types (pictures, words, sounds, etc.) access a common store of semantic information. Although different input types have been shown to activate a shared network of brain regions, this does not necessitate that there is a common representation, as the neurons in these regions could still differentially process the different modalities. However, multi-voxel pattern analysis can be used to assess whether, e.g., pictures and words evoke a similar pattern of activity, such that the patterns that separate categories in one modality transfer to the other. Prior work using this method has found support for a common code, but has two limitations: they have either only examined disparate categories (e.g. animals vs. tools) that are known to activate different brain regions, raising the possibility that the pattern separation and inferred similarity reflects only large scale differences between the categories or they have been limited to individual object representations. By using natural scene categories, we not only extend the current literature on cross-modal representations beyond objects, but also, because natural scene categories activate a common set of brain regions, we identify a more fine-grained (i.e. higher spatial resolution) common representation. Specifically, we studied picture- and word-based representations of natural scene stimuli from four different categories: beaches, cities, highways, and mountains. Participants passively viewed blocks of either phrases (e.g. "sandy beach") describing scenes or photographs from those same scene categories. To determine whether the phrases and pictures evoke a common code, we asked whether a classifier trained on one stimulus type (e.g. phrase stimuli) would transfer (i.e. cross-decode) to the other stimulus type (e.g. picture stimuli). The analysis revealed cross-decoding in the occipitotemporal, posterior parietal and

GABAB-receptor activation alters the firing pattern of dopamine neurons in the rat substantia nigra.

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Engberg, G; Kling-Petersen, T; Nissbrandt, H

1993-11-01

Previous electrophysiological experiments have emphasized the importance of the firing pattern for the functioning of midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons. In this regard, excitatory amino acid receptors appear to constitute an important modulatory control mechanism. In the present study, extracellular recording techniques were used to investigate the significance of GABAB-receptor activation for the firing properties of DA neurons in the substantia nigra (SN) in the rat. Intravenous administration of the GABAB-receptor agonist baclofen (1-16 mg/kg) was associated with a dose-dependent regularization of the firing pattern, concomitant with a reduction in burst firing. At higher doses (16-32 mg/kg), the firing rate of the DA neurons was dose-dependently decreased. Also, microiontophoretic application of baclofen regularized the firing pattern of nigral DA neurons, including a reduction of burst firing. Both the regularization of the firing pattern and inhibition of firing rate produced by systemic baclofen administration was antagonized by the GABAB-receptor antagonist CGP 35348 (200 mg/kg, i.v.). The GABAA-receptor agonist muscimol produced effects on the firing properties of DA neurons that were opposite to those observed following baclofen, i.e., an increase in firing rate accompanied by a decreased regularity. The NMDA receptor antagonist MK 801 (0.4-3.2 mg/kg, i.v.) produced a moderate, dose-dependent increase in the firing rate of the nigral DA neurons as well as a slightly regularized firing pattern. Pretreatment with MK 801 (3.2 mg/kg, i.v., 3-10 min) did neither promote nor prevent the regularization of the firing pattern or inhibition of firing rate on the nigral DA neurons produced by baclofen. The present results clearly show that GABAB-receptors can alter the firing pattern of nigral DA neurons, hereby counterbalancing the previously described ability of glutamate to induce burst firing activity on these neurons.

Collective Behavior of Chiral Active Matter: Pattern Formation and Enhanced Flocking

Science.gov (United States)

Liebchen, Benno; Levis, Demian

2017-08-01

We generalize the Vicsek model to describe the collective behavior of polar circle swimmers with local alignment interactions. While the phase transition leading to collective motion in 2D (flocking) occurs at the same interaction to noise ratio as for linear swimmers, as we show, circular motion enhances the polarization in the ordered phase (enhanced flocking) and induces secondary instabilities leading to structure formation. Slow rotations promote macroscopic droplets with late time sizes proportional to the system size (indicating phase separation) whereas fast rotations generate patterns consisting of phase synchronized microflocks with a controllable characteristic size proportional to the average single-particle swimming radius. Our results defy the viewpoint that monofrequent rotations form a vapid extension of the Vicsek model and establish a generic route to pattern formation in chiral active matter with possible applications for understanding and designing rotating microflocks.

Patterns of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in preschool children

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Van Cauwenberghe Eveline

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Little is known about patterns of sedentary behavior (SB and physical activity among preschoolers. Therefore, in this observational study patterns of SB and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA were examined in detail throughout the week in preschool-aged boys and girls. Methods A sample of 703 Melbourne preschool children (387 boys; 4.6 ± 0.7 y were included in data analysis. SB and MVPA data were collected using accelerometry over an eight-day period. Percentage of time per hour in SB and in MVPA between 08:00 h and 20:00 h was calculated. Multi-level logistic regression models were created to examine the hour-by-hour variability in SB and MVPA for boys and girls across weekdays and weekend days. Odds ratios (OR were calculated to interpret differences in hour-by-hour SB and MVPA levels between boys and girls, and between weekdays and weekend days. Results The highest SB levels co-occurred with the lowest MVPA levels from the morning till the early afternoon on weekdays, and during the morning and around midday on weekends. Besides, participation in SB was the lowest and participation in MVPA was the highest from the mid afternoon till the evening on weekdays and weekend days. The variability across the hours in SB and, especially, in MVPA was rather small throughout weekdays and weekends. These patterns were found in both boys and girls. During some hours, girls were found to be more likely than boys to demonstrate higher SB levels (OR from 1.08 to 1.16; all p  Conclusion Entire weekdays, especially from the morning till the early afternoon, and entire weekend days are opportunities to reduce SB and to promote MVPA in preschool-aged boys and girls. Particularly weekdays hold the greatest promise for improving SB and MVPA. No particular time of the week was found where one sex should be targeted.

Patterns and Associated Factors of Physical Activity among Adolescents in Nigeria.

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Adewale L Oyeyemi

Full Text Available Understanding the context where adolescents' physical activity (PA takes place could impact a more targeted approach to implement PA promotion and interventions in Africa. However, standardized data on adolescents' PA behaviour is lacking in Nigeria. We described PA patterns in the various domains (home, school, transport, leisure-time and intensity categories (light-intensity PA, moderate- to vigorous- intensity physical activity [MVPA] and total PA, and their associations with sociodemographic factors and socioeconomic status (SES among secondary school adolescents in Nigeria.A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a representative sample of 1006 secondary school adolescents (12-18 years, 50.4% girls in Maiduguri, Nigeria. Self-reported PA was assessed with an adapted version of the Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents and Young Adults. Outcomes were weekly minutes (min/wk of PA spent in the various domains and intensity categories. Multivariate ANOVA was used to examine associations of PA scores (domains and intensity levels with adolescents' sociodemographic characteristics and SES, and track differences in PA scores between subgroups.The total sample reported most PA at school (1525 min/wk, the least during active transportation (210 min/wk, and only 37% engaged in 60 min of MVPA daily. Boys reported significantly more leisure-time PA (P<0.001, active transportation (P<0.001, MVPA (P = 0.023 and total PA (P = 0.003 than girls, while girls reported more school-based PA (P = 0.009, home-based PA (P<0.001 and light-intensity PA (P<0.001 than boys. Moderate-intensity PA (P = 0.024 and total PA (P = 0.049 were significantly higher in younger age group than in older group. Household car ownership was associated with less active transportation (P = 0.009, less moderate-intensity PA (P = 0.048 and with more leisure-time PA (P = 0.013. High parental SES was associated with more leisure-time PA (P = 0.002, more MVPA (P = 0.047 and less active

A Fuzzy Logic Prompting Mechanism Based on Pattern Recognition and Accumulated Activity Effective Index Using a Smartphone Embedded Sensor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chung-Tse Liu

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Sufficient physical activity can reduce many adverse conditions and contribute to a healthy life. Nevertheless, inactivity is prevalent on an international scale. Improving physical activity is an essential concern for public health. Reminders that help people change their health behaviors are widely applied in health care services. However, timed-based reminders deliver periodic prompts suffer from flexibility and dependency issues which may decrease prompt effectiveness. We propose a fuzzy logic prompting mechanism, Accumulated Activity Effective Index Reminder (AAEIReminder, based on pattern recognition and activity effective analysis to manage physical activity. AAEIReminder recognizes activity levels using a smartphone-embedded sensor for pattern recognition and analyzing the amount of physical activity in activity effective analysis. AAEIReminder can infer activity situations such as the amount of physical activity and days spent exercising through fuzzy logic, and decides whether a prompt should be delivered to a user. This prompting system was implemented in smartphones and was used in a short-term real-world trial by seventeenth participants for validation. The results demonstrated that the AAEIReminder is feasible. The fuzzy logic prompting mechanism can deliver prompts automatically based on pattern recognition and activity effective analysis. AAEIReminder provides flexibility which may increase the prompts’ efficiency.

Angiogenesis interactome and time course microarray data reveal the distinct activation patterns in endothelial cells.

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Liang-Hui Chu

Full Text Available Angiogenesis involves stimulation of endothelial cells (EC by various cytokines and growth factors, but the signaling mechanisms are not completely understood. Combining dynamic gene expression time-course data for stimulated EC with protein-protein interactions associated with angiogenesis (the "angiome" could reveal how different stimuli result in different patterns of network activation and could implicate signaling intermediates as points for control or intervention. We constructed the protein-protein interaction networks of positive and negative regulation of angiogenesis comprising 367 and 245 proteins, respectively. We used five published gene expression datasets derived from in vitro assays using different types of blood endothelial cells stimulated by VEGFA (vascular endothelial growth factor A. We used the Short Time-series Expression Miner (STEM to identify significant temporal gene expression profiles. The statistically significant patterns between 2D fibronectin and 3D type I collagen substrates for telomerase-immortalized EC (TIME show that different substrates could influence the temporal gene activation patterns in the same cell line. We investigated the different activation patterns among 18 transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptors, and experimentally measured the protein level of the tyrosine-kinase receptors VEGFR1, VEGFR2 and VEGFR3 in human umbilical vein EC (HUVEC and human microvascular EC (MEC. The results show that VEGFR1-VEGFR2 levels are more closely coupled than VEGFR1-VEGFR3 or VEGFR2-VEGFR3 in HUVEC and MEC. This computational methodology can be extended to investigate other molecules or biological processes such as cell cycle.

Auditory attention activates peripheral visual cortex.

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Anthony D Cate

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Recent neuroimaging studies have revealed that putatively unimodal regions of visual cortex can be activated during auditory tasks in sighted as well as in blind subjects. However, the task determinants and functional significance of auditory occipital activations (AOAs remains unclear. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We examined AOAs in an intermodal selective attention task to distinguish whether they were stimulus-bound or recruited by higher-level cognitive operations associated with auditory attention. Cortical surface mapping showed that auditory occipital activations were localized to retinotopic visual cortex subserving the far peripheral visual field. AOAs depended strictly on the sustained engagement of auditory attention and were enhanced in more difficult listening conditions. In contrast, unattended sounds produced no AOAs regardless of their intensity, spatial location, or frequency. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Auditory attention, but not passive exposure to sounds, routinely activated peripheral regions of visual cortex when subjects attended to sound sources outside the visual field. Functional connections between auditory cortex and visual cortex subserving the peripheral visual field appear to underlie the generation of AOAs, which may reflect the priming of visual regions to process soon-to-appear objects associated with unseen sound sources.

Body weight, eating patterns, and physical activity: the role of education.

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Atella, Vincenzo; Kopinska, Joanna

2014-08-01

In this article, we empirically study the role of education attainment on individual body mass index (BMI), eating patterns, and physical activity. We allow for endogeneity of schooling choices for females and males in a mean and quantile instrumental variables framework. We find that completion of lower secondary education has a significant positive impact on reduction of individual BMI, containment of calorie consumption, and promotion of physical activity. Interestingly, these effects are heterogeneous across genders and distributions. In particular, for BMI and calorie expenditure, the effect of education is significant for females and is more pronounced for women with high body mass and low physical activity. On the other hand, the effect of education on eating patterns is significant mainly for males, being more beneficial for men with elevated calorie consumption. We also show that education attainment is likely to foster productive and allocative efficiency of individuals in the context of BMI formation. Given that the literature suggests that education fosters development of cognition, self-control, and a variety of skills and abilities, in our context it is thus likely to promote lifetime preferences and means of individuals, which in turn enable them to achieve better health outcomes. Education also provides exposure to physical education and to school subjects enhancing individual deliberative skills, which are important factors shaping calorie expenditure and intake. Finally, we show that in the presence of strong socioeconomic inequalities in BMI, education is likely to have a pronounced impact on healthy BMI for the disadvantaged groups, represented in our framework by females.

Patterns of myopigenic activities with age, gender and ethnicity in Sydney schoolchildren.

Science.gov (United States)

French, Amanda N; Morgan, Ian G; Mitchell, Paul; Rose, Kathryn A

2013-05-01

To examine the patterns of myopigenic activity (high near work, low time outdoors) in children growing up in Sydney, Australia, by age, ethnicity and gender. The Sydney Adolescent Vascular and Eye Study (SAVES) re-examined children from the two age cohorts (6 and 12 years at baseline) from the Sydney Myopia Study (SMS). At 5-6 year follow-up, 863 in the younger cohort and 1196 in the older cohort had complete refraction data. Cycloplegic autorefraction (cyclopentolate 1%; Canon RK-F1) was measured at baseline and follow-up. Children who became myopic (≤-0.50 dioptres spherical equivalent refraction) were those classified as non-myopic at baseline and myopic at follow-up. A detailed questionnaire was administered to measure weekly activities, including time spent outdoors and near work at both baseline and follow-up examination. Overall, 128 (14.8%) children in the younger cohort and 210 (17.6%) in the older cohort became myopic. At follow-up, for both cohorts, children had significantly reduced the amount of time spent outdoors (younger cohort, p = 0.001, older cohort, p Asian ethnicity spent significantly less time outdoors by more than 7 h per week (both cohorts at baseline and follow-up, all p Asian ancestry having a more myopigenic activity pattern than European Caucasian children. Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics © 2013 The College of Optometrists.

Gender differences in physical activity patterns among older adults who fall.

Science.gov (United States)

Stahl, Sarah T; Albert, Steven M

2015-02-01

This study describes gender differences in the level and pattern of physical activity in groups of older adults who were frequent fallers, intermittent fallers, or non-fallers. Interviews were conducted with adults aged 50 years and older (N=1834) at senior centers across Pennsylvania from 2010 to 2011. Self-reported falls and validated measures of physical activity were collected at baseline and at 6- and 12-month follow-up assessments. Complete follow-up data were available for 1487 participants. Men who fell frequently decreased in recreational/leisure activity and household/yard work compared to the intermittent fallers and non-fallers. This association remained even when controlling for baseline health status. All women-regardless of fall group-engaged in similar levels of recreational/leisure activity and household/yard work over time. For both men and women, frequent fallers also showed a greater decrease in walking activities compared to intermittent fallers and non-fallers. Frequent falling among older adults is associated with declines in common leisure, household, and walking activities. The effect of falling frequency on physical activity appears to affect men and women differently, generating the hypothesis that interventions to promote physical activity among fallers need to be gender specific. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Developmental patterns and parental correlates of youth leisure-time physical activity.

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Lam, Chun Bun; McHale, Susan M

2015-02-01

This study examined the developmental patterns and parental correlates of youth leisure-time physical activity from middle childhood through adolescence. On 5 occasions across 7 years, fathers, mothers, and children who were first- and second born from 201 European American, working- and middle-class families participated in home and multiple nightly phone interviews. Multilevel modeling revealed that, controlling for family socioeconomic status, neighborhood characteristics, and youth overweight status and physical health, leisure-time physical activity increased during middle childhood and declined across adolescence, and the decline was more pronounced for girls than for boys. Moreover, controlling for time-varying, parental work hours and youth interest in sports and outdoor activities, on occasions when fathers and mothers spent proportionally more time on these activities with youth than usual, youth also spent more total time on these activities than usual. The within-person association between mother-youth joint involvement and youth's total involvement in leisure-time physical activity reached statistical significance at the transition to adolescence, and became stronger over time. Findings highlight the importance of maintaining adolescents', especially girls', physical activity levels and targeting both fathers' and mothers' involvement to promote youth's physical activity. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Acquisition, extinction, and recall of opiate reward memory are signaled by dynamic neuronal activity patterns in the prefrontal cortex.

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Sun, Ninglei; Chi, Ning; Lauzon, Nicole; Bishop, Stephanie; Tan, Huibing; Laviolette, Steven R

2011-12-01

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) comprises an important component in the neural circuitry underlying drug-related associative learning and memory processing. Neuronal activation within mPFC circuits is correlated with the recall of opiate-related drug-taking experiences in both humans and other animals. Using an unbiased associative place conditioning procedure, we recorded mPFC neuronal populations during the acquisition, recall, and extinction phases of morphine-related associative learning and memory. Our analyses revealed that mPFC neurons show increased activity both in terms of tonic and phasic activity patterns during the acquisition phase of opiate reward-related memory and demonstrate stimulus-locked associative activity changes in real time, during the recall of opiate reward memories. Interestingly, mPFC neuronal populations demonstrated divergent patterns of bursting activity during the acquisition versus recall phases of newly acquired opiate reward memory, versus the extinction of these memories, with strongly increased bursting during the recall of an extinction memory and no associative bursting during the recall of a newly acquired opiate reward memory. Our results demonstrate that neurons within the mPFC are involved in both the acquisition, recall, and extinction of opiate-related reward memories, showing unique patterns of tonic and phasic activity patterns during these separate components of the opiate-related reward learning and memory recall.

Sedentary patterns, physical activity and health-related physical fitness in youth: a cross-sectional study

OpenAIRE

J?dice, Pedro B.; Silva, Analiza M.; Berria, Juliane; Petroski, Edio L.; Ekelund, Ulf; Sardinha, Lu?s B.

2017-01-01

Background: Strong evidence indicates that moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is positively associated with fitness in youth, independent of total sedentary-time. Sedentary-time appears negatively associated with fitness only when it replaces MVPA. However, whether different sedentary-patterns affect health-related fitness is unknown. Methods: The associations between MVPA and sedentary-patterns with physical fitness were examined in 2698 youths (1262 boys) aged 13.4 ± 2.28 years. Sed...

Patterns of Asexuality in China: Sexual Activity, Sexual and Romantic Attraction, and Sexual Desire.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Lijun; Su, Yanchen

2018-05-01

This study examined patterns of asexuality in Chinese asexual people in terms of sexual activities, sexual/romantic attraction, and sexual desire. The sample included 227 (64 men and 163 women) asexual participants and 57 (26 men and 31 women) uncertain asexual participants recruited from social networks for asexual people. The control group included 217 (115 men and 102 women) heterosexual participants recruited from general social networks. Participants scoring 40 or higher on the Asexuality Identification Scale were classified as asexual. Asexual participants reported having less frequent masturbation, sexual intercourse experience, and sexual and romantic attraction compared to heterosexual participants. Lower sexual attraction among asexuals indicated that "people who experience little or no sexual attraction" would be a more appropriate definition of asexuality. The pattern of uncertain asexual participants' sexual/romantic attraction and sexual desire was intermediate between heterosexual and asexual participants. Asexual participants scored significantly lower on dyadic sexual desire and slightly lower on solitary sexual desire than heterosexual participants. There were significant differences in sexual activities and solitary sexual desire among romantic orientation categories. Homoromantic participants showed higher dyadic sexual desire and were more likely to engage in masturbation, indicating the heterogeneity among asexual people. The findings indicated that Chinese asexual people showed similar patterns of asexuality as in Western nations. Specifically, asexual people have little or no sexual attraction, non-partner-orientated sexual desire, and are heterogeneous in sexual activities and sexual desire. This implies similar mechanisms underlying the etiology of asexuality across cultures.

Pattern Matching for Volcano Status Assessment: what monitoring data alone can say about Mt. Etna activity

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Cannavo, F.; Cannata, A.; Cassisi, C.

2017-12-01

The importance of assessing the ongoing status of active volcanoes is crucial not only for exposures to the local population but due to possible presence of tephra also for airline traffic. Adequately monitoring of active volcanoes, hence, plays a key role for civil protection purposes. In last decades, in order to properly monitor possible threats, continuous measuring networks have been designed and deployed on most of potentially hazardous volcanos. Nevertheless, at the present, volcano real-time surveillance is basically delegated to one or more human experts in volcanology, who interpret data coming from different kind of monitoring networks using their experience and non-measurable information (e.g. information from the field) to infer the volcano status. In some cases, raw data are used in some models to obtain more clues on the ongoing activity. In the last decades, with the development of volcano monitoring networks, huge amount of data of different geophysical, geochemical and volcanological types have been collected and stored in large databases. Having such big data sets with many examples of volcanic activity allows us to study volcano monitoring from a machine learning perspective. Thus, exploiting opportunities offered by the abundance of volcano monitoring time-series data we can try to address the following questions: Are the monitored parameters sufficient to discriminate the volcano status? Is it possible to infer/distinguish the volcano status only from the multivariate patterns of measurements? Are all the kind of measurements in the pattern equally useful for status assessment? How accurate would be an automatic system of status inference based only on pattern recognition of data? Here we present preliminary results of the data analysis we performed on a set of data and activity covering the period 2011-2017 at Mount Etna (Italy). In the considered period, we had 52 events of lava fountaining and long periods of Strombolian activity. We

Joint Association of Dietary Pattern and Physical Activity Level with Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors among Chinese Men: A Cross-Sectional Study.

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Dong Wang

Full Text Available The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the joint associations of physical activity level (PAL and dietary patterns in relation to cardiovascular disease (CVD risk factors among Chinese men. The study population consisted of 13 511 Chinese males aged 18-59 years from the 2002 China National Nutrition and Health Survey. Based on dietary data collected by a food frequency questionnaire, four dietary patterns were identified and labeled as "Green Water" (high consumption of rice, vegetables, seafood, pork, and poultry, "Yellow Earth" (high consumption of wheat flour products and starchy tubers, "New Affluent" (high consumption of animal sourced foods and soybean products, and "Western Adopter" (high consumption of animal sourced foods, cakes, and soft drinks. From the information collected by a 1-year physical activity questionnaire, PAL was calculated and classified into 4 categories: sedentary, low active, active, and very active. As compared with their counterparts from the New Affluent pattern, participants who followed the Green Water pattern had a lower likelihood of abdominal obesity (AO; 50.2%, hypertension (HT; 37.9%, hyperglycemia (HG; 41.5%, elevated triglyceride (ETG; 14.5%, low HDL (LHDL; 39.8%, and metabolic syndrome (MS; 51.9%. When compared to sedentary participants, the odds ratio of participants with very active PAL was 0.62 for AO, 0.85 for HT, 0.71 for HG, 0.76 for ETG, 0.74 for LHDL, and 0.58 for MS. Individuals who followed both very active PAL and the Green Water pattern had a lower likelihood of CVD risk factors (AO: 65.8%, HT: 39.1%, HG: 57.4%, ETG: 35.4%, LHDL: 56.1%, and MS: 75.0%, compared to their counterparts who followed both sedentary PAL and the New Affluent pattern. In addition, adherence to both healthy dietary pattern and very active PAL presented a remarkable potential for CVD risk factor prevention.

Potential effect modifiers of the association between physical activity patterns and joint symptoms in middle aged women.

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Peeters, Geeske; Edwards, Kimberley L; Brown, Wendy J; Barker, Anna L; Arden, Nigel; Redmond, Anthony C; Conaghan, Philip G; Cicuttini, Flavia; Mishra, Gita D

2017-12-06

To examine whether body mass index (BMI), menopausal status and hormone therapy (HT) use modify the association between physical activity (PA) patterns throughout middle age and incidence and prevalence of joint symptoms in later middle age in women. Data were from 6661 participants (born 1946-1951) in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Surveys were completed every three years from 1998 to 2010 with questions on joint pain and stiffness, PA, height and weight, menopausal symptoms, and HT use. PA patterns were defined as 'none-or-low', 'low-or-meeting-guidelines', 'fluctuating' or 'meeting guidelines-at-all-times' (reference pattern). Logistic regression was used to examine the association between PA patterns and prevalent (in 2010) and cumulative incident (1998-2010) joint symptoms and effect modification by patterns of BMI, menopausal status and HT. The groups representing 'fluctuating' (odds ratio [OR]=1.34, 99% confidence interval [CI]=1.04-1.72) and 'none-or-low' physical activity (OR=1.60, CI =1.08-2.35) had higher odds of incident joint symptoms than those 'meeting guidelines-at-all-times'. Stratification by BMI showed that this association was statistically significant in the obese group only. No evidence was found for effect modification by menopausal status or HT use. The findings were similar for prevalent joint symptoms. Maintaining at least low levels of physical activity throughout middle age was associated with lower prevalence and incidence of joint symptoms in later life. This apparent protective effect of physical activity on joint symptoms was stronger in obese women than in under or normal weight women, and not related to menopause and HT status. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Patterns of frontoparietal activation as a marker for unsuccessful visuospatial processing in healthy aging.

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Drag, Lauren L; Light, Sharee N; Langenecker, Scott A; Hazlett, Kathleen E; Wilde, Elisabeth A; Welsh, Robert; Steinberg, Brett A; Bieliauskas, Linas A

2016-09-01

Visuospatial abilities are sensitive to age-related decline, although the neural basis for this decline (and its everyday behavioral correlates) is as yet poorly understood. fMRI was employed to examine age-related differences in patterns of functional activation that underlie changes in visuospatial processing. All participants completed a brief neuropsychological battery and also a figure ground task (FGT) assessing visuospatial processing while fMRI was recorded. Participants included 16 healthy older adults (OA; aged 69-82 years) and 16 healthy younger adults (YA; aged 20-35 years). We examined age-related differences in behavioral performance on the FGT in relation to patterns of fMRI activation. OA demonstrated reduced performance on the FGT task and showed increased activation of supramarginal parietal cortex as well as increased activation of frontal and temporal regions compared to their younger counterparts. Performance on the FGT related to increased supramarginal gyrus activity and increased medial prefrontal activity in OAs, but not YAs. Our results are consistent with an anterior-posterior compensation model. Successful FGT performance requires the perception and integration of multiple stimuli and thus it is plausible that healthy aging may be accompanied by changes in visuospatial processing that mimic a subtle form of dorsal simultanagnosia. Overall, decreased visuospatial processing in OA relates to an altered frontoparietal neurobiological signature that may contribute to the general phenomenon of increasingly fragmented execution of behavior associated with normal aging.

Physical activity patterns and estimated daily energy expenditures in normal and overweight tunisian schoolchildren.

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Zarrouk, Fayçal; Bouhlel, Ezdine; Feki, Youssef; Amri, Mohamed; Shephard, Roy J

2009-01-01

Our aim was to test the normality of physical activity patterns and energy expenditures in normal weight and overweight primary school students. Heart rate estimates of total daily energy expenditure (TEE), active energy expenditure (AEE), and activity patterns were made over 3 consecutive school days in healthy middle-class Tunisian children (46 boys, 44 girls, median age (25(th)-75(th)) percentile, 9.2 (8.8-9.9) years. Our cross-section included 52 students with a normal body mass index (BMI) and 38 who exceeded age-specific BMI limits. TEE, AEE and overall physical activity level (PAL) were not different between overweight children and those with a normal BMI [median values (25(th)-75(th)) 9.20 (8.20-9.84) vs. 8.88 (7.42-9.76) MJ/d; 3.56 (2.59-4.22) vs. 3.85 (2.77-4.78) MJ/d and 1.74 (1.54-2.04) vs. 1.89 (1.66-2.15) respectively]. Physical activity intensities (PAI) were expressed as percentages of the individual's heart rate reserve (%HRR). The median PAI for the entire day (PAI24) and for the waking part of day (PAIw) were lower in overweight than in normal weight individuals [16.3 (14.2-18.9) vs. 20.6 (17.9-22.3) %HRR, p spend more time in moderate activity and less time in sedentary pursuits than overweight children.

Cortical activity patterns predict robust speech discrimination ability in noise

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Shetake, Jai A.; Wolf, Jordan T.; Cheung, Ryan J.; Engineer, Crystal T.; Ram, Satyananda K.; Kilgard, Michael P.

2012-01-01

The neural mechanisms that support speech discrimination in noisy conditions are poorly understood. In quiet conditions, spike timing information appears to be used in the discrimination of speech sounds. In this study, we evaluated the hypothesis that spike timing is also used to distinguish between speech sounds in noisy conditions that significantly degrade neural responses to speech sounds. We tested speech sound discrimination in rats and recorded primary auditory cortex (A1) responses to speech sounds in background noise of different intensities and spectral compositions. Our behavioral results indicate that rats, like humans, are able to accurately discriminate consonant sounds even in the presence of background noise that is as loud as the speech signal. Our neural recordings confirm that speech sounds evoke degraded but detectable responses in noise. Finally, we developed a novel neural classifier that mimics behavioral discrimination. The classifier discriminates between speech sounds by comparing the A1 spatiotemporal activity patterns evoked on single trials with the average spatiotemporal patterns evoked by known sounds. Unlike classifiers in most previous studies, this classifier is not provided with the stimulus onset time. Neural activity analyzed with the use of relative spike timing was well correlated with behavioral speech discrimination in quiet and in noise. Spike timing information integrated over longer intervals was required to accurately predict rat behavioral speech discrimination in noisy conditions. The similarity of neural and behavioral discrimination of speech in noise suggests that humans and rats may employ similar brain mechanisms to solve this problem. PMID:22098331

Spatial patterns of persistent neural activity vary with the behavioral context of short-term memory.

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Daie, Kayvon; Goldman, Mark S; Aksay, Emre R F

2015-02-18

A short-term memory can be evoked by different inputs and control separate targets in different behavioral contexts. To address the circuit mechanisms underlying context-dependent memory function, we determined through optical imaging how memory is encoded at the whole-network level in two behavioral settings. Persistent neural activity maintaining a memory of desired eye position was imaged throughout the oculomotor integrator after saccadic or optokinetic stimulation. While eye position was encoded by the amplitude of network activity, the spatial patterns of firing were context dependent: cells located caudally generally were most persistent following saccadic input, whereas cells located rostrally were most persistent following optokinetic input. To explain these data, we computationally identified four independent modes of network activity and found these were differentially accessed by saccadic and optokinetic inputs. These results show how a circuit can simultaneously encode memory value and behavioral context, respectively, in its amplitude and spatial pattern of persistent firing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Travel determinants and multi-scale transferability of national activity patterns to local populations

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Henson, Kriste M [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Gou; ias, Konstadinos G [UCSB

2010-11-30

The ability to transfer national travel patterns to a local population is of interest when attempting to model megaregions or areas that exceed metropolitan planning organization (MPO) boundaries. At the core of this research are questions about the connection between travel behavior and land use, urban form, and accessibility. As a part of this process, a group of land use variables have been identified to define activity and travel patterns for individuals and households. The 2001 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) participants are divided into categories comprised of a set of latent cluster models representing persons, travel, and land use. These are compared to two sets of cluster models constructed for two local travel surveys. Comparison of means statistical tests are used to assess differences among sociodemographic groups residing in localities with similar land uses. The results show that the NHTS and the local surveys share mean population activity and travel characteristics. However, these similarities mask behavioral heterogeneity that are shown when distributions of activity and travel behavior are examined. Therefore, data from a national household travel survey cannot be used to model local population travel characteristics if the goal to model the actual distributions and not mean travel behavior characteristics.

Patterns of motor activity in the isolated nerve cord of the octopus arm.

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Gutfreund, Yoram; Matzner, Henry; Flash, Tamar; Hochner, Binyamin

2006-12-01

The extremely flexible octopus arm provides a unique opportunity for studying movement control in a highly redundant motor system. We describe a novel preparation that allows analysis of the peripheral nervous system of the octopus arm and its interaction with the muscular and mechanosensory elements of the arm's intrinsic muscular system. First we examined the synaptic responses in muscle fibers to identify the motor pathways from the axial nerve cord of the arm to the surrounding musculature. We show that the motor axons project to the muscles via nerve roots originating laterally from the arm nerve cord. The motor field of each nerve is limited to the region where the nerve enters the arm musculature. The same roots also carry afferent mechanosensory information from the intrinsic muscle to the axial nerve cord. Next, we characterized the pattern of activity generated in the dorsal roots by electrically stimulating the axial nerve cord. The evoked activity, although far reaching and long lasting, cannot alone account for the arm extension movements generated by similar electrical stimulation. The mismatch between patterns of activity in the isolated cord and in an intact arm may stem from the involvement of mechanosensory feedback in natural arm extension.

Optimism, Positive and Negative Affect, and Goal Adjustment Strategies: Their Relationship to Activity Patterns in Patients with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

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Rosa Esteve

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Objective. Activity patterns are the product of pain and of the self-regulation of current goals in the context of pain. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between goal management strategies and activity patterns while taking into account the role of optimism/pessimism and positive/negative affect. Methods. Two hundred and thirty-seven patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain filled out questionnaires on optimism, positive and negative affect, pain intensity, and the activity patterns they employed in dealing with their pain. Questionnaires were also administered to assess their general goal management strategies: goal persistence, flexible goal adjustment, and disengagement and reengagement with goals. Results. Structural equation modelling showed that higher levels of optimism were related to persistence, flexible goal management, and commitment to new goals. These strategies were associated with higher positive affect, persistence in finishing tasks despite pain, and infrequent avoidance behaviour in the presence or anticipation of pain. Conclusions. The strategies used by the patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain to manage their life goals are related to their activity patterns.

Optimism, Positive and Negative Affect, and Goal Adjustment Strategies: Their Relationship to Activity Patterns in Patients with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain.

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Esteve, Rosa; López-Martínez, Alicia E; Peters, Madelon L; Serrano-Ibáñez, Elena R; Ruiz-Párraga, Gema T; Ramírez-Maestre, Carmen

2018-01-01

Activity patterns are the product of pain and of the self-regulation of current goals in the context of pain. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between goal management strategies and activity patterns while taking into account the role of optimism/pessimism and positive/negative affect. Two hundred and thirty-seven patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain filled out questionnaires on optimism, positive and negative affect, pain intensity, and the activity patterns they employed in dealing with their pain. Questionnaires were also administered to assess their general goal management strategies: goal persistence, flexible goal adjustment, and disengagement and reengagement with goals. Structural equation modelling showed that higher levels of optimism were related to persistence, flexible goal management, and commitment to new goals. These strategies were associated with higher positive affect, persistence in finishing tasks despite pain, and infrequent avoidance behaviour in the presence or anticipation of pain. The strategies used by the patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain to manage their life goals are related to their activity patterns.

Muscle activation patterns and motor anatomy of Anna's hummingbirds Calypte anna and zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata.

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Donovan, Edward R; Keeney, Brooke K; Kung, Eric; Makan, Sirish; Wild, J Martin; Altshuler, Douglas L

2013-01-01

Flying animals exhibit profound transformations in anatomy, physiology, and neural architecture. Although much is known about adaptations in the avian skeleton and musculature, less is known about neuroanatomy and motor unit integration for bird flight. Hummingbirds are among the most maneuverable and specialized of vertebrate fliers, and two unusual neuromuscular features have been previously reported: (1) the pectoralis major has a unique distribution pattern of motor end plates (MEPs) compared with all other birds and (2) electromyograms (EMGs) from the hummingbird's pectoral muscles, the pectoralis major and the supracoracoideus, show activation bursts composed of one or a few spikes that appear to have a very consistent pattern. Here, we place these findings in a broader context by comparing the MEPs, EMGs, and organization of the spinal motor neuron pools of flight muscles of Anna's hummingbird Calypte anna, zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata, and, for MEPs, several other species. The previously shown MEP pattern of the hummingbird pectoralis major is not shared with its closest taxonomic relative, the swift, and appears to be unique to hummingbirds. MEP arrangements in previously undocumented wing muscles show patterns that differ somewhat from other avian muscles. In the parallel-fibered strap muscles of the shoulder, MEP patterns appear to relate to muscle length, with the smallest muscles having fibers that span the entire muscle. MEP patterns in pennate distal wing muscles were the same regardless of size, with tightly clustered bands in the middle portion of the muscle, not evenly distributed bands over the muscle's entire length. Muscle activations were examined during slow forward flight in both species, during hovering in hummingbirds, and during slow ascents in zebra finches. The EMG bursts of a wing muscle, the pronator superficialis, were highly variable in peak number, size, and distribution across wingbeats for both species. In the pectoralis

Physical activity patterns of people affected by depressive and anxiety disorders as measured by accelerometers: a cross-sectional study.

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Björg Helgadóttir

Full Text Available Exercise can relieve both depressive and anxiety disorders and it is therefore of importance to establish movement patterns of mildly to moderately affected sufferers to estimate the treatment potential. The aim is to describe the physical activity patterns of people affected by mild to moderate depressive and/or anxiety symptoms using objective measures of physical activity.The design of the study was cross-sectional using data from 165 people aged 18-65 years, with mild to moderate depressive and/or anxiety disorder symptoms (scoring ≥ 10 on the PHQ-9. Diagnoses were made using Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI and symptom severity was measured with the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS. The participants wore accelerometers for a week to evaluate physical activity patterns.No statistically significant differences were detected between different diagnoses, though depressed participants tended to be less active and more sedentary. Only one-fifth of the sample followed public health guidelines regarding physical activity. Each one point increase in MADRS was associated with a 2.4 minute reduction in light physical activity, independent of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and sedentary time. MADRS was positively associated with number of sedentary bouts.The physical activity pattern of people with depressive and/or anxiety disorders was characterized by large amounts of sedentary time and low fulfillment of physical activity guidelines. There is therefore a large treatment potential for this group by increasing exercise. The results suggest that instead of focusing exclusively on high intensity exercise for treating depressive and anxiety disorders, health care providers might encourage patients to reduce sedentary time by increasing light physical activity and decreasing the number of sedentary bouts, though further studies are needed that can determine directionality.

Physical activity patterns of people affected by depressive and anxiety disorders as measured by accelerometers: a cross-sectional study.

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Helgadóttir, Björg; Forsell, Yvonne; Ekblom, Örjan

2015-01-01

Exercise can relieve both depressive and anxiety disorders and it is therefore of importance to establish movement patterns of mildly to moderately affected sufferers to estimate the treatment potential. The aim is to describe the physical activity patterns of people affected by mild to moderate depressive and/or anxiety symptoms using objective measures of physical activity. The design of the study was cross-sectional using data from 165 people aged 18-65 years, with mild to moderate depressive and/or anxiety disorder symptoms (scoring ≥ 10 on the PHQ-9). Diagnoses were made using Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) and symptom severity was measured with the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). The participants wore accelerometers for a week to evaluate physical activity patterns. No statistically significant differences were detected between different diagnoses, though depressed participants tended to be less active and more sedentary. Only one-fifth of the sample followed public health guidelines regarding physical activity. Each one point increase in MADRS was associated with a 2.4 minute reduction in light physical activity, independent of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and sedentary time. MADRS was positively associated with number of sedentary bouts. The physical activity pattern of people with depressive and/or anxiety disorders was characterized by large amounts of sedentary time and low fulfillment of physical activity guidelines. There is therefore a large treatment potential for this group by increasing exercise. The results suggest that instead of focusing exclusively on high intensity exercise for treating depressive and anxiety disorders, health care providers might encourage patients to reduce sedentary time by increasing light physical activity and decreasing the number of sedentary bouts, though further studies are needed that can determine directionality.

Brain deactivation in the outperformance in bimodal tasks: an FMRI study.

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Tzu-Ching Chiang

Full Text Available While it is known that some individuals can effectively perform two tasks simultaneously, other individuals cannot. How the brain deals with performing simultaneous tasks remains unclear. In the present study, we aimed to assess which brain areas corresponded to various phenomena in task performance. Nineteen subjects were requested to sequentially perform three blocks of tasks, including two unimodal tasks and one bimodal task. The unimodal tasks measured either visual feature binding or auditory pitch comparison, while the bimodal task required performance of the two tasks simultaneously. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI results are compatible with previous studies showing that distinct brain areas, such as the visual cortices, frontal eye field (FEF, lateral parietal lobe (BA7, and medial and inferior frontal lobe, are involved in processing of visual unimodal tasks. In addition, the temporal lobes and Brodmann area 43 (BA43 were involved in processing of auditory unimodal tasks. These results lend support to concepts of modality-specific attention. Compared to the unimodal tasks, bimodal tasks required activation of additional brain areas. Furthermore, while deactivated brain areas were related to good performance in the bimodal task, these areas were not deactivated where the subject performed well in only one of the two simultaneous tasks. These results indicate that efficient information processing does not require some brain areas to be overly active; rather, the specific brain areas need to be relatively deactivated to remain alert and perform well on two tasks simultaneously. Meanwhile, it can also offer a neural basis for biofeedback in training courses, such as courses in how to perform multiple tasks simultaneously.

Temporal patterns of physical activity and sedentary behavior in 10-14 year-old children on weekdays.

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De Baere, Stijn; Lefevre, Johan; De Martelaer, Kristine; Philippaerts, Renaat; Seghers, Jan

2015-08-19

An important but often ignored aspect of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) is the chronological succession of activities, or temporal pattern. The main purposes of this study were (1) to investigate when certain types of PA and SB compete against each other during the course of the day and (2) compare intensity- and domain-specific activity levels during different day-segments. The study sample consists of 211 children aged 10-14, recruited from 15 primary and 15 secondary schools. PA was assessed combining the SenseWear Mini Armband (SWM) with an electronic activity diary. The intensity- and domain-specific temporal patterns were plotted and PA differences between different day-segments (i.e., morning, school, early evening and late evening) were examined using repeated-measures ANCOVA models. Physical activity level (PAL) was highest during the early evening (2.51 METSWM) and school hours (2.49 METSWM); the late evening segment was significantly less active (2.21 METSWM) and showed the highest proportion of sedentary time (54 % of total time-use). Throughout the different day-segments, several domains of PA and SB competed with each other. During the critical early-evening segment, screentime (12 % of time-use) and homework (10 %) were dominant compared to activity domains of sports (4 %) and active leisure (3 %). The domain of active travel competed directly with motor travel during the morning (5 % and 6 % respectively) and early-evening segment (both 8 %). Throughout the day, different aspects of PA and SB go in competition with each other, especially during the time period immediately after school. Detailed information on the temporal patterns of PA and SB of children could help health professionals to develop more effective PA interventions and promotion strategies. By making adaptations to the typical day schedule of children (e.g., through the introduction of extra-curricular PA after school hours), their daily activity levels might

Detecting the Community Structure and Activity Patterns of Temporal Networks: A Non-Negative Tensor Factorization Approach

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Gauvin, Laetitia; Panisson, André; Cattuto, Ciro

2014-01-01

The increasing availability of temporal network data is calling for more research on extracting and characterizing mesoscopic structures in temporal networks and on relating such structure to specific functions or properties of the system. An outstanding challenge is the extension of the results achieved for static networks to time-varying networks, where the topological structure of the system and the temporal activity patterns of its components are intertwined. Here we investigate the use of a latent factor decomposition technique, non-negative tensor factorization, to extract the community-activity structure of temporal networks. The method is intrinsically temporal and allows to simultaneously identify communities and to track their activity over time. We represent the time-varying adjacency matrix of a temporal network as a three-way tensor and approximate this tensor as a sum of terms that can be interpreted as communities of nodes with an associated activity time series. We summarize known computational techniques for tensor decomposition and discuss some quality metrics that can be used to tune the complexity of the factorized representation. We subsequently apply tensor factorization to a temporal network for which a ground truth is available for both the community structure and the temporal activity patterns. The data we use describe the social interactions of students in a school, the associations between students and school classes, and the spatio-temporal trajectories of students over time. We show that non-negative tensor factorization is capable of recovering the class structure with high accuracy. In particular, the extracted tensor components can be validated either as known school classes, or in terms of correlated activity patterns, i.e., of spatial and temporal coincidences that are determined by the known school activity schedule. PMID:24497935

Isolating weather effects from seasonal activity patterns of a temperate North American Colubrid

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Andrew D. George; Frank R. III Thompson; John. Faaborg

2015-01-01

Forecasting the effects of climate change on threatened ecosystems and species will require an understanding of how weather influences processes that drive population dynamics. We have evaluated weather effects on activity patterns of western ratsnakes, a widespread predator of birds and small mammals in eastern North America. From 2010-2013 we radio-tracked 53...

Western and Mediterranean Dietary Patterns and Physical Activity and Fitness among Spanish Older Adults

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Maria del Mar Bibiloni

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Objectives: To assess prevailing food patterns, and its association with physical activity and fitness among Spanish older adults. Methods: Cross-sectional study in Spain, collecting data from a sample (n = 380; 54% female aged 55–80 years (men and 60–80 years (women with no previously documented cardiovascular disease. Body weight, body fat and waist circumference were assessed. Physical activity performed was measured using the Minnesota Leisure-time Physical Activity Questionnaire (LTPA. Physical fitness was assessed using a validated physical fitness test battery. Food consumption was assessed by a validated semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire. Factor analysis identified two major dietary food patterns: “Western” (WDP and “Mediterranean” (MDP dietary patterns. Results: Participants in MDP’s fourth quartile were classified in the second (men and third (men and women tertile of LTPA. After adjusting for age, body fat, waist-to-height ratio, and METs, in both sexes, a negative significant association was found between 30-s Chair stand and 6-min walking test, a positive significant association was found between 30-m Gait speed and 8-foot Time Up-and-Go (except in men tests with WDP. The 30-m Gait speed test was negatively associated with MDP in men. Conclusions: MDP is associated with more time spent on LTPA, and this association was independent of body composition and a fast gait speed in men. WDP is associated with slower gait speed and lower body strength, agility and aerobic endurance. MDP has protective effect on healthy physical fitness, and WDP may be a contributor to frailty.

Western and Mediterranean Dietary Patterns and Physical Activity and Fitness among Spanish Older Adults.

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Bibiloni, Maria Del Mar; Julibert, Alicia; Argelich, Emma; Aparicio-Ugarriza, Raquel; Palacios, Gonzalo; Pons, Antoni; Gonzalez-Gross, Marcela; Tur, Josep A

2017-07-06

Objectives: To assess prevailing food patterns, and its association with physical activity and fitness among Spanish older adults. Methods: Cross-sectional study in Spain, collecting data from a sample ( n = 380; 54% female) aged 55-80 years (men) and 60-80 years (women) with no previously documented cardiovascular disease. Body weight, body fat and waist circumference were assessed. Physical activity performed was measured using the Minnesota Leisure-time Physical Activity Questionnaire (LTPA). Physical fitness was assessed using a validated physical fitness test battery. Food consumption was assessed by a validated semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire. Factor analysis identified two major dietary food patterns: "Western" (WDP) and "Mediterranean" (MDP) dietary patterns. Results: Participants in MDP's fourth quartile were classified in the second (men) and third (men and women) tertile of LTPA. After adjusting for age, body fat, waist-to-height ratio, and METs, in both sexes, a negative significant association was found between 30-s Chair stand and 6-min walking test, a positive significant association was found between 30-m Gait speed and 8-foot Time Up-and-Go (except in men) tests with WDP. The 30-m Gait speed test was negatively associated with MDP in men. Conclusions: MDP is associated with more time spent on LTPA, and this association was independent of body composition and a fast gait speed in men. WDP is associated with slower gait speed and lower body strength, agility and aerobic endurance. MDP has protective effect on healthy physical fitness, and WDP may be a contributor to frailty.

Different patterns of auditory cortex activation revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging

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Formisano, E.; Pepino, A.; Bracale, M.; Di Salle, F.; Lanfermann, H.; Zanella, F.E.

1998-01-01

In the last few years, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) has been widely accepted as an effective tool for mapping brain activities in both the sensorimotor and the cognitive field. The present work aims to assess the possibility of using fMRI methods to study the cortical response to different acoustic stimuli. Furthermore, we refer to recent data collected at Frankfurt University on the cortical pattern of auditory hallucinations. Healthy subjects showed broad bilateral activation, mostly located in the transverse gyrus of Heschl. The analysis of the cortical activation induced by different stimuli has pointed out a remarkable difference in the spatial and temporal features of the auditory cortex response to pulsed tones and pure tones. The activated areas during episodes of auditory hallucinations match the location of primary auditory cortex as defined in control measurements with the same patients and in the experiments on healthy subjects. (authors)

Seizures and Sleep in the Thalamus: Focal Limbic Seizures Show Divergent Activity Patterns in Different Thalamic Nuclei.

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Feng, Li; Motelow, Joshua E; Ma, Chanthia; Biche, William; McCafferty, Cian; Smith, Nicholas; Liu, Mengran; Zhan, Qiong; Jia, Ruonan; Xiao, Bo; Duque, Alvaro; Blumenfeld, Hal

2017-11-22

The thalamus plays diverse roles in cortical-subcortical brain activity patterns. Recent work suggests that focal temporal lobe seizures depress subcortical arousal systems and convert cortical activity into a pattern resembling slow-wave sleep. The potential simultaneous and paradoxical role of the thalamus in both limbic seizure propagation, and in sleep-like cortical rhythms has not been investigated. We recorded neuronal activity from the central lateral (CL), anterior (ANT), and ventral posteromedial (VPM) nuclei of the thalamus in an established female rat model of focal limbic seizures. We found that population firing of neurons in CL decreased during seizures while the cortex exhibited slow waves. In contrast, ANT showed a trend toward increased neuronal firing compatible with polyspike seizure discharges seen in the hippocampus. Meanwhile, VPM exhibited a remarkable increase in sleep spindles during focal seizures. Single-unit juxtacellular recordings from CL demonstrated reduced overall firing rates, but a switch in firing pattern from single spikes to burst firing during seizures. These findings suggest that different thalamic nuclei play very different roles in focal limbic seizures. While limbic nuclei, such as ANT, appear to participate directly in seizure propagation, arousal nuclei, such as CL, may contribute to depressed cortical function, whereas sleep spindles in relay nuclei, such as VPM, may interrupt thalamocortical information flow. These combined effects could be critical for controlling both seizure severity and impairment of consciousness. Further understanding of differential effects of seizures on different thalamocortical networks may lead to improved treatments directly targeting these modes of impaired function. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Temporal lobe epilepsy has a major negative impact on quality of life. Previous work suggests that the thalamus plays a critical role in thalamocortical network modulation and subcortical arousal

Dietary and physical activity patterns in French children are related to overweight and socioeconomic status

OpenAIRE

Lioret, S.; Touvier, M.; Lafay, L.; Volatier, J. L.; Maire, Bernard

2008-01-01

Sedentary behavior (SED) has already been identified as a risk factor of childhood overweight (OW) but less is known about the dietary patterns related to adiposity. Our objective was to investigate if lifestyle patterns combining overall diet and physical activity were associated with childhood OW and if they were involved in the reverse association between socioeconomic status (SES) and OW. Dietary intake was assessed using a 7-d food record in 748 French children aged 3-11 y from the 1998-...

Short-term memory stores organized by information domain.

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Noyce, Abigail L; Cestero, Nishmar; Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G; Somers, David C

2016-04-01

Vision and audition have complementary affinities, with vision excelling in spatial resolution and audition excelling in temporal resolution. Here, we investigated the relationships among the visual and auditory modalities and spatial and temporal short-term memory (STM) using change detection tasks. We created short sequences of visual or auditory items, such that each item within a sequence arose at a unique spatial location at a unique time. On each trial, two successive sequences were presented; subjects attended to either space (the sequence of locations) or time (the sequence of inter item intervals) and reported whether the patterns of locations or intervals were identical. Each subject completed blocks of unimodal trials (both sequences presented in the same modality) and crossmodal trials (Sequence 1 visual, Sequence 2 auditory, or vice versa) for both spatial and temporal tasks. We found a strong interaction between modality and task: Spatial performance was best on unimodal visual trials, whereas temporal performance was best on unimodal auditory trials. The order of modalities on crossmodal trials also mattered, suggesting that perceptual fidelity at encoding is critical to STM. Critically, no cost was attributable to crossmodal comparison: In both tasks, performance on crossmodal trials was as good as or better than on the weaker unimodal trials. STM representations of space and time can guide change detection in either the visual or the auditory modality, suggesting that the temporal or spatial organization of STM may supersede sensory-specific organization.

Short-term memory stores organized by information domain

Science.gov (United States)

Noyce, Abigail L.; Cestero, Nishmar; Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G.; Somers, David C.

2016-01-01

Vision and audition have complementary affinities, with vision excelling in spatial resolution and audition excelling in temporal resolution. Here, we investigate the relationships among visual and auditory modalities and spatial and temporal short-term memory (STM) using change detection tasks. We created short sequences of visual or auditory items, such that each item within a sequence arose at a unique spatial location at a unique time. On each trial, two successive sequences were presented; subjects attended to either space (the sequence of locations), or time (the sequence of inter-item intervals), and reported whether the patterns of locations or intervals were identical. Each subject completed blocks of unimodal trials (both sequences presented in the same modality) and crossmodal trials (sequence 1 visual and sequence 2 auditory, or vice versa) for both spatial and temporal tasks. We found a strong interaction between modality and task: spatial performance was best on unimodal visual trials, while temporal performance was best on unimodal auditory trials. The order of modalities on crossmodal trials also mattered, suggesting that perceptual fidelity at encoding is critical to STM. Critically, there was no cost attributable to crossmodal comparison: in both tasks, performance on crossmodal trials was as good or better than on the weaker unimodal trials. STM representations of space and time can guide change detection in either the visual or the auditory modality, suggesting that temporal or spatial organization of STM may supersede sensory-specific organization. PMID:26791231

Knowledge-Based Trajectory Error Pattern Method Applied to an Active Force Control Scheme

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Endra Pitowarno, Musa Mailah, Hishamuddin Jamaluddin

2012-08-01

Full Text Available The active force control (AFC method is known as a robust control scheme that dramatically enhances the performance of a robot arm particularly in compensating the disturbance effects. The main task of the AFC method is to estimate the inertia matrix in the feedback loop to provide the correct (motor torque required to cancel out these disturbances. Several intelligent control schemes have already been introduced to enhance the estimation methods of acquiring the inertia matrix such as those using neural network, iterative learning and fuzzy logic. In this paper, we propose an alternative scheme called Knowledge-Based Trajectory Error Pattern Method (KBTEPM to suppress the trajectory track error of the AFC scheme. The knowledge is developed from the trajectory track error characteristic based on the previous experimental results of the crude approximation method. It produces a unique, new and desirable error pattern when a trajectory command is forced. An experimental study was performed using simulation work on the AFC scheme with KBTEPM applied to a two-planar manipulator in which a set of rule-based algorithm is derived. A number of previous AFC schemes are also reviewed as benchmark. The simulation results show that the AFC-KBTEPM scheme successfully reduces the trajectory track error significantly even in the presence of the introduced disturbances.Key Words:  Active force control, estimated inertia matrix, robot arm, trajectory error pattern, knowledge-based.

Daily and seasonal activity patterns of free range South-American rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus).

Science.gov (United States)

Tozetti, Alexandro M; Martins, Marcio

2013-09-01

This study aimed at describing daily and seasonal variation in the activity of a population of South-American rattlesnakes (Crotalus durissus) in a savanna like habitat (Cerrado) in Southeastern Brazil. Seasonal and daily activities of snakes were evaluated by the number of captures of snakes during road surveys, accidental encounters, and relocations by radio-tracking. Our results show that climatic variables such as air temperature and rainfall have little influence on the activity pattern of rattlesnakes. Our findings indicate that rattlesnakes spend most of the day resting and most of the night in ambush posture. The South-American rattlesnake is active throughout the year with a discrete peak in activity of males during the matting season. The possibility of maintaining activity levels even during the coldest and driest season can facilitate the colonization of several habitats in South America. This possibility currently facilitates the colonization of deforested areas by rattlesnakes.

An assessment of schoolyard features and behavior patterns in children's utilization and physical activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Anthamatten, Peter; Brink, Lois; Kingston, Beverly; Kutchman, Eve; Lampe, Sarah; Nigg, Claudio

2014-03-01

Careful research that elucidates how behavior relates to design in the context of elementary school grounds can serve to guide cost-efficient design with the goal of encouraging physical activity (PA). This work explores patterns in children's PA behavior within playground spaces with the specific goal of guiding healthy playground design. Data on children's utilization and PA behavior in 6 playgrounds divided into 106 observation zones were collected in 2005 and 2006 at Denver elementary school playgrounds using the System for Observing Play and Leisure Activity in Youth. Analyses of variance and t tests determined whether there were differences in utilization and behavior patterns across observations zones and between genders. This study provides evidence that children prefer to use certain types of playground zones and that they are more likely to practice moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in some zones. The authors observed statistically significant differences between genders. Boys were more likely to engage in MVPA in zones without equipment, girls were more likely to use zones with equipment. This work suggests that the inclusion or omission of specific playground features may have an impact on the way that children use the spaces.

Infant Attention to Dynamic Audiovisual Stimuli: Look Duration from 3 to 9 Months of Age

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Reynolds, Greg D.; Zhang, Dantong; Guy, Maggie W.

2013-01-01

The goal of this study was to examine developmental change in visual attention to dynamic visual and audiovisual stimuli in 3-, 6-, and 9-month-old infants. Infant look duration was measured during exposure to dynamic geometric patterns and Sesame Street video clips under three different stimulus modality conditions: unimodal visual, synchronous…

Spatial Co-Occurrence and Activity Patterns of Mesocarnivores in the Temperate Forests of Southwest China.

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Hongliang Bu

Full Text Available Understanding the interactions between species and their coexistence mechanisms will help explain biodiversity maintenance and enable managers to make sound conservation decisions. Mesocarnivores are abundant and diverse mid-sized carnivores and can have profound impacts on the function, structure and dynamics of ecosystem after the extirpation of apex predators in many ecosystems. The moist temperate forests of Southwest China harbor a diverse community of mesocarnivores in the absence of apex predators. Sympatric species tend to partition limited resources along time, diet and space to facilitate coexistence. We determined the spatial and temporal patterns for five species of mesocarnivores. We used detection histories from a large camera-trap dataset collected from 2004-2015 with an extensive effort of 23,313 camera-days from 495 camera locations. The five mesocarnivore species included masked palm civet Paguma larvata, leopard cat Prionailurus bengalensis, hog badger Arctonyx collaris, yellow-throated marten Martes flavigula, and Siberian weasel Mustela sibirica. Only the masked palm civet and hog badger tended to avoid each other; while for other pairs of species, they occurred independently of each other, or no clear pattern observed. With regard to seasonal activity, yellow-throated marten was most active in winter, opposite the pattern observed for masked palm civet, leopard cat and hog badger. For diel activity, masked palm civet, leopard cat and hog badger were primarily nocturnal and crepuscular; yellow-throated marten was diurnal, and Siberian weasel had no clear pattern for most of the year (March to November, but was nocturnal in the winter (December to February. The seasonal shift of the Siberian weasel may be due to the high diet overlap among species in winter. Our results provided new facts and insights into this unique community of mesocarnivores of southwest China, and will facilitate future studies on the mechanism

Seasonal activity patterns and diet divergence of three sympatric Afrotropical tortoise species (genus Kinixys)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Luiselli, Luca

2003-01-01

Three species of hinge-back tortoises ( (Kinixys belliana nogueyi, Kinixys erosa, Kinixys homeana) are found in simpatry in the rainforests of the Niger Delta, southern Nigeria (west Africa). The seasonal activity patterns and food habits of these tortoises are studied in the present paper. K. erosa

Modular organization of muscle activity patterns in the leading and trailing limbs during obstacle clearance in healthy adults.

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MacLellan, Michael J

2017-07-01

Human locomotor patterns require precise adjustments to successfully navigate complex environments. Studies suggest that the central nervous system may control such adjustments through supraspinal signals modifying a basic locomotor pattern at the spinal level. To explore this proposed control mechanism in the leading and trailing limbs during obstructed walking, healthy young adults stepped over obstacles measuring 0.1 and 0.2 m in height. Unobstructed walking with no obstacle present was also performed as a baseline. Full body three-dimensional kinematic data were recorded and electromyography (EMG) was collected from 14 lower limb muscles on each side of the body. EMG data were analyzed using two techniques: by mapping the EMG data to the approximate location of the motor neuron pools on the lumbosacral enlargement of the spinal cord and by applying a nonnegative matrix factorization algorithm to unilateral and bilateral muscle activations separately. Results showed that obstacle clearance may be achieved not only with the addition of a new activation pattern in the leading limb, but with a temporal shift of a pattern present during unobstructed walking in both the leading and trailing limbs. An investigation of the inter-limb coordination of these patterns suggested a strong bilateral linkage between lower limbs. These results highlight the modular organization of muscle activation in the leading and trailing limbs, as well as provide a mechanism of control when implementing a locomotor adjustment when stepping over an obstacle.

Habitat-associated and temporal patterns of bat activity in a diverse forest landscape of southern New England, USA

Science.gov (United States)

Robert T. Brooks

2009-01-01

The development and use of acoustic recording technology, surveys have revealed the composition, relative levels of activity, and preliminary habitat use of bat communities of various forest locations. However, detailed examinations of acoustic surveys results to investigate temporal patterns of bat activity are rare. Initial active acoustic surveys of bat activity on...

A pilot study of physical activity and sedentary behavior distribution patterns in older women.

Science.gov (United States)

Fortune, Emma; Mundell, Benjamin; Amin, Shreyasee; Kaufman, Kenton

2017-09-01

The study aims were to investigate free-living physical activity and sedentary behavior distribution patterns in a group of older women, and assess the cross-sectional associations with body mass index (BMI). Eleven older women (mean (SD) age: 77 (9) yrs) wore custom-built activity monitors, each containing a tri-axial accelerometer (±16g, 100Hz), on the waist and ankle for lab-based walking trials and 4 days in free-living. Daily active time, step counts, cadence, and sedentary break number were estimated from acceleration data. The sedentary bout length distribution and sedentary time accumulation pattern, using the Gini index, were investigated. Associations of the parameters' total daily values and coefficients of variation (CVs) of their hourly values with BMI were assessed using linear regression. The algorithm demonstrated median sensitivity, positive predictive value, and agreement values >98% and <1% mean error in cadence calculations with video identification during lab trials. Participants' sedentary bouts were found to be power law distributed with 56% of their sedentary time occurring in 20min bouts or longer. Meaningful associations were detectable in the relationships of total active time, step count, sedentary break number and their CVs with BMI. Active time and step counts had moderate negative associations with BMI while sedentary break number had a strong negative association. Active time, step count and sedentary break number CVs also had strong positive associations with BMI. The results highlight the importance of measuring sedentary behavior and suggest a more even distribution of physical activity throughout the day is associated with lower BMI. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Normal and abnormal electrical activation of the heart. Imaging patterns obtained by phase analysis of equilibrium cardiac studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pavel, D.; Byrom, E.; Swiryn, S.; Meyer-Pavel, C.; Rosen, K.

1981-01-01

By using a temporal Fourier analysis of gated equilibrium cardiac studies, phase images were obtained. These functional images were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively to determine if specific patterns can be found for normal versus abnormal electrical activation of the heart. The study included eight subjects with normal cardiac function and 24 patients with abnormal electrical activation: eight with left bundle branch block (LBBB), two with right bundle branch block (RBBB), six with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW), one with junctional rhythm, one with spontaneous sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) (all with normal wall motion), two with chronic transvenous pacemakers, and four with induced sustained VT (all with regional wall motion abnormalities). The results show that the two ventricals have the same mean phase (within +-9 0 ) in normals, but significantly different mean phases in all patients with bundle branch blocks. Of the six WPW patients, three had a distinctive abnormal pattern. The patient with junctional rhythm, those with transvenous pacemakers, and those with VT all had abnormal patterns on the phase image. The phase image is capable of showing differences between patients with electrical activation and a variety of electrical abnormalities. Within the latter category distinct patterns can be associated with each type of abnormality. (author)

Pattern of brain activation during social cognitive tasks is related to social competence in siblings discordant for schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Villarreal, Mirta F; Drucaroff, Lucas J; Goldschmidt, Micaela G; de Achával, Delfina; Costanzo, Elsa Y; Castro, Mariana N; Ladrón-de-Guevara, M Soledad; Busatto Filho, Geraldo; Nemeroff, Charles B; Guinjoan, Salvador M

2014-09-01

Measures of social competence are closely related to actual community functioning in patients with schizophrenia. However, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying competence in schizophrenia are not fully understood. We hypothesized that social deficits in schizophrenia are explained, at least in part, by abnormally lateralized patterns of brain activation in response to tasks engaging social cognition, as compared to healthy individuals. We predicted such patterns would be partly heritable, and therefore affected in patients' nonpsychotic siblings as well. We used a functional magnetic resonance image paradigm to characterize brain activation induced by theory of mind tasks, and two tests of social competence, the Test of Adaptive Behavior in Schizophrenia (TABS), and the Social Skills Performance Assessment (SSPA) in siblings discordant for schizophrenia and comparable healthy controls (n = 14 per group). Healthy individuals showed the strongest correlation between social competence and activation of right hemisphere structures involved in social cognitive processing, whereas in patients, the correlation pattern was lateralized to left hemisphere areas. Unaffected siblings of patients exhibited a pattern intermediate between the other groups. These results support the hypothesis that schizophrenia may be characterized by an abnormal functioning of nondominant hemisphere structures involved in the processing of socially salient information. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Different patterns of auditory cortex activation revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Formisano, E; Pepino, A; Bracale, M [Department of Electronic Engineering, Biomedical Unit, Universita di Napoli, Federic II, Italy, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Napoli (Italy); Di Salle, F [Department of Biomorphological and Functional Sciences, Radiologucal Unit, Universita di Napoli, Federic II, Italy, Via Claudio 21, 80125 Napoli (Italy); Lanfermann, H; Zanella, F E [Department of Neuroradiology, J.W. Goethe Universitat, Frankfurt/M. (Germany)

1999-12-31

In the last few years, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) has been widely accepted as an effective tool for mapping brain activities in both the sensorimotor and the cognitive field. The present work aims to assess the possibility of using fMRI methods to study the cortical response to different acoustic stimuli. Furthermore, we refer to recent data collected at Frankfurt University on the cortical pattern of auditory hallucinations. Healthy subjects showed broad bilateral activation, mostly located in the transverse gyrus of Heschl. The analysis of the cortical activation induced by different stimuli has pointed out a remarkable difference in the spatial and temporal features of the auditory cortex response to pulsed tones and pure tones. The activated areas during episodes of auditory hallucinations match the location of primary auditory cortex as defined in control measurements with the same patients and in the experiments on healthy subjects. (authors) 17 refs., 4 figs.

Daily and seasonal activity patterns of free range South-American rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ALEXANDRO M. TOZETTI

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This study aimed at describing daily and seasonal variation in the activity of a population of South-American rattlesnakes (Crotalus durissus in a savanna like habitat (Cerrado in Southeastern Brazil. Seasonal and daily activities of snakes were evaluated by the number of captures of snakes during road surveys, accidental encounters, and relocations by radio-tracking. Our results show that climatic variables such as air temperature and rainfall have little influence on the activity pattern of rattlesnakes. Our findings indicate that rattlesnakes spend most of the day resting and most of the night in ambush posture. The South-American rattlesnake is active throughout the year with a discrete peak in activity of males during the matting season. The possibility of maintaining activity levels even during the coldest and driest season can facilitate the colonization of several habitats in South America. This possibility currently facilitates the colonization of deforested areas by rattlesnakes.

Exploring the Use of Activity Patterns for Smart Monitoring of Nuclear Facilities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miller, Karen Ann [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2017-07-10

The world is at an inflection point where our ability to collect data now far outpaces our ability to make use of it. LANL has a number of efforts to help us pull more meaningful insights out of our data and target resources to where they will be most impactful. We are exploring an approach to recognizing activity patterns across disparate data streams for a more holistic view of nuclear facility monitoring.

Dietary and Physical Activity Pattern in Fars Province, National Plan of Chronic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahin Farahmand

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Background: Changes in lifestyle, especially in different aspects of nutrition and physical activity, have been associated with change in the patterns of diseases, from contagious diseases to non-communicable diseases, and with the prevalence of chronic diseases. Accordingly, this study is carried out within the framework of National Plan to Care for Risk Factors of Non-communicable Diseases with the aim of comparing the dietary patterns and physical activity of people under study in Fars province during 2006-2007. Materials and Methods: Using the WHO Step-by-step Evaluation Model for Risky Factors, the present study determined fifty 20-person clusters, totally 1,000 people within the age group of 15-64 for each year as the research population. After identifying the applicable people, they were visited at their homes and the questionnaires were filled out for them. The necessary analysis was carried out using Version 6 of EPI-info and Version 10 of STATA software.Results: The findings of the present study indicated that men have more intense physical activity than women (p=0.001. The results also indicated a significant increase in consumption of fruit (p=0.01, vegetable (p=0.001, and fish (p=0.001 in 2007 as compared with 2006. The average number of the consumed vegetable units in women was higher than that of men (p=0.01.Conclusion: The findings of this study indicated that the average number of daily consumed units of fruit and vegetable as well as the frequencies of fish consumption per week was lower than the recommended amounts.

The Canadian Human Activity Pattern Survey: report of methods and population surveyed.

Science.gov (United States)

Leech, J A; Wilby, K; McMullen, E; Laporte, K

1996-01-01

The assessment of health risk due to environmental contaminants depends upon accurate estimates of the distribution of population exposures. Exposure assessment, in turn, requires information on the time people spend in micro-environments and their activities during periods of exposure. This paper describes preliminary results including study methodology and population sampled in a large Canadian survey of time-activity patterns. A 24-hour diary recall survey was performed in 2381 households (representing a 65% response rate) to describe in detail the timing, location and activity pattern of one household member (the adult or child with the next birthday). Four cities (Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Saint John, NB) and their suburbs were sampled by random-digit dialling over a nine-month period in 1994/1995. Supplemental questionnaires inquiring about sociodemographic information, house and household characteristics and potential exposure to toxins in the air and water were also administered. In general, the results show that respondents spend the majority of their time indoors (88.6%) with smaller proportions of time outdoors (6.1%) and in vehicles (5.3%). Children under the age of 12 spend more time both indoors and outdoors and less time in transit than do adults. The data from this study will be used to define more accurately the exposure of Canadians to a variety of toxins in exposure assessment models and to improve upon the accuracy of risk assessment for a variety of acute and chronic health effects known or suspected to be related to environmental exposures.

Fatigue-Induced Changes in Movement Pattern and Muscle Activity During Ballet Releve on Demi-Pointe.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Cheng-Feng; Lee, Wan-Chin; Chen, Yi-An; Hsue, Bih-Jen

2016-08-01

Fatigue in ballet dancers may lead to injury, particularly in the lower extremities. However, few studies have investigated the effects of fatigue on ballet dancers' performance and movement patterns. Thus, the current study examines the effect of fatigue on the balance, movement pattern, and muscle activities of the lower extremities in ballet dancers. Twenty healthy, female ballet dancers performed releve on demi-pointe before and after fatigue. The trajectory of the whole body movement and the muscle activities of the major lower extremity muscles were recorded continuously during task performance. The results show that fatigue increases the medial-lateral center of mass (COM) displacement and hip and trunk motion, but decreases the COM velocity and ankle motion. Moreover, fatigue reduces the activities of the hamstrings and tibialis anterior, but increases that of the soleus. Finally, greater proximal hip and trunk motions are applied to compensate for the effects of fatigue, leading to a greater COM movement. Overall, the present findings show that fatigue results in impaired movement control and may therefore increase the risk of dance injury.

Diurnal patterns of objectively measured physical activity and sedentary behaviour in older men.

Science.gov (United States)

Sartini, Claudio; Wannamethee, S Goya; Iliffe, Steve; Morris, Richard W; Ash, Sarah; Lennon, Lucy; Whincup, Peter H; Jefferis, Barbara J

2015-07-04

Physical activity (PA) levels among older adults are generally low and sedentary behaviour (SB) very common; increasing PA and reducing SB levels could have appreciable health benefits. Quantifying PA and SB patterns through the day could help in defining strategies for change. We examined within day variations in PA and SB and whether these varied by demographic factors and health status. Men aged 71-91 years participating in an established UK population-based cohort study were invited to wear a GT3x Actigraph accelerometer over the hip for one week in 2010-12. Percentages of time spent in sedentary (SB, 1040 CPM) were derived. Multilevel models were used to estimate the associations between demographic factors and health status and SB, LIPA and MVPA. 1455 of 3137 men invited (46.4 %) participated and provided adequate data. Men spent 73 % of the day in SB, 23 % in LIPA and 4.5 % in MVPA (619, 197 and 39 min per day respectively). The percentage of time spent in MVPA was highest in the morning, peaking at 10-11 am (8.4 %), and then declining until the evening, with the exception of a small increase at 2-3 pm. LIPA followed a similar pattern. Conversely, SB levels were lowest in the morning and increased throughout the day, peaking at 9 pm (88 %). Men who were older, did not use active transport, had mobility limitations, were obese, depressed, had more chronic health conditions, and were smokers had lower levels of MVPA. The impacts of older age, obesity, mobility limitations and chronic diseases on LIPA, MVPA and SB were more marked in the morning than in the afternoon and evening. Levels of MVPA and LIPA are highest in the morning (peak at 10-11 am) and decrease during the day. SB increases through the course of the day to peak in the evening. Interventions to encourage older men to be physically active may need to take account of current PA patterns, aiming to prolong active morning bouts of PA and/or reducing SB in the afternoon and evening hours.

Command of active matter by topological defects and patterns

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Chenhui; Turiv, Taras; Guo, Yubing; Wei, Qi-Huo; Lavrentovich, Oleg D.

2016-11-01

Self-propelled bacteria are marvels of nature with a potential to power dynamic materials and microsystems of the future. The challenge lies in commanding their chaotic behavior. By dispersing swimming Bacillus subtilis in a liquid crystalline environment with spatially varying orientation of the anisotropy axis, we demonstrate control over the distribution of bacterial concentration, as well as the geometry and polarity of their trajectories. Bacteria recognize subtle differences in liquid crystal deformations, engaging in bipolar swimming in regions of pure splay and bend but switching to unipolar swimming in mixed splay-bend regions. They differentiate topological defects, heading toward defects of positive topological charge and avoiding negative charges. Sensitivity of bacteria to preimposed orientational patterns represents a previously unknown facet of the interplay between hydrodynamics and topology of active matter.

Dietary patterns as compared with physical activity in relation to metabolic syndrome among Chinese adults

NARCIS (Netherlands)

He, Y.; Li, Y.; Lai, J.; Wang, D.; Zhang, J.; Fu, P.; Yang, X.; Qi, L.

2013-01-01

Aims: To examine the nationally-representative dietary patterns and their joint effects with physical activity on the likelihood of metabolic syndrome (MS) among 20,827 Chinese adults. Methods and results: CNNHS was a nationally representative cross-sectional observational study. Metabolic syndrome

An analytical model of stand dynamics as a function of tree growth, mortality and recruitment: the shade tolerance-stand structure hypothesis revisited.

Science.gov (United States)

Zavala, Miguel A; Angulo, Oscar; Bravo de la Parra, Rafael; López-Marcos, Juan C

2007-02-07

Light competition and interspecific differences in shade tolerance are considered key determinants of forest stand structure and dynamics. Specifically two main stand diameter distribution types as a function of shade tolerance have been proposed based on empirical observations. All-aged stands of shade tolerant species tend to have steeply descending, monotonic diameter distributions (inverse J-shaped curves). Shade intolerant species in contrast typically exhibit normal (unimodal) tree diameter distributions due to high mortality rates of smaller suppressed trees. In this study we explore the generality of this hypothesis which implies a causal relationship between light competition or shade tolerance and stand structure. For this purpose we formulate a partial differential equation system of stand dynamics as a function of individual tree growth, recruitment and mortality which allows us to explore possible individual-based mechanisms--e.g. light competition-underlying observed patterns of stand structure--e.g. unimodal or inverse J-shaped equilibrium diameter curves. We find that contrary to expectations interspecific differences in growth patterns can result alone in any of the two diameter distributions types observed in the field. In particular, slow growing species can present unimodal equilibrium curves even in the absence of light competition. Moreover, light competition and shade intolerance evaluated both at the tree growth and mortality stages did not have a significant impact on stand structure that tended to converge systematically towards an inverse J-shaped curves for most tree growth scenarios. Realistic transient stand dynamics for even aged stands of shade intolerant species (unimodal curves) were only obtained when recruitment was completely suppressed, providing further evidence on the critical role played by juvenile stages of tree development (e.g. the sampling stage) on final forest structure and composition. The results also point out the

Improved prognostic classification of breast cancer defined by antagonistic activation patterns of immune response pathway modules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Teschendorff, Andrew E; Gomez, Sergio; Arenas, Alex; El-Ashry, Dorraya; Schmidt, Marcus; Gehrmann, Mathias; Caldas, Carlos

2010-01-01

Elucidating the activation pattern of molecular pathways across a given tumour type is a key challenge necessary for understanding the heterogeneity in clinical response and for developing novel more effective therapies. Gene expression signatures of molecular pathway activation derived from perturbation experiments in model systems as well as structural models of molecular interactions ('model signatures') constitute an important resource for estimating corresponding activation levels in tumours. However, relatively few strategies for estimating pathway activity from such model signatures exist and only few studies have used activation patterns of pathways to refine molecular classifications of cancer. Here we propose a novel network-based method for estimating pathway activation in tumours from model signatures. We find that although the pathway networks inferred from cancer expression data are highly consistent with the prior information contained in the model signatures, that they also exhibit a highly modular structure and that estimation of pathway activity is dependent on this modular structure. We apply our methodology to a panel of 438 estrogen receptor negative (ER-) and 785 estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancers to infer activation patterns of important cancer related molecular pathways. We show that in ER negative basal and HER2+ breast cancer, gene expression modules reflecting T-cell helper-1 (Th1) and T-cell helper-2 (Th2) mediated immune responses play antagonistic roles as major risk factors for distant metastasis. Using Boolean interaction Cox-regression models to identify non-linear pathway combinations associated with clinical outcome, we show that simultaneous high activation of Th1 and low activation of a TGF-beta pathway module defines a subtype of particularly good prognosis and that this classification provides a better prognostic model than those based on the individual pathways. In ER+ breast cancer, we find that

GABA system in schizophrenia and mood disorders. A mini review on third generation imaging studies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chiara eChiapponi

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Third-generation neuroimaging research has been enriched by advances in magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS measuring the concentration of important neurotrasmitters, such as the inhibitory amino acid GABA. Here, we performed a systematic mini-review on brain MRS studies measuring GABA concentration in patients affected by schizophrenia (SZ, bipolar disorder (BD and major depressive disorder (MDD. We wondered whether multimodal investigations could overcome intrinsic technical limits of MRS giving a broader view of mental disorders pathogenesis.In SZ unimodal studies gave mixed results, as increased, decreased or unaltered GABA levels were reported depending on region, disease phase and treatment. Conversely, multimodal results showed reduced level of glutamate, but not of GABA, in patients, mirrored by in vitro biochemical findings revealing hippocampal reduction in glutamate signalling in SZ, and no deficits in GABA synthesis. Moreover, a mouse model confirmed the unique pathological characteristic of glutamate function in SZ.Unimodal studies in BD revealed, again, inconsistent results, while no multimodal investigations including MRS on GABA exist. In MDD, unimodal studies could not differentiate patients from controls, nor characterize high-risk subjects and remitted patients. However, a multimodal study combining functional magnetic resonance imaging and MRS revealed that cingulate cortex activity is related to glutamate and N-acetylaspartate levels and anhedonia in patients, and to GABA concentration in healthy subjects, improving the distinction between MDD and physiology.Overall, our results show that unimodal studies do not indicate GABA as a biomarker for the psychiatric disorders considered. Conversely, multimodal studies can widen the understanding of the link between psychopathology, genetics, neuroanatomy and functional-biochemical brain activity in mental disorders. Although scarce, multimodal approaches seem promising for moving