Age at onset, course of illness and response to psychotherapy in bipolar disorder: Results from the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD)

Background. The course of bipolar disorder progressively worsens in some patients. Although responses to pharmacotherapy appear to diminish with greater chronicity, less is known about whether patients' prior courses of illness are related to responses to psychotherapy.

Rapid on-line control to reaching is preserved in children with congenital spastic hemiplegia: evidence from double-step reaching performance

This study aimed to investigate the integrity of on-line control of reaching in congenital spastic hemiplegia in light of disparate evidence. Twelve children with and without spastic hemiplegia (11-17 years old) completed a double-step reaching task requiring them to reach and touch a target that remained stationary for most trials (viz nonjump trial) but unexpectedly displaced laterally at movement onset for a minority of trials (20%: known as jump trials). Although children with spastic hemiplegia were generally slower than age-matched controls, they could account for target perturbation at age-appropriate levels shown by a lack of interaction effect on movement time and nonsignificant group difference for time to reach trajectory correction on jump trials. Our data suggest that at a group level, on-line control of reaching may be age-appropriate in spastic hemiplegia. However, our data also highlight the need to experimentally acknowledge the considerable heterogeneity of the spastic hemiplegia population when investigating motor cognition.

Single step preparation of meso-porous and reduced graphene oxide by gamma-ray irradiation in gaseous phase

A facile and highly efficient route to produce simultaneously porous and reduced graphene oxide by gamma ray irradiation in hydrogen is here demonstrated. Narrowly distributed nano-scale pores (average size of ∼3 nm and surface density >44,900 pore μm-2) were generated across 10 μm thick graphene oxide bucky-papers at a total irradiation dose of 500 kGy. The graphene oxide sheet reduction was confirmed to occur homogeneously across the structures by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman analysis. This one-step, catalyst-free, high penetration and through-put technique, offers great promises potential for the mass production of reduced graphene oxide from cheap graphene oxide. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

New variable step-sizes minimizing mean-square deviation for the lms-type algorithms

The least-mean-square-type (LMS-type) algorithms are known as simple and effective adaptation algorithms. However, the LMS-type algorithms have a trade-off between the convergence rate and steady-state performance. In this paper, we investigate a new variable step-size approach to achieve fast convergence rate and low steady-state misadjustment. By approximating the optimal step-size that minimizes the mean-square deviation, we derive variable step-sizes for both the time-domain normalized LMS (NLMS) algorithm and the transform-domain LMS (TDLMS) algorithm. The proposed variable step-sizes are simple quotient forms of the filtered versions of the quadratic error and very effective for the NLMS and TDLMS algorithms. The computer simulations are demonstrated in the framework of adaptive system modeling. Superior performance is obtained compared to the existing popular variable step-size approaches of the NLMS and TDLMS algorithms. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

A first step towards a simple in-line shape compensation routine for the roll forming of high strength steel

The roll forming process is increasingly used in the automotive industry for the manufacture of structural and crash components from Ultra High Strength Steel (UHSS). Due to the high strength of UHSS (<1GPa) even small and commonly observed material property variations from coil to coil can result in significant changes in material yield and through that affect the final shape of the roll formed component. This requires the re-adjustment of tooling to compensate for shape defects and maintain part geometry resulting in costly downtimes of equipment. This paper presents a first step towards an in-line shape compensation method that based on the monitoring of roll load and torque allows for the estimation of shape defects and the subsequent re-adjustment of tooling for compensation. For this the effect of material property variation on common shape defects observed in the roll forming process as well as measurable process parameters such as roll load and torque needs to be understood. The effect of yield strength and material hardening on roll load and torque as well as longitudinal bow is investigated via experimental trials and numerical analysis. A regression analysis combined with Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) techniques is employed to establish the relationships between the process and material parameters and to determine their percentage influence on longitudinal bow, roll load and torque. The study will show that the level of longitudinal bow, one of the major shape defects observed in roll forming, can be estimated by variations in roll load and torque.

The high renaissance properties of porous three dimensional graphene using one step reduction and its application in flexible conductor

 A super conductive graphene with continuous three dimensional (3D) porous structures that can potentially be used as flexible conductors has been produced by one step reduction of graphene oxide (GO) film. The high renaissance properties have been demonstrated by mechanical and electrical results where a noticeable increase in the electrical conductivity to 3850 S/cm has been demonstrated after embedding the 3D graphene foam into nearly insulated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The graphene integrated PDMS film has a higher strain up to 100% elongation compared with the strain of only 60% for PDMS. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) results reveal that most oxidized groups have been removed, which contributes to the renaissance of most outstanding properties of graphene because of the recovery of sp2 carbon structures.

Time step

Building upon 'Fly Rhythm' this work is a digital pinhole photograph developed through a performative process.

Boron nitride colloidal solutions, ultralight aerogels and freestanding membranes through one-step exfoliation and functionalization

Manufacturing of aerogels and membranes from hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is much more difficult than from graphene or graphene oxides because of the poor dispersibility of h-BN in water, which limits its exfoliation and preparation of colloidal solutions. Here, a simple, one-step mechano-chemical process to exfoliate and functionalize h-BN into highly water-dispersible, few-layer h-BN containing amino groups is presented. The colloidal solutions of few-layer h-BN can have unprecedentedly high concentrations, up to 30 mg ml(-1), and are stable for up to several months. They can be used to produce ultralight aerogels with a density of 1.4 mg cm(-3), which is ∼1,500 times less than bulk h-BN, and freestanding membranes simply by cryodrying and filtration, respectively. The material shows strong blue light emission under ultraviolet excitation, in both dispersed and dry state.

Step by step analyzing, modeling and simulation of single and double array PV system in different environmental variability

This research analyses the mathematical model of the PV array with all the parameters involved, in the sequential steps. Then it is going to simulate the I-V and P-V characteristics of PV array in different climatology conditions, by using both MATLAB M-file and Simulink. Finally the capability of this method is demonstrated in simulated results, which are performed for both Single and Double Array PV system.