Holistic Solutions to Schizophrenia Management in Geriatric Populations

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric condition characterized by dysfunction in thoughts, behavior, and emotions. The illness is typically diagnosed in late adolescence to early adulthood, and generally lasts throughout a patient’s lifetime. This debilitating condition affects approximately 25% of adults aged 55 years old and older. With numbers of elderly adults afflicted by psychiatric illnesses increasing in the future, special precautions need to be taken to address this underserved population. This increase in schizophrenia frequency among elderly populations also has repercussions not just for future healthcare, but health costs as well, with schizophrenia expenses being costly in comparison to other psychiatric ailments. A major theory explaining the genetic and physiological basis of schizophrenia is the dopamine hypothesis, which describes a disruption in the normal transmission of the dopaminergic pathway as well as the mesolimbic system. Current treatments of schizophrenia often involve pharmacological interventions that create heightened side effects in the elderly. There is a need for more research into efficient and effective treatments for the future, especially treatments that can be safe for elderly use such as brain stimulating interventions. Destigmatizing mental health issues and advocating for safer and more efficient therapies are the key to improving outcomes of geriatric schizophrenic patients

An engineered channelrhodopsin optimized for axon terminal activation and circuit mapping

Optogenetic tools such as channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) enable the manipulation and mapping of neural circuits. However, ChR2 variants selectively transported down a neuron’s long-range axonal projections for precise presynaptic activation remain lacking. As a result, ChR2 activation is often contaminated by the spurious activation of en passant fibers that compromise the accurate interpretation of functional effects. Here, we explored the engineering of a ChR2 variant specifically localized to presynaptic axon terminals. The metabotropic glutamate receptor 2 (mGluR2) C-terminal domain fused with a proteolytic motif and axon-targeting signal (mGluR2-PA tag) localized ChR2-YFP at axon terminals without disturbing normal transmission. mGluR2-PA-tagged ChR2 evoked transmitter release in distal projection areas enabling lower levels of photostimulation. Circuit connectivity mapping in vivo with the Spike Collision Test revealed that mGluR2-PA-tagged ChR2 is useful for identifying axonal projection with significant reduction in the polysynaptic excess noise. These results suggest that the mGluR2-PA tag helps actuate trafficking to the axon terminal, thereby providing abundant possibilities for optogenetic experiments.

Identification and Localization of the Jammer in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor network can be easily attacked by jammers for its shared character and open access to the wireless channel. Jamming attack could produce a significant threat to the network by interrupting the normal transmission of nodes. To this end, several anti-jamming countermeasures have been proposed to improve the quality of service of the wireless sensor network. As an important building block for anti-jamming countermeasures, the estimation of jammer’s location could provide us a possible way to eliminate jammers artificially. However, existing localization algorithms mainly pay attention to locate the jammers that are equipped with omnidirectional antennas, which usually fail to cope with directional jammers. In order to bridge this gap, an algorithm of antenna identification and localization of the jammer (AILJ) based on the topology information of jamming scenarios is put forward in this paper. At first, a collection protocol is designed to collect the information of boundary nodes and jammed nodes. Then, an identification method based on the classification of the boundary nodes is proposed to derive the type of jammer’s antenna. At last, a range-free method is put forward to locate the jammer without relying on the propagation parameters. The proposed AILJ only depends on the localization of jammed nodes and boundary nodes and employs their geometry knowledge. For the omnidirectional jammer, the mean center of two circumcircles is considered as the jammer’s position. For the directional jammer, the mean value of the intersections between the straight line that represents jammer’s direction and the circumcircles is considered as the directional jammer’s position. Finally, a series of experiments have been conducted to evaluate the identification and localization performance of AILJ.

Research on Wireless Positioning Technology Based on Digital FM Broadcasting

With more and more new mobile devices (such as mobile phones, tablets, and wearable devices) entering people’s daily life, along with the application and development of relevant technologies based on users’ location information, location based service is becoming a basic service demand of people’s life. This paper puts forward a research on location technology based on frequency modulation band digital audio broadcasting (FM China Digital Radio, FM-CDR). A new method of adding timestamp information to the FM-CDR frame structure is proposed, which verified that the change to the system does not affect the normal transmission and reception of broadcast content under the original standards and can accurately extract the recognition signal and timing information of BS. In the complex environment, the estimation algorithm of signal parameters such as received signal strength (RSS), time of arrival (TOA), and time difference of arrival (TDOA) of terrestrial radio broadcast signals is studied. In this paper, a new method based on multisource data fusion is proposed, which can meet the need of localization in various environments and overcome the deficiency of single localization method.

A Study on the Normal Transmission of a One-Dimensional P-Wave across a Single Nonlinear Joint in a Rockmass

The presence of nonlinear discontinuities in a rockmass makes the stress wave propagation rules in a continuous medium not applicable. In an attempt to reveal the transmission laws of a one-dimensional P-wave across a single nonlinear joint in a rockmass, a recurrence equation is deduced using a semianalytical and seminumerical method from the nonlinear wave equation by introducing the static Bandis−Barton (BB) model for a single rock joint. Parametric studies are conducted to analyze the effects of the joint position and incident wave frequency. Results demonstrated that incident one-cycle sinusoidal pulse shifted into a wave that had two lobes after propagation in nonlinear rock within a certain distance. The wave then became a wave with two lobes in a different shape after normal transmission across a nonlinear single joint. The amplitude of the recorded waveform before the joint had an obvious inverse correlation with the frequency of the incident pulse. In addition, the amplitude of the transmitted waveform had a positive correlation with the incident pulse within a fixed distance from the joint. The magnitude of the transmission coefficient increased with the incident wave frequency. The conclusions drawn from this study provide a reference for the assessment of the stability of rock structures when they are subjected to dynamic disturbance.

Digital simulation of physical processes in vehicles engine power units

This article studies the issues of digital simulation of physical operating processes in vehicles transmission. Simulation of dynamic processes is carried out in power transmissions at the design stage. The procedure for using the digital packages such as MATLab – Simulink and Simscape was considered for the numerical simulation of dynamic processes in mechanical systems based on the example of the theoretical calculation of K-744 tractor transmission dynamics. A digital model of K-744 tractor transmission is constructed, its calculation scheme is given, the initial characteristics are determined. A digital model of the tractor engine was created by means of the Simulink package. A nature of change in tractor engine torqueis determined by it. The calculated analysis of normal transmission frequencies is performed. Forced torsional vibrations are calculated in the tractor change gearbox generated by the vehicle engine operation. The conditions of resonance in the transmission are analyzed. The unfavorable modes of joint operation of the engine and the gearbox are determined for K-744 tractor.

Suprasegmental Characteristics of Spontaneous Speech Produced in Good and Challenging Communicative Conditions by Talkers Aged 9–14 Years

Purpose This study investigated the acoustic characteristics of spontaneous speech by talkers aged 9–14 years and their ability to adapt these characteristics to maintain effective communication when intelligibility was artificially degraded for their interlocutor. Method Recordings were made for 96 children (50 female participants, 46 male participants) engaged in a problem-solving task with a same-sex friend; recordings for 20 adults were used as reference. The task was carried out in good listening conditions (normal transmission) and in degraded transmission conditions. Articulation rate, median fundamental frequency (f0), f0 range, and relative energy in the 1- to 3-kHz range were analyzed. Results With increasing age, children significantly reduced their median f0 and f0 range, became faster talkers, and reduced their mid-frequency energy in spontaneous speech. Children produced similar clear speech adaptations (in degraded transmission conditions) as adults, but only children aged 11–14 years increased their f0 range, an unhelpful strategy not transmitted via the vocoder. Changes made by children were consistent with a general increase in vocal effort. Conclusion Further developments in speech production take place during later childhood . Children use clear speech strategies to benefit an interlocutor facing intelligibility problems but may not be able to attune these strategies to the same degree as adults.

Seismic Responses of Multiple-Circuit Transmission Tower-Line System

Compared with normal transmission towers, the multiple-circuit tower was higher and heavier,it also had a longer crossarm. Response spectral method was taken to analysis the transmission tower-line’s response under earthquake.The results obtained from single tower and tower-line system under the earthquake were compared with each other，such as the tower members’ axial stresses and horizontal shears on supports .In addition,this paper discussed seismic load effects on the transmission tower-line system and some useful results were derived.

Study on Streaming Media Tentative Rate Control Algorithm Based on TCP-Friendly

In TCP-IP network environment that can’t provide a reliable guarantee of QoS, congestion and insufficient bandwidth becoming a major bottleneck in network applications, in order to prevent multimedia streaming occupied too many network resources ,leading to the traditional TCP flow can’t be normal transmission, the paper analyzes the RTP protocol QoS control and TCP congestion control mechanism ,directs the phenomenon of multimedia streaming flow seizing the traditional network resources, and proposes a tentative for streaming media rate control algorithm, effectively ensuring the multimedia streaming and traditional TCP flows to friendly coexist and fair competition.

Bonding Defect Imaging in Glulam with Novel Air-Coupled Ultrasound Testing

The objective of this chapter is to provide an overview of novel non-destructive testing methodologies for bonding quality assessment in glued laminated timber developed within a recently completed Swiss National Science Foundation research project (Sanabria, 2012). The focus is set on air-coupled ultrasound testing, which has previously been applied to wood-based panels typically up to 50 mm thick. A novel prototype capable of transmitting ultrasound signals through up to 500 mm thick glulam was developed. A computerized-scanning system allowed imaging of the position and geometry of defects within the bonding planes. A normal transmission setup allows a global assessment of defective bonding planes stacks. Latest results are as well shown for a recently patented slanted lateral transmission setup, which allows separate assessment of individual bonding planes with unlimited beam height and length. The investigations allowed an improved understanding of the wave propagation phenomena in thick laminated timber components through both analytical calculations and finite-difference numerical simulations. An overview of the main findings is as well provided. Future research is planned to combine the developed theoretical and experimental tools in a tomographic inspection method.