Indoor environment quality and occupant productivity in the CH2 building

This paper presents a summary of the results from a post-occupancy evaluation study on indoor environment quality (lEO) and occupant health, wellbeing and productivity in the Council House 2 (CH2) building, which is owned and occupied by the City of Melbourne. This case study has highlighted that the productivity of office building occupants can potentially be enhanced through good building design, and provision of a high quality, healthy, comfortable and functional interior environment, that takes account of basic occupant needs.<br /

Final Project Report: Glucose Monitoring Group

Retroreflectors can potentially be used in the design of a minimally invasive glucose-monitoring device. The primary objective of this senior design project is to design, build, and test a system to show that retroreflectors can be detected through a semi-opaque medium similar to human tissue. The secondary objective is to determine if the system can detect the retroreflectors through blood with and without gold nanoparticles. The design constraints of the project are described as well as the design of the apparatus, the test setup and procedure protocols for the project, the results of these tests, and a conceptual design. Data from the test procedure is collected by using a HeNe laser that shines through one converging lenses, an iris, a beam splitter, a semi-opaque medium to emulate human tissue, and gold nanoparticles that mimic glucose molecules in blood. The light hits a retroreflector that sends the light back through the beam splitter to a photodiode that is hooked up to a digital multimeter to measure the detected signal. A full factorial two factor Design of Experiments (DOE) with three levels is used to test the apparatus. Nanoparticle concentration and angle of incidence on the retroreflector are the dependent variables. The DOE is run two times for the water medium, but the testing of semi-opaque media are unable to be performed due to scattering of the beam. In deionized water, minimal interaction effects between nanoparticle concentration and angle are observed, and light scattering appears to increase as nanoparticle concentration increases. In blood, significant interaction effects are observed, and light scattering appears to decrease as nanoparticle concentration increases. This unexpected trend is likely due to unforeseen interactions between the nanoparticles and the solutes in blood. It is concluded that the apparatus is sufficient to provide results for the water medium, and insufficient for more opaque media due to scattering. Altered nanoparticles are needed for testing in blood

Synthetic biology and the conservation of biodiversity

AbstractSynthetic biology is a broad and fast-moving field of innovation involving the design and construction of new biological parts, and the redesign of existing, natural biological systems to address real world problems. It has many potential applications that may change human relations to the natural world. Synthetic biology is virtually unknown to the conservation community. Based on a meeting in 2013 that brought together these two communities we consider first the differences between the two fields, and second the kinds of opportunities and risks that arise.This is the accepted manuscript of a paper published in Oryx (Redford KH, Adams W, Carlson R, Mace GM, Ceccarelli B, Oryx 2014, 48 (3), 330-336, doi:10.1017/S0030605314000040)

Planar and spherical stick indices of knots

The stick index of a knot is the least number of line segments required to build the knot in space. We define two analogous 2-dimensional invariants, the planar stick index, which is the least number of line segments in the plane to build a projection, and the spherical stick index, which is the least number of great circle arcs to build a projection on the sphere. We find bounds on these quantities in terms of other knot invariants, and give planar stick and spherical stick constructions for torus knots and for compositions of trefoils. In particular, unlike most knot invariants,we show that the spherical stick index distinguishes between the granny and square knots, and that composing a nontrivial knot with a second nontrivial knot need not increase its spherical stick index

An Ecological Study of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction, Part 1:Clinical Tests Do Not Correlate With Return-to-Sport Outcomes

BACKGROUND: Additional high-quality prospective studies are needed to better define the objective criteria used in relation to return-to-sport decisions after synthetic (ligament advanced reinforcement system [LARS]) and autograft (hamstring tendon [2ST/2GR]) anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction in active populations. PURPOSE: To prospectively investigate and describe the recovery of objective clinical outcomes after autograft (2ST/2GR) and synthetic (LARS) ACL reconstructions, as well as to investigate the relationship between these clinimetric test outcomes and return-to-sport activity (Tegner activity scale [TAS] score) at 12 and 24 months postoperatively. STUDY DESIGN: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. METHODS: A total of 64 patients who underwent ACL reconstruction (32 LARS, 32 2ST/2GR autograft) and 32 healthy reference participants were assessed for joint laxity (KT-1000 arthrometer), clinical outcome (2000 International Knee Documentation Committee [IKDC] knee examination), and activity (TAS score) preoperatively and at 12, 16, 20, and 24 weeks and 12 and 24 months postoperatively. RESULTS: There was no significant correlation observed between clinical results using the 2000 IKDC knee examination and TAS score at 24 months (r (s) = 0.188, P = .137), nor were results for side-to-side difference (r (s) = 0.030, P = .814) or absolute KT-1000 arthrometer laxity of the surgical leg at 24 months postoperatively (r (s) = 0.076, P = .553) correlated with return-to-sport activity. Nonetheless, return-to-sport rates within the surgical cohort were 81% at 12 months and 83% at 24 months, respectively. No statistically significant differences were observed between physiological laxity of the uninjured knee within the surgical group compared with healthy knees within the reference group (P = .522). CONCLUSION: The results indicate that although relatively high levels of return-to-sport outcomes were achieved at 24 months compared with those previously reported in the literature, correlations between objective clinical tests and return-to-sport outcomes may not occur. Clinical outcome measures may provide suitable baseline information; however, the results of this study suggest that clinicians may need to place greater emphasis on other outcome measures when seeking to objectively promote safe return to sport

Hybrid Fuel Coupling in a Pulsed Z-Pinch Rocket Engine

The work presented here sought to explore a portion of the parameter space of a hybrid nuclear fuel in regards to ignition and burn by analyzing the effect of initial geometry and thermodynamic conditions. The authors performed 0D power balance and 1D burn wave calculations to determine temperature progression and energy production for defined initial conditions. Geometries examined are representative of concept fuels for a Pulsed Fission-Fusion (PuFF) engine. This work focuses on lithium deuteride and uranium 235 for the fuel since these are seen as leading candidates for PuFF. Presented below is a power balance illustrating a reduction in the energy and density required to breakeven of hybrid fuels in comparison with fusion fuels. Also the impact of fusion and fissile fuel quantities upon initial energies is presented. One can see that the initial energy required to breakeven in a hybrid cylindrical nuclear fuel decreases with decreasing fissile liner thickness, decreasing fusion fuel core radius, and increasing compression ratio of the fusion fuel

Towards effective and harmonized lion survey methodologies: a systematic review of practice across Africa

Understanding the population status of a species is vital for their conservation. Over the last two decades, multiple methods for surveying lion (Panthera leo) populations have been designed and tested. Each have strengths and weaknesses, with different applications, and varying levels of reliability, accuracy and precision. We conducted a PRISMA systematic review to identify and assess survey methods for estimating lion population abundance. We searched the Web of Science and Google Scholar for peer reviewed papers between January 1991 and December 2022. Sixty-five papers were included, with some using multiple methods or multiple study sites; when these were separated, 93 studies were identified. Seven broad population survey methods for lions were identified: call ups (34.8% of studies), spoor counts (32.5%), direct observations (15.7%), direct observations with capture recapture elements (12.4%), camera trap-based capture-recapture analysis (4.5%), genetic surveys (3%) and distance-based surveys (1.1%). Our literature review suggests that the most reliable methods for determining lion density or abundance are direct observations and camera trap-based capture recapture surveys. Genetic surveys combined with spatially-explicit capture recapture analysis also hold significant potential. Due to their lack of reliability and tendency to over-estimate populations, call ups and spoor counts are not recommended for determining population abundance. We further recommend that harmonized methods be developed that can produce comparable and reliable estimates, which can be used to inform conservation decisions across the species range

Duality properties of indicatrices of knots

The bridge index and superbridge index of a knot are important invariants in knot theory. We define the bridge map of a knot conformation, which is closely related to these two invariants, and interpret it in terms of the tangent indicatrix of the knot conformation. Using the concepts of dual and derivative curves of spherical curves as introduced by Arnold, we show that the graph of the bridge map is the union of the binormal indicatrix, its antipodal curve, and some number of great circles. Similarly, we define the inflection map of a knot conformation, interpret it in terms of the binormal indicatrix, and express its graph in terms of the tangent indicatrix. This duality relationship is also studied for another dual pair of curves, the normal and Darboux indicatrices of a knot conformation. The analogous concepts are defined and results are derived for stick knots.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure

By the Black Ditch: archaeological discoveries at Rustington, Littlehampton,West Sussex

A series of archaeological investigations were undertaken on land south of the A259 New Road, Littlehampton, in advance of commercial redevelopment. The earliest activity comprised a Middle Bronze Age enclosure, field boundary ditch and burnt mound. The burnt mound included an associated hearth, trough and waterhole. Later activity included a prehistoric droveway and Late Iron Age/Roman field boundary ditches