HealthMap: A cluster randomised trial of interactive health plans and self-management support to prevent coronary heart disease in people with HIV

Background The leading causes of morbidity and mortality for people in high-income countries living with HIV are now non-AIDS malignancies, cardiovascular disease and other non-communicable diseases associated with ageing. This protocol describes the trial of HealthMap, a model of care for people with HIV (PWHIV) that includes use of an interactive shared health record and self-management support. The aims of the HealthMap trial are to evaluate engagement of PWHIV and healthcare providers with the model, and its effectiveness for reducing coronary heart disease risk, enhancing self-management, and improving mental health and quality of life of PWHIV. Methods/Design The study is a two-arm cluster randomised trial involving HIV clinical sites in several states in Australia. Doctors will be randomised to the HealthMap model (immediate arm) or to proceed with usual care (deferred arm). People with HIV whose doctors are randomised to the immediate arm receive 1) new opportunities to discuss their health status and goals with their HIV doctor using a HealthMap shared health record; 2) access to their own health record from home; 3) access to health coaching delivered by telephone and online; and 4) access to a peer moderated online group chat programme. Data will be collected from participating PWHIV (n = 710) at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months and from participating doctors (n = 60) at baseline and 12 months. The control arm will be offered the HealthMap intervention at the end of the trial. The primary study outcomes, measured at 12 months, are 1) 10-year risk of non-fatal acute myocardial infarction or coronary heart disease death as estimated by a Framingham Heart Study risk equation; and 2) Positive and Active Engagement in Life Scale from the Health Education Impact Questionnaire (heiQ). Discussion The study will determine the viability and utility of a novel technology-supported model of care for maintaining the health and wellbeing of people with HIV. If shown to be effective, the HealthMap model may provide a generalisable, scalable and sustainable system for supporting the care needs of people with HIV, addressing issues of equity of access. Trial registration Universal Trial Number (UTN) U111111506489; ClinicalTrial.gov Id NCT02178930 submitted 29 June 2014

Efficacy of family mediation and the role of family violence: Study protocol

Background Family law reforms in Australia require separated parents in dispute to attempt mandatory family dispute resolution (FDR) in community-based family services before court attendance. However, there are concerns about such services when clients present with a history of high conflict and family violence. This study protocol describes a longitudinal study of couples presenting for family mediation services. The study aims to describe the profile of family mediation clients, including type of family violence, and determine the impact of violence profiles on FDR processes and outcomes, such as the type and durability of shared parenting arrangements and clients’ satisfaction with mediated agreements. Methods A mixed method, naturalistic longitudinal design is used. The sampling frame is clients presenting at nine family mediation centres across metropolitan, outer suburban, and regional/rural sites in Victoria, Australia. Data are collected at pre-test, completion of mediation, and six months later. Self-administered surveys are administered at the three time points, and a telephone interview at the final post-test. The key study variable is family violence. Key outcome measures are changes in the type and level of acrimony and violent behaviours, the relationship between violence and mediated agreements, the durability of agreements over six months, and client satisfaction with mediation. Discussion Family violence is a major risk to the physical and mental health of women and children. This study will inform debates about the role of family violence and how to manage it in the family mediation context. It will also inform decision-making about mediation practices by better understanding how mediation impacts on parenting agreements, and the implications for children, especially in the context of family violence.

Control of nitrate reductase by iron in Neurospora crassa

Iron deficiency has been found to occur in Neurospora crassa grown in sole nitrate medium, even when levels of iron, normal with respect to the usual ammonium nitrate medium, were provided. Under this condition, mycelial nitrate reductase and catalase levels were high, there was inhibition of growth, and there was accumulation of an iron-binding compound and nitrite in the culture filtrate. These were counteracted by increasing the iron level of the sole nitrate medium, except that the catalase level increased still further. Evidence is presented for the control of nitrate reductase by iron.

Two Scenarios for How Scholarly Publishers Could Change Their Business Model to Open Access

The Internet has made possible the cost-effective dissemination of scientific journals in the form of electronic versions, usually in parallel with the printed versions. At the same time the electronic medium also makes possible totally new open access (OA) distribution models, funded by author charges, sponsorship, advertising, voluntary work, etc., where the end product is free in full text to the readers. Although more than 2,000 new OA journals have been founded in the last 15 years, the uptake of open access has been rather slow, with currently around 5% of all peer-reviewed articles published in OA journals. The slow growth can to a large extent be explained by the fact that open access has predominantly emerged via newly founded journals and startup publishers. Established journals and publishers have not had strong enough incentives to change their business models, and the commercial risks in doing so have been high. In this paper we outline and discuss two different scenarios for how scholarly publishers could change their operating model to open access. The first is based on an instantaneous change and the second on a gradual change. We propose a way to manage the gradual change by bundling traditional “big deal” licenses and author charges for opening access to individual articles.

Two Scenarios for How Scholarly Publishers Could Change Their Business Model to Open Access

The Internet has made possible the cost-effective dissemination of scientific journals in the form of electronic versions, usually in parallel with the printed versions. At the same time the electronic medium also makes possible totally new open access (OA) distribution models, funded by author charges, sponsorship, advertising, voluntary work, etc., where the end product is free in full text to the readers. Although more than 2,000 new OA journals have been founded in the last 15 years, the uptake of open access has been rather slow, with currently around 5% of all peer-reviewed articles published in OA journals. The slow growth can to a large extent be explained by the fact that open access has predominantly emerged via newly founded journals and startup publishers. Established journals and publishers have not had strong enough incentives to change their business models, and the commercial risks in doing so have been high. In this paper we outline and discuss two different scenarios for how scholarly publishers could change their operating model to open access. The first is based on an instantaneous change and the second on a gradual change. We propose a way to manage the gradual change by bundling traditional “big deal” licenses and author charges for opening access to individual articles.

Coding for Two-User Gaussian MAC with PSK and PAM Signal Sets

Constellation Constrained (CC) capacity regions of a two-user Gaussian Multiple Access Channel(GMAC) have been recently reported. For such a channel, code pairs based on trellis coded modulation are proposed in this paper with MPSK and M-PAM alphabet pairs, for arbitrary values of M,toachieve sum rates close to the CC sum capacity of the GMAC. In particular, the structure of the sum alphabets of M-PSK and M-PAMmalphabet pairs are exploited to prove that, for certain angles of rotation between the alphabets, Ungerboeck labelling on the trellis of each user maximizes the guaranteed squared Euclidean distance of the sum trellis. Hence, such a labelling scheme can be used systematically,to construct trellis code pairs to achieve sum rates close to the CC sum capacity. More importantly, it is shown for the first time that ML decoding complexity at the destination is significantly reduced when M-PAM alphabet pairs are employed with almost no loss in the sum capacity.

STBCs with Reduced Sphere Decoding Complexity for Two-User MIMO-MAC

In this paper, Space-Time Block Codes (STBCs) with reduced Sphere Decoding Complexity (SDC) are constructed for two-user Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) fading multiple access channels. In this set-up, both the users employ identical STBCs and the destination performs sphere decoding for the symbols of the two users. First, we identify the positions of the zeros in the R matrix arising out of the Q-R decomposition of the lattice generator such that (i) the worst case SDC (WSDC) and (ii) the average SDC (ASDC) are reduced. Then, a set of necessary and sufficient conditions on the lattice generator is provided such that the R matrix has zeros at the identified positions. Subsequently, explicit constructions of STBCs which results in the reduced ASDC are presented. The rate (in complex symbols per channel use) of the proposed designs is at most 2/N-t where N-t denotes the number of transmit antennas for each user. We also show that the class of STBCs from complex orthogonal designs (other than the Alamouti design) reduce the WSDC but not the ASDC.

Control of morphogenesis in tobacco protoplast cultures: organogenesis vs embryogenesis

The morphogenetic pathway leading to plant differentiation in tobacco mesophyll protoplasts could be regulated. The course of development via organogenesis or embryogenesis was controlled by manipulating nutrient media, culture conditions and hormone requirements. A lowering of molarity of medium after 5 weeks of protoplast culture, inclusion of GA3 (0.5 mg/l) in the medium for first 8 weeks of culture and exclusion of reduced nitrogen in the medium resulted in shoot organogenesis, while maintenance of higher molarity of the medium till 8 weeks, reduced nitrogen in the medium and removal of 2, 4-D after 5 weeks of culture induced embryogenesis. Regenerability of viable plants was obtained by both developmental pathways. The implications of tobacco embryogenesis system in plant molecular genetics were highlighted.

Regeneration of plantlets from leaf disc cultures of rosewood: control of leaf abscission and shoot tip necrosis

A method for mass production of rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia Roxb.) trees through leaf disc organogenesis was developed and standardized. Compact callus was initiated from mature leaf discs on Murashige and Skoog (MS) basal medium supplemented with 1.0 mg 1?1 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-D), 5.0 mg 1?1 ?-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), 1.0 mg 1?1 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 10% coconut water (CW). High frequency (15�20 shoots/g callus) regeneration of shoot bud differentiation was obtained on MS (3/4 reduced major elements) or Woody Plant Medium (WPM) or modified Woody Plant Medium (mWPM) supplemented with BAP (5.0 mg 1?1) and NAA (0.5 mg 1?1). Leaf abscission and shoot tip necrosis was controlled using mWPM. About 90% of the excised shoots were rooted in the mWPM supplemented with 2.0 mg 1?1 ?-indolebutyric acid (IBA) and 1.0 mg 1?1 caffeic acid. The in vitro-raised rooted plantlets were hardened for successful transplantation to soil. The transplanted plants were exposed to various humidity conditions and 80% transplant success was achieved. The in vitro-raised leaf-regenerated plants grew normally and vigorously in soil.

On Two-User Gaussian Multiple Access Channels With Finite Input Constellations

Constellation Constrained (CC) capacity regions of two-user Single-Input Single-Output (SISO) Gaussian Multiple Access Channels (GMAC) are computed for several Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access schemes (NO-MA) and Orthogonal Multiple Access schemes (O-MA). For NO-MA schemes, a metric is proposed to compute the angle(s) of rotation between the input constellations such that the CC capacity regions are maximally enlarged. Further, code pairs based on Trellis Coded Modulation (TCM) are designed with PSK constellation pairs and PAM constellation pairs such that any rate pair within the CC capacity region can be approached. Such a NO-MA scheme which employs CC capacity approaching trellis codes is referred to as Trellis Coded Multiple Access (TCMA). Then, CC capacity regions of O-MA schemes such as Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) and Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) are also computed and it is shown that, unlike the Gaussian distributed continuous constellations case, the CC capacity regions with FDMA are strictly contained inside the CC capacity regions with TCMA. Hence, for finite constellations, a NO-MA scheme such as TCMA is better than FDMA and TDMA which makes NO-MA schemes worth pursuing in practice for two-user GMAC. Then, the idea of introducing rotations between the input constellations is used to construct Space-Time Block Code (STBC) pairs for two-user Multiple-Input Single-Output (MISO) fading MAC. The proposed STBCs are shown to have reduced Maximum Likelihood (ML) decoding complexity and information-losslessness property. Finally, STBC pairs with reduced sphere decoding complexity are proposed for two-user Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) fading MAC.

Liquid-Liquid Interphase (Biphasic) as the Reaction Medium in the Assembly of a Hierarchy of Structures of 4,4 `-Azodibenzoic Acid with Zinc and Cadmium

The compounds Zn(C12H8N2)](2)C12N2H8(COO)(2)](2)center dot(C6H12O)center dot(H2O), I, Zn(C12H8N2)]C12N2H8(COO)(2)], II, Cd(C12H8N2)(H2O)]C12N2H8(COO)(2)]center dot(H2O), III, Zn(C10N2H8)]C12N2H8(COO)(2)]center dot 0.5(C10N2H8), IV, Cd(C12N2H8(COO)(2)center dot H2O], V, and Zn-3(mu(2)-O)(mu(3)-O)(3)]C12N2H8(COO)(2)], VI, have been synthesized by using a biphasic approach (I, III, V, VI) or regular hydrothermal method (II, IV). The compounds exhibit one (I and II), two (In), and three dimensionally (IV, V, VI) extended structures. The flexible azodibenzoate ligand gives rise to a 3-fold interpenetration (IV) when the synthesis was carried out using normal hydrothermal methods. The biphasic approach forms structures without any interpenetrations, especially in the three-dimensional structures of V and VI. Formation of Cd2O2 dimers in V and extended M-O(H)-M two-dimensional layers in VI suggests the subtle structural control achieved by the biphasic method. Transformation studies indicate that it is possible to transform I to II. Lewis acid catalytic studies have been performed to evaluate the role of the coordination environment in such reactions. All the compounds have been characterized by a variety of techniques that includes powder X-ray diffraction, infrared, thermogravitric analysis, UV-vis, photoluminescence studies.

Experimental validation of the 1-D acoustical model for conical concentric tube resonators with moving medium

Variable cross-sectional area ducts are often used for attenuation at lower frequencies (of the order of firing frequency), whereas concentric tube resonators provide attenuation at relatively higher frequencies. In this paper, analysis of one dimensional control volume approach of conical concentric tube resonators is validated experimentally. The effects of mean flow and taper are investigated. The experimental setup is specially designed to measure the pressure transfer function in the form of Level Difference or Noise Reduction across the test muffler. It is shown that there is a reasonably good agreement between the predicted values of the Noise Reduction and the measured ones for incompressible mean flow as well as stationary medium. (C) 2011 Institute of Noise Control Engineering.

Reinforcement Learning With Function Approximation for Traffic Signal Control

We propose, for the first time, a reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm with function approximation for traffic signal control. Our algorithm incorporates state-action features and is easily implementable in high-dimensional settings. Prior work, e. g., the work of Abdulhai et al., on the application of RL to traffic signal control requires full-state representations and cannot be implemented, even in moderate-sized road networks, because the computational complexity exponentially grows in the numbers of lanes and junctions. We tackle this problem of the curse of dimensionality by effectively using feature-based state representations that use a broad characterization of the level of congestion as low, medium, or high. One advantage of our algorithm is that, unlike prior work based on RL, it does not require precise information on queue lengths and elapsed times at each lane but instead works with the aforementioned described features. The number of features that our algorithm requires is linear to the number of signaled lanes, thereby leading to several orders of magnitude reduction in the computational complexity. We perform implementations of our algorithm on various settings and show performance comparisons with other algorithms in the literature, including the works of Abdulhai et al. and Cools et al., as well as the fixed-timing and the longest queue algorithms. For comparison, we also develop an RL algorithm that uses full-state representation and incorporates prioritization of traffic, unlike the work of Abdulhai et al. We observe that our algorithm outperforms all the other algorithms on all the road network settings that we consider.

A Coalitional Game Framework for Cooperative Secondary Spectrum Access

We consider a framework in which several service providers offer downlink wireless data access service in a certain area. Each provider serves its end-users through opportunistic secondary spectrum access of licensed spectrum, and needs to pay primary license holders of the spectrum usage based and membership based charges for such secondary spectrum access. In these circumstances, if providers pool their resources and allow end-users to be served by any of the cooperating providers, the total user satisfaction as well as the aggregate revenue earned by providers may increase. We use coalitional game theory to investigate such cooperation among providers, and show that the optimal cooperation schemes can be obtained as solutions of convex optimizations. We next show that under usage based charging scheme, if all providers cooperate, there always exists an operating point that maximizes the aggregate revenue of providers, while presenting each provider a share of the revenue such that no subset of providers has an incentive to leave the coalition. Furthermore, such an operating point can be computed in polynomial time. Finally, we show that when the charging scheme involves membership based charges, the above result holds in important special cases.

An Empirical Analysis of Heterogeneity in IEEE 802.11 MAC Protocol Implementations and its Implications

Wireless LAN (WLAN) market consists of IEEE 802.11 MAC standard conformant devices (e.g., access points (APs), client adapters) from multiple vendors. Certain third party certifications such as those specified by the Wi-Fi alliance have been widely used by vendors to ensure basic conformance to the 802.11 standard, thus leading to the expectation that the available devices exhibit identical MAC level behavior. In this paper, however, we present what we believe to be the first ever set of experimental results that highlight the fact that WLAN devices from different vendors in the market can have heterogeneous MAC level behavior. Specifically, we demonstrate with examples and data that in certain cases, devices may not be conformant with the 802.11 standard while in other cases, they may differ in significant details that are not a part of mandatory specifications of the standard. We argue that heterogeneous MAC implementations can adversely impact WLAN operations leading to unfair bandwidth allocation, potential break-down of related MAC functionality and difficulties in provisioning the capacity of a WLAN. However, on the positive side, MAC level heterogeneity can be useful in applications such as vendor/model level device fingerprinting.