Compressive video sensors using multichannel imagers.

We explore the possibilities of obtaining compression in video through modified sampling strategies using multichannel imaging systems. The redundancies in video streams are exploited through compressive sampling schemes to achieve low power and low complexity video sensors. The sampling strategies as well as the associated reconstruction algorithms are discussed. These compressive sampling schemes could be implemented in the focal plane readout hardware resulting in drastic reduction in data bandwidth and computational complexity.

Imaging through turbulence using compressive coherence sensing.

Previous studies have shown that the isoplanatic distortion due to turbulence and the image of a remote object may be jointly estimated from the 4D mutual intensity across an aperture. This Letter shows that decompressive inference on a 2D slice of the 4D mutual intensity, as measured by a rotational shear interferometer, is sufficient for estimation of sparse objects imaged through turbulence. The 2D slice is processed using an iterative algorithm that alternates between estimating the sparse objects and estimating the turbulence-induced phase screen. This approach may enable new systems that infer object properties through turbulence without exhaustive sampling of coherence functions.

Analytic-domain lens design with proximate ray tracing.

We have developed an alternative approach to optical design which operates in the analytical domain so that an optical designer works directly with rays as analytical functions of system parameters rather than as discretely sampled polylines. This is made possible by a generalization of the proximate ray tracing technique which obtains the analytical dependence of the rays at the image surface (and ray path lengths at the exit pupil) on each system parameter. The resulting method provides an alternative direction from which to approach system optimization and supplies information which is not typically available to the system designer. In addition, we have further expanded the procedure to allow asymmetric systems and arbitrary order of approximation, and have illustrated the performance of the method through three lens design examples.

Generalized sampling using a compound-eye imaging system for multi-dimensional object acquisition.

In this paper, we propose generalized sampling approaches for measuring a multi-dimensional object using a compact compound-eye imaging system called thin observation module by bound optics (TOMBO). This paper shows the proposed system model, physical examples, and simulations to verify TOMBO imaging using generalized sampling. In the system, an object is modulated and multiplied by a weight distribution with physical coding, and the coded optical signal is integrated on to a detector array. A numerical estimation algorithm employing a sparsity constraint is used for object reconstruction.

Inline holographic coherent anti-Stokes Raman microscopy.

We demonstrate a simple approach for inline holographic coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy, in which a layer of uniform nonlinear medium is placed in front of a specimen to be imaged. The reference wave created by four-wave mixing in the nonlinear medium can interfere with the CARS signal generated in the specimen to result in an inline hologram. We experimentally and theoretically investigate the inline CARS holography and show that it has chemical selectivity and can allow for three-dimensional imaging.

Detecting separate time scales in genetic expression data.

BACKGROUND: Biological processes occur on a vast range of time scales, and many of them occur concurrently. As a result, system-wide measurements of gene expression have the potential to capture many of these processes simultaneously. The challenge however, is to separate these processes and time scales in the data. In many cases the number of processes and their time scales is unknown. This issue is particularly relevant to developmental biologists, who are interested in processes such as growth, segmentation and differentiation, which can all take place simultaneously, but on different time scales. RESULTS: We introduce a flexible and statistically rigorous method for detecting different time scales in time-series gene expression data, by identifying expression patterns that are temporally shifted between replicate datasets. We apply our approach to a Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell-cycle dataset and an Arabidopsis thaliana root developmental dataset. In both datasets our method successfully detects processes operating on several different time scales. Furthermore we show that many of these time scales can be associated with particular biological functions. CONCLUSIONS: The spatiotemporal modules identified by our method suggest the presence of multiple biological processes, acting at distinct time scales in both the Arabidopsis root and yeast. Using similar large-scale expression datasets, the identification of biological processes acting at multiple time scales in many organisms is now possible.

Compressive holography.

Compressive sampling enables signal reconstruction using less than one measurement per reconstructed signal value. Compressive measurement is particularly useful in generating multidimensional images from lower dimensional data. We demonstrate single frame 3D tomography from 2D holographic data.

VIXEN, VIRGIN, AND GODDESS: PERFORMANCE PRACTICE AND THE BAROQUE HEROINE

This dissertation comprises performance of three soprano roles in Baroque musical theater pieces, recorded on compact disc. These roles are "Poppea" in The Coronation of Poppea (1642) of Claudio Monteverdi (a filly-produced staging of the 1989 Alan Curtis critical edition in English translation, with the Maryland Opera Studio at the Kay Theater, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, May 3 and 6, 2002; Ken Slowik, conductor); "Galatea" in Acis and Galatea (1718) of George Friederich Handel (a staged reading at Gildenhorn Recital Hall, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, May 29,2003; Edward Maclary, conductor); and "Miecke" (Soprano Soloist) in Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet (Peasant Cantata), BWV 212 (1742) of Johann Sebastian Bach (a staged and costumed performance with the Washington Bach Consort at Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall, Alexandria, Virginia, February 2,2003; J. Reilly Lewis, conductor). In addition to performing these three roles, I was the stage director for the reading of Acis and Galatea. Close readings of the libretti, examination of contemporary guides to ornamentation, and research into production histories inform the improvisatory ornamentation found in these compact disc recordings.

Adaptive temporal compressive sensing for video

This paper introduces the concept of adaptive temporal compressive sensing (CS) for video. We propose a CS algorithm to adapt the compression ratio based on the scene's temporal complexity, computed from the compressed data, without compromising the quality of the reconstructed video. The temporal adaptivity is manifested by manipulating the integration time of the camera, opening the possibility to realtime implementation. The proposed algorithm is a generalized temporal CS approach that can be incorporated with a diverse set of existing hardware systems. © 2013 IEEE.

Coded aperture compressive temporal imaging.

We use mechanical translation of a coded aperture for code division multiple access compression of video. We discuss the compressed video's temporal resolution and present experimental results for reconstructions of > 10 frames of temporal data per coded snapshot.

Poverty and Place in the Context of the American South

In the United States, poverty has been historically higher and disproportionately concentrated in the American South. Despite this fact, much of the conventional poverty literature in the United States has focused on urban poverty in cities, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest. Relatively less American poverty research has focused on the enduring economic distress in the South, which Wimberley (2008:899) calls “a neglected regional crisis of historic and contemporary urgency.” Accordingly, this dissertation contributes to the inequality literature by focusing much needed attention on poverty in the South.

Each empirical chapter focuses on a different aspect of poverty in the South. Chapter 2 examines why poverty is higher in the South relative to the Non-South. Chapter 3 focuses on poverty predictors within the South and whether there are differences in the sub-regions of the Deep South and Peripheral South. These two chapters compare the roles of family demography, economic structure, racial/ethnic composition and heterogeneity, and power resources in shaping poverty. Chapter 4 examines whether poverty in the South has been shaped by historical racial regimes.

The Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) United States datasets (2000, 2004, 2007, 2010, and 2013) (derived from the U.S. Census Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement) provide all the individual-level data for this study. The LIS sample of 745,135 individuals is nested in rich economic, political, and racial state-level data compiled from multiple sources (e.g. U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Agriculture, University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research, etc.). Analyses involve a combination of techniques including linear probability regression models to predict poverty and binary decomposition of poverty differences.

Chapter 2 results suggest that power resources, followed by economic structure, are most important in explaining the higher poverty in the South. This underscores the salience of political and economic contexts in shaping poverty across place. Chapter 3 results indicate that individual-level economic factors are the largest predictors of poverty within the South, and even more so in the Deep South. Moreover, divergent results between the South, Deep South, and Peripheral South illustrate how the impact of poverty predictors can vary in different contexts. Chapter 4 results show significant bivariate associations between historical race regimes and poverty among Southern states, although regression models fail to yield significant effects. Conversely, historical race regimes do have a small, but significant effect in explaining the Black-White poverty gap. Results also suggest that employment and education are key to understanding poverty among Blacks and the Black-White poverty gap. Collectively, these chapters underscore why place is so important for understanding poverty and inequality. They also illustrate the salience of micro and macro characteristics of place for helping create, maintain, and reproduce systems of inequality across place.

Perceived cannabis use norms and cannabis use among adolescents in the United States.

Due to changes in cannabis policies, concerns about cannabis use (CU) in adolescents have increased. The population of nonwhite groups is growing quickly in the United States. We examined perceived CU norms and their association with CU and CU disorder (CUD) for White, Black, Hispanic, Native-American, Asian-American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NH/PI), and mixed-race adolescents. Data were from adolescents (12-17 years) in the 2004-2012 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (N = 163,837). Substance use and CUD were assessed by computer-assisted, self-interviewing methods. Blacks, Hispanics, Native-Americans, and mixed-race adolescents had greater odds of past-year CU and CUD than Whites. Among past-year cannabis users (CUs), Hispanics and Native-Americans had greater odds of having a CUD than Whites. Asian-Americans had the highest prevalence of perceived parental or close friends' CU disapproval. Native-Americans and mixed-race adolescents had lower odds than Whites of perceiving CU disapproval from parents or close friends. In adjusted analyses, adolescent's disapproval of CU, as well as perceived disapproval by parents or close friends, were associated with a decreased odds of CU in each racial/ethnic group, except for NHs/PIs. Adolescent's disapproval of CU was associated with a decreased odds of CUD among CUs for Whites (personal, parental, and close friends' disapproval), Hispanics (personal, parental, and close friends' disapproval), and mixed-race adolescents (personal, close friends' disapproval). Racial/ethnic differences in adolescent CU prevalence were somewhat consistent with adolescents' reports of CU norm patterns. Longitudinal research on CU health effects should oversample nonwhite adolescents to assure an adequate sample for analysis and reporting.

Using electronic health record data for substance use Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment among adults with type 2 diabetes: Design of a National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network study.

BACKGROUND: The Affordable Care Act encourages healthcare systems to integrate behavioral and medical healthcare, as well as to employ electronic health records (EHRs) for health information exchange and quality improvement. Pragmatic research paradigms that employ EHRs in research are needed to produce clinical evidence in real-world medical settings for informing learning healthcare systems. Adults with comorbid diabetes and substance use disorders (SUDs) tend to use costly inpatient treatments; however, there is a lack of empirical data on implementing behavioral healthcare to reduce health risk in adults with high-risk diabetes. Given the complexity of high-risk patients' medical problems and the cost of conducting randomized trials, a feasibility project is warranted to guide practical study designs. METHODS: We describe the study design, which explores the feasibility of implementing substance use Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) among adults with high-risk type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) within a home-based primary care setting. Our study includes the development of an integrated EHR datamart to identify eligible patients and collect diabetes healthcare data, and the use of a geographic health information system to understand the social context in patients' communities. Analysis will examine recruitment, proportion of patients receiving brief intervention and/or referrals, substance use, SUD treatment use, diabetes outcomes, and retention. DISCUSSION: By capitalizing on an existing T2DM project that uses home-based primary care, our study results will provide timely clinical information to inform the designs and implementation of future SBIRT studies among adults with multiple medical conditions.

Planteamiento y resolución de problemas: ¿es relevante Polya para las matemáticas escolares del siglo XXI?

Se escribe dos tareas matemáticas enriquecedoras, adecuadas para los últimos cursos de primaria y primero de secundaria, dándose cinco características que deben tener las tareas "fértiles" de planteamiento y resolución de problemas.