Worcester Polytechnic Institute

About: Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a education organization based out in Worcester, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & Population. The organization has 6270 authors who have published 12704 publications receiving 332081 citations. The organization is also known as: WPI.

Corticothalamic modulation during absence seizures in rats: a functional MRI assessment.

Abstract: Summary: Purpose: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to identify areas of brain activation during absence seizures in an awake animal model. Methods: Blood-oxygenation-level–dependent (BOLD) fMRI in the brain was measured by using T2*-weighted echo planar imaging at 4.7 Tesla. BOLD imaging was performed before, during, and after absence seizure induction by using γ-butyrolactone (GBL; 200 mg/kg, intraperitoneal). Results: The corticothalamic circuitry, critical for spike–wave discharge (SWD) formation in absence seizure, showed robust BOLD signal changes after GBL administration, consistent with EEG recordings in the same animals. Predominantly positive BOLD changes occurred in the thalamus. Sensory and parietal cortices showed mixed positive and negative BOLD changes, whereas temporal and motor cortices showed only negative BOLD changes. Conclusions: With the BOLD fMRI technique, we demonstrated signal changes in brain areas that have been shown, with electrophysiology experiments, to be important for generating and maintaining the SWDs that characterize absence seizures. These results corroborate previous findings from lesion and electrophysiological experiments and show the technical feasibility of noninvasively imaging absence seizures in fully conscious rodents.

Functional imaging of brain activity in conscious monkeys responding to sexually arousing cues.

Abstract: Olfactory cues can elicit intense emotional responses. This study used fMRI in male common marmoset monkeys to identify brain areas associated with sexual arousal in response to odors of ovulating female monkeys. Under light anesthesia, monkeys were secured in a specially designed restrainer and positioned in a 9.4 T magnetic resonance spectrometer. When fully conscious, they were presented with the scents of both ovariectomized and ovulating monkeys. The sexually arousing odors of the ovulating monkeys enhanced signal intensity in the preoptic area and anterior hypothalamus compared to the odors of ovariectomized monkeys. These data corroborate previous findings in monkeys based on invasive electrical lesion and stimulation techniques and demonstrate the feasibility of using non-invasive functional imaging on fully conscious common marmosets to study cue-elicited emotional responses.

Exercise Early and Often: Effects of Physical Activity and Exercise on Women’s Bone Health

Abstract: In 2011 over 1.7 million people were hospitalized because of a fragility fracture, and direct costs associated with osteoporosis treatment exceeded 70 billion dollars in the United States. Failure to reach and maintain optimal peak bone mass during adulthood is a critical factor in determining fragility fracture risk later in life. Physical activity is a widely accessible, low cost, and highly modifiable contributor to bone health. Exercise is especially effective during adolescence, a time period when nearly 50% of peak adult bone mass is gained. Here, we review the evidence linking exercise and physical activity to bone health in women. Bone structure and quality will be discussed, especially in the context of clinical diagnosis of osteoporosis. We review the mechanisms governing bone metabolism in the context of physical activity and exercise. Questions such as, when during life is exercise most effective, and what specific types of exercises improve bone health, are addressed. Finally, we discuss some emerging areas of research on this topic, and summarize areas of need and opportunity.

Off-axis Thermal Properties of Carbon Nanotube Films

Abstract: Theoretical calculations have predicted that individual Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWNT) have extremely high thermal conductivity (around 6.6 × 104 W/m-K). The feasibility of constructing practical devices using the above mentioned properties, is critically dependent on the ability to synthesize high-thermal-conducting films. Highly conducting films would be of great use as heat sinks for the next generation of integrated chips. Excessive heating is currently a very serious problem in the endeavor for achieving faster and smaller chips. Since it is still not possible to perfectly align SWNT in the macroscopic scale, the thermal properties of the nano-films are therefore expected to have a statistical effect and thus lower than the intrinsic thermal conductivity of a single nanotube. Also the thermal conductivity perpendicular to the tube direction is more significant from a practical point of view. Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWNT) were synthesized by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) technique and subsequently characterized. The thin MWNT films were deposited by a solution casting technique over a metallic substrate. The off-axis thermal properties of these nano-films were studied by AC-calorimetry studies. In this method, the sample is heated by an AC source and the measurement of the relaxation rate is used to determine the thermal properties. This technique is well established for studying the thermal properties of complex fluids. Our results are contrasted with other thermal conductivity measurements intrinsic and bulk carbon nanotube samples. We have also measured off-axis thermal properties of nano-films synthesized from more crystalline SWNT samples and have compared this result with that of the MWNT-film. A model to explain the thermal conduction for our system is proposed.

Analyzing factors that influence end-to-end Web performance

Abstract: Web performance impacts the popularity of a particular Web site or service as well as the load on the network, but there have been no publicly available end-to-end measurements that have focused on a large number of popular Web servers examining the components of delay or the effectiveness of the recent changes to the HTTP protocol. In this paper we report on an extensive study carried out from many client sites geographically distributed around the world to a collection of over 700 servers to which a majority of Web traffic is directed. Our results show that the HTTP/1.1 protocol, particularly with pipelining, is indeed an improvement over existing practice, but that servers serving a small number of objects or closing a persistent connection without explicit notification can reduce or eliminate any performance improvement. Similarly, use of caching and multi-server content distribution can also improve performance if done effectively.