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LAST APRIL, CARLOS GARCIA WAS at the National School Boards Association annual convention in San Francisco when he recognized a familiar face approaching, it was Bill Attea, chairman of the [...]

LAST WINTER THE FBI AND THE Department of Homeland Security sent a memo to law enforcement agencies alerting them that foreign nationals with ties to extremist groups had bought buses [...]

IN 2002, THE CHINESE AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL School, a private preK-8 school in San Francisco, cosponsored a one-day workshop for Chinese language teachers from the Bay Area. Most of the 40 [...]

A brief review on how to shuck an oyster, start a Shore business, and achieve perfect beach hair is presented. All these and more to help one breeze through a perfect summer it is investigated and an annual Ultimate Beach Chart is discussed in detailed.

The article presents a list of five tasks which the author suggests are necessary in order for entrepreneurs to launch a startup business, including establishing a business plan and budget, the hiring of effective employees, and soliciting feedback from potential customers.

The article discusses speculation on the value of a masters of business administration (MBA) degree relative to its costs. It offers contrasting viewpoints from Germain Böer, director of the Owen Entrepreneurship Center at Vanderbilt University and Mariana Zanetti, author of the book "The MBA Bubble: Why Getting an MBA Degree Is a Bad Idea."

'WHEN CATHY GRIFFITH, fourth-grader at Red Bug Elementary School in Seminole County (Fla.) Public Schools, made the honor roll last November, she also read a message on her report card [...]

This paper presents a method for identifying and predicting attitude dynamics in a rotary unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). A base model which uses a first principles model is simplified for use in real-time prediction. An integral-based parameter identification method is presented to identify the unknown intrinsic helicopter parameters outdoors with significant wind disturbance and on a test bench. The yaw axis is used as a proof-of-concept on both the tests. For the outdoor flight, the system identification is performed using open-loop commands from a test pilot. The test-bench experiments use proportional integral derivative (PID) control and thus provide a further validation of the methods in closed-loop as well as open-loop. The results show that all the major yaw dynamics were captured and good future state predictions of 0.1 to 0.3 seconds were obtained using slow time varying parameters and disturbance modelling.

Time-varying elastance of the ventricles is an important metric both clinically and as an input for a previously developed cardiovascular model. However, currently time-varying elastance is not normally available in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) setting, as it is an invasive and ethically challenging metric to measure. A previous paper developed a method to map less invasive metrics to the driver function, enabling an estimate to be achieved without invasive measurements. This method requires reliable and accurate processing of the aortic and pulmonary artery pressure waveforms to locate the specific points that are required to estimate the driver function. This paper details the method by which these waveforms are processed, using a data set of five pigs induced with pulmonary embolism, and five pigs induced with septic shock (with haemofiltration), adding up to 88 waveforms (for each of aortic and pulmonary artery pressure), and 616 points in total to locate. 98.2% of all points were located to within 1% of their true value, 0.81% were between 1% and 5%, 0.65% were between 5% and 10%, the remaining 0.32% were below 20%.

Background:Many insulin sensitivity () tests identify a sensitivity metric that is proportional to the total available insulin and measured glucose disposal despite general acceptance that insulin action is saturable. Accounting for insulin action saturation may aid inter-participant and/or inter-test comparisons of insulin efficiency, and model-based glycaemic regulation.Method:Eighteen subjects participated in 46 dynamic insulin sensitivity tests (DIST, low-dose 40-50 minute insulin-modified IVGTT). The data was used to identify and compare metrics from three models: a proportional model (), a saturable model (and ) and a model similar to the Minimal Model ( and ). The three models are compared using inter-trial parameter repeatability, and fit to data.Results:The single variable proportional model produced the metric with least intra-subject variation: 13.8% 40.1%/55.6%, () for the saturable model and 15.8%/88.2% () for the third model. The average plasma insulin concentration at half maximum action () was 139.3 mU·L, which is comparable to studies which use more robust stepped EIC protocols.Conclusions:The saturation model and method presented enables a reasonable estimation of an overall patient-specific saturation threshold, which is a unique result for a test of such low dose and duration. The detection of previously published population trends and significant bias above noise suggests that the model and method successfully detects actual saturation signals. Furthermore, the saturation model allowed closer fits to the clinical data than the other models, and the saturation parameter showed a moderate distinction between NGT and IFG-T2DM subgroups. However, the proposed model did not provide metrics of sufficient resolution to enable confidence in the method for either metric comparisons across dynamic tests or for glycamic control.

A model for the cardiovascular and circulatory systems has previously been validated in simulated cardiac and circulatory disease states. It has also been shown to accurately capture the main hemodynamic trends in porcine models of pulmonary embolism and PEEP (positive end-expiratory pressure) titrations at different volemic levels. In this research, the existing model and parameter identification process are used to study the effect of different adrenaline doses in healthy and critically ill patient populations, and to develop a means of predicting the hemodynamic response to adrenaline. The hemodynamic effects on arterial blood pressures and stroke volume (cardiac index) are simulated in the model and adrenaline-specific parameters are identified. The dose dependent changes in these parameters are then related to adrenaline dose using data from studies published in the literature. These relationships are then used to predict the future, patient-specific response to a change in dose or over time periods from 1-12 hours. The results are compared to data from 3 published adrenaline dosing studies comprising a total of 37 data sets. Absolute percentage errors for the identified model are within 10% when re-simulated and compared to clinical data for all cases. All identified parameter trends match clinically expected changes. Absolute percentage errors for the predicted hemodynamic responses (N=15) are also within 10% when re-simulated and compared to clinical data. Clinically accurate prediction of the effect of inotropic circulatory support drugs, such as adrenaline, offers significant potential for this type of model-based application. Overall, this work represents a further clinical, proof of concept, of the underlying fundamental mathematical model, methods and approach, as well as providing a template for using the model in clinical titration of adrenaline in a decision support role in critical care. They are thus a further justification in support of upcoming human clinical trials to validate this model.

The article features Dragon Rock, the home and studio of designer Russel Wright located north of Manhattan, New York. It is said that the dining area and kitchen reflects Wright's American Modern Line design. Also indicated is how Wright tested his ideas about the way the modern family could live comfortably. Among the signs manifesting his manipulation of nature are the presence of species of plants and trees, stream running through the property, rock patio overlooking a waterfall and pond as well as a triangular stone slab.

This paper investigates the impact of fast parameter identification methods, which do not require any forward simulations, on model-based glucose control, using retrospective data in the Christchurch Hospital Intensive Care Unit. The integral-based identification method has been previously clinically validated and extensively applied in a number of biomedical applications; and is a crucial element in the presented model-based therapeutics approach. Common non-linear regression and gradient descent approaches are too computationally intense and not suitable for the glucose control applications presented. The main focus in this paper is on better characterizing and understanding the importance of the integral in the formulation and the effect it has on model-based drug therapy control. As a comparison, a potentially more natural derivative formulation which has the same computation speed advantages is investigated, and is shown to go unstable with respect to modelling error which is always present clinically. The integral method remains robust.

The article features painter John Alexander. He grew up in Beaumont, in east Texas, which swamps, bayous, and industrial ghettos influence his works. The first major museum exhibition of Alexander took place at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston in Texas in 1976, when he experienced his political awakening. The theme of Alexander's works involves issues in business, religion, and politics.

The article features the couple Glenn Gissler, an interior designer, and Susan Harris, independent curator and art critic. The couple worked on a collection of drawings by Wilem de Kooning, Richard Tuttle, Nancy Spero, and Leon Golub. Gissler and Harris consider the immediacy of the medium as their motivation for their collecting drawings. The Harris-Gissler collection has 200 pieces that reflect the concept of minimalism.

The article features sculptor David Hayes, who is known for his welded and painted steel works of polychromes, Totems, and Vertical Motifs. Hayes has had 300 exhibitions, and his work has been included in more than 100 institutional collections such as those of the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.