Smart Flow Control Processes in Micro Scale

In recent years, microfluidic devices with a large surface-to-volume ratio have witnessed rapid development, allowing them to be successfully utilized in many engineering applications. A smart control process has been proposed for many years, while many new innovations and enabling technologies have been developed for smart flow control, especially concerning “smart flow control” at the microscale. This Special Issue aims to highlight the current research trends related to this topic, presenting a collection of 33 papers from leading scholars in this field. Among these include studies and demonstrations of flow characteristics in pumps or valves as well as dynamic performance in roiling mill systems or jet systems to the optimal design of special components in smart control systems

Rolling Bearing Fault Diagnosis Based on EWT Sub-Modal Hypothesis Test and Ambiguity Correlation Classification

Because of the cyclic symmetric structure of rolling bearings, its vibration signals are regular when the rolling bearing is working in a normal state. But when the rolling bearing fails, whether the outer race fault or the inner race fault, the symmetry of the rolling bearing is broken and the fault destroys the rolling bearing’s stable working state. Whenever the bearing passes through the fault point, it will send out vibration signals representing the fault characteristics. These signals are often non-linear, non-stationary, and full of Gaussian noise which are quite different from normal signals. According to this, the sub-modal obtained by empirical wavelet transform (EWT), secondary decomposition is tested by the Gaussian distribution hypothesis test. It is regarded that sub-modal following Gaussian distribution is Gaussian noise which is filtered during signal reconstruction. Then by taking advantage of the ambiguity function superiority in non-stationary signal processing and combining correlation coefficient, an ambiguity correlation classifier is constructed. After training, the classifier can recognize vibration signals of rolling bearings under different working conditions, so that the purpose of identifying rolling bearing faults can be achieved. Finally, the method effect was verified by experiments

The frequency of falls in children judo training

Purpose: Falling techniques are inseparable part of youth judo training. Falling techniques are related to avoiding injuries exercises (Nauta et al., 2013). There is not good evidence about the ratio of falling during the training in children. Methods: 26 children (age 8.88±1.88) were video recorded on ten training sessions for further indirect observation and performance analysis. Results: Research protocol consisted from recording falls and falling techniques (Reguli et al., 2015) in warming up, combat games, falling techniques, throwing techniques and free fighting (randori) part of the training session. While children were taught almost exclusively forward slapping roll, backward slapping roll and sideward direct slapping fall, in other parts of training also other types of falling, as forward fall on knees, naturally occurred. Conclusions: Judo coaches should stress also on teaching unorthodox falls adding to standard judo curriculum (Koshida et al., 2014). Various falling games to teach children safe falling in different conditions should be incorporated into judo training. Further research to gain more data from groups of different age in various combat and non-combat sports is needed

Fear of crime and victimization among the elderly participating in the self-defence course

Purpose. Self-defence training could enhance seniors´ defensive skills and fitness. There is lack of evidence about fear and concerns of seniors participating in the self-defence course. Methods. 18 elderly persons (16 female, 1 male; age 66.2, SD=5.86) participated in the self-defence course lasting 8 training units (each unit 60 minutes). Standardized tool for fear of crime and victimization analysis previously used in Euro-Justis project in the Czech Republic (2011) was used in pretest and posttest. Results. We explored the highest fear of crime by participants in their residence area after dark (mean=2,77; median=3; SD=0,80), lower fear at the night in their homes (mean=2,29; median=2; SD=0,75) and in their residence area at the daytime (mean=2,00; median=2; SD=0,77) at the beginning of the course. We noticed certain decrease of fear of crime after the intervention. Participant were less afraid of crime in their residence area after dark (mean=2,38; median=2; SD=0,77), they felt lower fear of crime at the night in their homes (mean=2,00; median=2; SD=0,48) and in their residence area at the daytime (mean=1,82; median=2; SD=0,63). Conclusions. The approach to self-defence teaching for elderly should be focused not just on the motor development, but also on their emotional state, fear of crime, perception of dangerousness of diverse situations and total wellbeing. Fear of crime analysis can contribute to create tailor made structure of the self-defence course for specific groups of citizens

ECOS 2012

The 8-volume set contains the Proceedings of the 25th ECOS 2012 International Conference, Perugia, Italy, June 26th to June 29th, 2012. ECOS is an acronym for Efficiency, Cost, Optimization and Simulation (of energy conversion systems and processes), summarizing the topics covered in ECOS: Thermodynamics, Heat and Mass Transfer, Exergy and Second Law Analysis, Process Integration and Heat Exchanger Networks, Fluid Dynamics and Power Plant Components, Fuel Cells, Simulation of Energy Conversion Systems, Renewable Energies, Thermo-Economic Analysis and Optimisation, Combustion, Chemical Reactors, Carbon Capture and Sequestration, Building/Urban/Complex Energy Systems, Water Desalination and Use of Water Resources, Energy Systems- Environmental and Sustainability Issues, System Operation/ Control/Diagnosis and Prognosis, Industrial Ecology

Shut Up and Take My Money: Engaging Facebook Communities to Build the Brand Narrative

Social media is revolutionizing the way firms manage their brands. A broad variety of platforms provide businesses an opportunity to engage in bidirectional dialogue with their customers, the effect of which is to enhance the brand/consumer relationship. This paper contends that virtual brand communities of the type that form through social media have an important role to play in the development of a brand’s personality. Using a case study approach we demonstrate how one firm has adopted Facebook to provide their brand community with a voice which contributes to the development of the brand narrative. We find that by using well-crafted content the firm elicits the support of their community and that this interaction contributes to the development of the brand ethos

11th International Coral Reef Symposium Proceedings

A defining theme of the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium was that the news for coral reef ecosystems are far from encouraging. Climate change happens now much faster than in an ice-age transition, and coral reefs continue to suffer fever-high temperatures as well as sour ocean conditions. Corals may be falling behind, and there appears to be no special silver bullet remedy. Nevertheless, there are hopeful signs that we should not despair. Reef ecosystems respond vigorously to protective measures and alleviation of stress. For concerned scientists, managers, conservationists, stakeholders, students, and citizens, there is a great role to play in continuing to report on the extreme threat that climate change represents to earth’s natural systems. Urgent action is needed to reduce CO2 emissions. In the interim, we can and must buy time for coral reefs through increased protection from sewage, sediment, pollutants, overfishing, development, and other stressors, all of which we know can damage coral health. The time to act is now. The canary in the coral-coal mine is dead, but we still have time to save the miners. We need effective management rooted in solid interdisciplinary science and coupled with stakeholder buy in, working at local, regional, and international scales alongside global efforts to give reefs a chance.https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_icrs/1000/thumbnail.jp

Law, development and the Ethiopian revolution.

This thesis explores a series of middle-range hypotheses concerning the interrelation of law and development. These hypotheses are made concrete enough to serve as policy prescriptions by applying them to the problems of Ethiopia, a country which displays most of the development constraints that have been identified in other Third World countries. Development is best understood as a dynamic process, as the broadening of subsistence and small-scale economic, political, legal and social 'markets' that effects a cumulative growth in a wide variety of resources. In Ethiopia, given her highly stratified and fragmented societies, this entails a socio-economic equalisation and integration, a wholesale structural transformation rather than the narrow policies of an economic growth advocated by many development theorists. The magnitude of this transformation, the manifest need for extensive and intensive development planning and the socialist predilections of Ethiopia's revolutionary military rulers (the Derg) suggest that massive state intervention in the economy is both inevitable and the only feasible path to an Ethiopian development which is, nevertheless, fraught with many hazards. It is therefore impossible to segregate economic activity from what is, in Ethiopia, an undifferentiated mass of law, politics and administration. The largest single bottleneck to Ethiopian development is the virtual absence of any political development registered under Haile Selassie or the Derg. The role of law in eliminating an Ethiopian "soft state" (Myrdal's term), which is far from soft on the poor and powerless, is surveyed and law's role in the aggregation, allocation and delegation of a variety of resources, in the formulation and implementation of interrelated policies, and in the amelioration of species of injustice is analysed in detail