In the heat of the sequence: Interactional features preceding walkouts from argumentative talk

This article examines complaint sequences that terminate with one party’s walking out, unilaterally, on the other. The analysis of three such extended sequences, using the Conversation Analytic approach, reveals interactional parallels among them. The complaints that precede the walkouts are constructed so as to identify deleterious and generic personal deficiencies. As these sequences develop, they come to focus on faults in the current behavior of those involved. In their final stages, the actions of the leavers appear sensitive to the persistence of behavior that has been deemed to be at fault. This combination of features seems connected to both the unilateral departure and the state of indignation that also becomes evidently present. This invites comparison with other forms of antagonistic dispute, such as those that lead to certain instances of murder

Texas Experimental Tokamak

This progress report covers the period from November 1, 1990 to April 30, 1993. During that period, TEXT was operated as a circular tokamak with a material limiter. It was devoted to the study of basic plasma physics, in particular to study of fluctuations, turbulence, and transport. The purpose is to operate and maintain TEXT Upgrade as a complete facility for applied tokamak physics, specifically to conduct a research program under the following main headings: (1) to elucidate the mechanisms of working gas, impurity, and thermal transport in tokamaks, in particular to understand the role of turbulence; (2) to study physics of the edge plasma, in particular the turbulence; (3) to study the physics or resonant magnetic fields (ergodic magnetic divertors, intra island pumping); and (4) to study the physics of electron cyclotron heating (ECRH). Results of studies in each of these areas are reported

On the role of poloidal and toroidal fluctuating electric fields in tokamak transport

The two different expressions for the radial particle flux {Lambda} found in the literature, as given by equations (2) and (4), are identical if the parallel electric field is small. The first expression is derivable in a fluid approach, whereas the second follows from the analysis of individual particle orbits. These expressions, without change, are also valid for an arbitrary axisymmetric magnetic geometry. In a situation where the parallel electric field is significant, the more accurate expression for the particle flux is in terms of the standard E x B velocity

Structural health monitoring of a footbridge using Echo State Networks and NARMAX

Echo State Networks (ESNs) and a Nonlinear Auto-Regressive Moving Average model with eXogenous inputs (NARMAX) have been applied to multi-sensor time-series data arising from a test footbridge which has been subjected to multiple potentially damaging interventions. The aim of the work was to automatically classify known potentially damaging events, while also allowing engineers to observe and localise any long term damage trends. The techniques reported here used data from ten temperature sensors as inputs and were tasked with predicting the output signal from eight tilt sensors embedded at various points over the bridge. Initially, interventions were identified by both ESNs and NARMAX. In addition, training ESNs using data up to the first event, and determining the ESNs’ subsequent predictions, allowed inferences to be made not only about when and where the interventions occurred, but also the level of damage caused, without requiring any prior data pre-processing or extrapolation. Finally, ESNs were successfully used as classifiers to characterise various different types of intervention that had taken place

Compact tokamak reactors part 2 (numerical results)

The authors describe a numerical optimization scheme for fusion reactors. The particular application described is to find the smallest copper coil spherical tokamak, although the numerical scheme is sufficiently general to allow many other problems to be solved. The solution to the steady state energy balance is found by first selecting the fixed variables. The range of all remaining variables is then selected, except for the temperature. Within the specified ranges, the temperature which satisfies the power balance is then found. Tests are applied to determine that remaining constraints are satisfied, and the acceptable results then stored. Results are presented for a range of auxiliary current drive efficiencies and different scaling relationships; for the range of variables chosen the machine encompassing volume increases or remains approximately unchanged as the aspect ratio is reduced

A survey of patient informational preferences when choosing between medical and surgical therapy for ulcerative colitis: a sub-study from the DISCUSS project

Aim People living with ulcerative colitis (UC) have two broad treatment avenues, namely medical or surgical therapy. The choice between these can depend on patient preference as well as the receipt of relevant information. The aim of this study was to define the informational needs of patients with UC. Method A postal survey was designed to capture respondent demographics, treatment experienced within the previous 12 months and informational preferences by rating a long list of items. It was delivered through two hospitals that provide tertiary inflammatory bowel disease services. Descriptive analyses were performed to describe demographics and experiences. Principal component analysis was carried out using a varimax rotation to investigate informational needs. Results A total of 101 responses were returned (20.1% response rate). The median age of respondents was 45 years and the median time since diagnosis was 10 years. Control preferences skewed towards shared (42.6%) or patient-led but clinician-informed (35.6%). Decision regret was low for the population (median 12.5/100, range 0–100). Key informational needs related to medical therapy were benefits and risks of long-term therapy, burden of hospital attendance, reproductive health, need for steroid treatment and impact on personal life. For surgery, these were stoma information, effect on daily life, effect on sexual and reproductive health, risks and benefits and disruption of life due to surgery. Conclusion This study has identified key areas for discussion when counselling patients about treatment decisions around medical therapy and surgery for UC

A novel formulation of inhaled sodium cromoglicate (PA101) in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and chronic cough: a randomised, double-blind, proof-of-concept, phase 2 trial

Background Cough can be a debilitating symptom of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and is difficult to treat. PA101 is a novel formulation of sodium cromoglicate delivered via a high-efficiency eFlow nebuliser that achieves significantly higher drug deposition in the lung compared with the existing formulations. We aimed to test the efficacy and safety of inhaled PA101 in patients with IPF and chronic cough and, to explore the antitussive mechanism of PA101, patients with chronic idiopathic cough (CIC) were also studied. Methods This pilot, proof-of-concept study consisted of a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in patients with IPF and chronic cough and a parallel study of similar design in patients with CIC. Participants with IPF and chronic cough recruited from seven centres in the UK and the Netherlands were randomly assigned (1:1, using a computer-generated randomisation schedule) by site staff to receive PA101 (40 mg) or matching placebo three times a day via oral inhalation for 2 weeks, followed by a 2 week washout, and then crossed over to the other arm. Study participants, investigators, study staff, and the sponsor were masked to group assignment until all participants had completed the study. The primary efficacy endpoint was change from baseline in objective daytime cough frequency (from 24 h acoustic recording, Leicester Cough Monitor). The primary efficacy analysis included all participants who received at least one dose of study drug and had at least one post-baseline efficacy measurement. Safety analysis included all those who took at least one dose of study drug. In the second cohort, participants with CIC were randomly assigned in a study across four centres with similar design and endpoints. The study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02412020) and the EU Clinical Trials Register (EudraCT Number 2014-004025-40) and both cohorts are closed to new participants. Findings Between Feb 13, 2015, and Feb 2, 2016, 24 participants with IPF were randomly assigned to treatment groups. 28 participants with CIC were enrolled during the same period and 27 received study treatment. In patients with IPF, PA101 reduced daytime cough frequency by 31·1% at day 14 compared with placebo; daytime cough frequency decreased from a mean 55 (SD 55) coughs per h at baseline to 39 (29) coughs per h at day 14 following treatment with PA101, versus 51 (37) coughs per h at baseline to 52 (40) cough per h following placebo treatment (ratio of least-squares [LS] means 0·67, 95% CI 0·48–0·94, p=0·0241). By contrast, no treatment benefit for PA101 was observed in the CIC cohort; mean reduction of daytime cough frequency at day 14 for PA101 adjusted for placebo was 6·2% (ratio of LS means 1·27, 0·78–2·06, p=0·31). PA101 was well tolerated in both cohorts. The incidence of adverse events was similar between PA101 and placebo treatments, most adverse events were mild in severity, and no severe adverse events or serious adverse events were reported. Interpretation This study suggests that the mechanism of cough in IPF might be disease specific. Inhaled PA101 could be a treatment option for chronic cough in patients with IPF and warrants further investigation