BACKGROUND Diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is clinically relevant because untreated OSA has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The STOP-Bang questionnaire is a validated screening tool for OSA. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the effectiveness of STOP-Bang for screening patients suspected of having OSA and to predict its accuracy in ...

For stabilization of a robot manipulator upon collision with a stiff environment, a nonlinear bang-bang impact controller is developed. Under this control, a robot can successfully achieve contact tasks without changing control algorithm or controller gains throughout all three modes: free space, transition and constrained motion. It uses a robust hybrid impedance/time-delay control algorithm t...

We provide sufficient optimality conditions for optimal control problems with bang-bang controls. Building on a structural assumption on the adjoint state, we additionally need a weak second-order condition. This second-order condition is formulated with functions from an extended critical cone, and it is equivalent to a formulation posed on measures supported on the set where the adjoint state...

The paper develops a new approach to the classical bang-bang theorem in linear control theory, based on Baire category. Among all controls which steer the system from the origin to a given point x̄, we consider those which minimize an auxiliary linear functional φ. For all φ in a residual set, we show that the minimizing control is unique and takes values within a set of extreme points.

13700 million years ago in the Big Bang, an immense concentration of energy was transformed into matter within less than a billionth of a second. The temperatures, densities and energies involved were extremely high. According to Einstein’s law E=mc, to create a matter particle of a certain mass (m), you need a corresponding amount of energy (E), with the speed of light (c) defining the exchang...

PURPOSE Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is prevalent in children and diagnostic polysomnography is costly and not readily available in all areas. We developed a pediatric modification of a commonly used adult clinical prediction tool for stratifying the risk of OSA and the need for polysomnography. METHODS A total of 312 children (age 9-17 years) from phase 2 of the Tucson Children's Assessment...

LIGO has completed a series of observations searching for evidence of a stochastic gravitational wave background. There has been no detection to date. However the sensitivity of the observations is approaching the Big Bang nucleosynthesis bound. Future observations will provide information that bounds a number of early Universe models of stochastic gravitational waves.

An upper limit on the masses of scalar superpartners in split supersymmetry is found by considering cosmological constraints on long-lived gluinos. Over most of parameter space, the most stringent constraint comes from big bang nucleosynthesis. A TeV mass gluino must have a lifetime of less than 100 seconds to avoid altering the abundances of D and Li. This sets an upper limit on the supersymme...