From Isotopes to TK Interviews: Towards Interdisciplinary Research in Fort Resolution and the Slave River Delta, Northwest Territories

Evolving research in Fort Resolution and the Slave River Delta, Northwest Territories, aims to improve understanding of how the natural ecosystem functions and responds to various environmental stressors, as well as to enhance the stewardship of natural resources and the capacity of local residents to respond to change. We seek to integrate approaches that span the natural and social sciences and traditional knowledge understandings of change, employing a research design developed in response to the concerns of a northern community. In doing so, we have strived for a research process that is collaborative, interdisciplinary, policy-oriented, and reflective of northern priorities. These elements characterize the new northern research paradigm increasingly promoted by various federal funding agencies, northern partners, and communities. They represent a holistic perspective in the pursuit of solutions to address complex environmental and socioeconomic concerns about impacts of climate change and resource development on northern societies. However, efforts to fulfill the objectives of this research paradigm are associated with a host of on-the-ground challenges. These challenges include (but are not restricted to) developing effective community partnerships and collaboration and documenting change through interdisciplinary approaches. Here we provide an overview of the components that comprise our interdisciplinary research program and offer an accounting of our formative experiences in confronting these challenges

Model Reduction for Multiscale Lithium-Ion Battery Simulation

In this contribution we are concerned with efficient model reduction for multiscale problems arising in lithium-ion battery modeling with spatially resolved porous electrodes. We present new results on the application of the reduced basis method to the resulting instationary 3D battery model that involves strong non-linearities due to Buttler-Volmer kinetics. Empirical operator interpolation is used to efficiently deal with this issue. Furthermore, we present the localized reduced basis multiscale method for parabolic problems applied to a thermal model of batteries with resolved porous electrodes. Numerical experiments are given that demonstrate the reduction capabilities of the presented approaches for these real world applications

Magnetization Reversal and Nanoscopic Magnetic Phase Separation in Doped La1-xSrxCoO3

The doped perovskite cobaltite La1-xSrxCoO3 (LSCO) has been advanced as a model system for studying intrinsic magnetic phase separation. We have employed a first-order reversal curve (FORC) method to probe the amount of irreversible switching in bulk polycrystalline LSCO as a function of Sr doping, field cooling procedure, and temperature. The value of the FORC distribution, rho, is used as a measure of the extent of irreversible switching. For x < 0.18, the small values of rho and its ridge-like distribution along local coercivity (Hc) and zero bias (Hb), are characteristic of non-interacting single domain particles. This is consistent with the formation of an array of isolated nanoscopic ferromagnetic clusters, as observed in previous work. For x >= 0.18, the much larger values of rho, the tilting of its distribution towards negative bias field, and the emergence of regions with negative rho, are consistent with increased long-range ferromagnetic ordering. The FORC distributions display little dependence on the cooling procedure. With increasing temperature, the fraction of irreversible switching determined from the FORC distribution follows closely the ferromagnetic phase fraction measured by La nuclear magnetic resonance. Our results furthermore demonstrate that the FORC method is a valuable first-pass characterization tool for magnetic phase separation.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures, to appear in PR

Optimisation of ITER Nb3Sn CICCs for coupling loss, transverse electromagnetic load and axial thermal contraction

The ITER cable-in-conduit conductors (CICCs) are built up from sub-cable bundles, wound in different stages, which are twisted to counter coupling loss caused by time-changing external magnet fields. The selection of the twist pitch lengths has major implications for the performance of the cable in the case of strain sensitive superconductors, i.e. Nb3Sn, as the electromagnetic and thermal contraction loads are large but also for the heat load from the AC coupling loss. Reduction of the transverse load and warm-up cool-down degradation can be reached by applying longer twist pitches in a particular sequence for the sub-stages, offering a large cable transverse stiffness, adequate axial flexibility and maximum allowed lateral strand support. Analysis of short sample (TF conductor) data reveals that increasing the twist pitch can lead to a gain of the effective axial compressive strain of more than 0.3 % with practically no degradation from bending. For reduction of the coupling loss, specific choices of the cabling twist sequence are needed with the aim to minimize the area of linked strands and bundles that are coupled and form loops with the applied changing magnetic field, instead of simply avoiding longer pitches. In addition we recommend increasing the wrap coverage of the CS conductor from 50 % to at least 70 %. The models predict significant improvement against strain sensitivity and substantial decrease of the AC coupling loss in Nb3Sn CICCs, but also for NbTi CICCs minimization of the coupling loss can be achieved. Although the success of long pitches to transverse load degradation was already demonstrated, the prediction of the combination with low coupling loss needs to be validated by a short sample test.Comment: to be published in Supercond Sci Techno

From Isotopes to TK Interviews: Towards Interdisciplinary Research in Fort Resolution and the Slave River Delta, Northwest Territories

Evolving research in Fort Resolution and the Slave River Delta, Northwest Territories, aims to improve understanding of how the natural ecosystem functions and responds to various environmental stressors, as well as to enhance the stewardship of natural resources and the capacity of local residents to respond to change. We seek to integrate approaches that span the natural and social sciences and traditional knowledge understandings of change, employing a research design developed in response to the concerns of a northern community. In doing so, we have strived for a research process that is collaborative, interdisciplinary, policy-oriented, and reflective of northern priorities. These elements characterize the new northern research paradigm increasingly promoted by various federal funding agencies, northern partners, and communities. They represent a holistic perspective in the pursuit of solutions to address complex environmental and socioeconomic concerns about impacts of climate change and resource development on northern societies. However, efforts to fulfill the objectives of this research paradigm are associated with a host of on-the-ground challenges. These challenges include (but are not restricted to) developing effective community partnerships and collaboration and documenting change through interdisciplinary approaches. Here we provide an overview of the components that comprise our interdisciplinary research program and offer an accounting of our formative experiences in confronting these challenges.Des travaux de recherche en cours à Fort Resolution et dans le delta de la rivière des Esclaves, aux Territoires du Nord-Ouest, visent à mieux comprendre le fonctionnement de l’écosystème naturel, à réagir aux divers facteurs d’agression environnementaux ainsi qu’à rehausser la gérance des ressources naturelles et la capacité des habitants de la région à réagir au changement. Nous cherchons à intégrer des méthodes qui englobent les sciences naturelles et sociales et favorisent la compréhension du changement du point de vue des connaissances traditionnelles. Nous cherchons également à employer une méthodologie respectueuse des inquiétudes de la collectivité du Nord. Ce faisant, nous avons abouti à un processus de recherche caractérisé par la collaboration, l’interdisciplinarité et les politiques, processus qui tient également compte des priorités dans le Nord. Ces éléments définissent le nouveau paradigme de recherche dans le Nord qui est de plus en plus préconisé par divers organismes de subvention fédéraux, partenaires du Nord et collectivités. Ils représentent une perspective holistique en guise de solutions à des enjeux environnementaux et socioéconomiques complexes portant sur les incidences du changement climatique et de l’exploitation des ressources sur les sociétés du Nord. Toutefois, les efforts visant à concrétiser les objectifs de ce paradigme de recherche font face à une multitude de défis. Ces défis comprennent (mais sans s’y restreindre) la formation de partenariats efficaces avec les collectivités, des efforts de collaboration et la prise de notes sur les changements qui s’opèrent grâce à des méthodes interdisciplinaires. Ici, nous fournissons un aperçu des éléments de notre programme de recherche interdisciplinaire et donnons un aperçu de l’expérience formative qui a découlé de ces défis

The Research on SMEs Relation Financing

中小企业融资难是一个国际难题。从20世纪90年代以来，一种建立在意会信息基础上的关系型融资成为政府和学术界关注的热点。理论研究和部分国家的实践表明，关系型融资有助于减少银企之间的信息不对称，降低金融交易成本，能有效缓解中小企业的融资约束。 由于我国正处于经济转轨时期，市场经济体制尚未完全建立，金融市场还不完善，各种市场主体也未完全步入成熟，社会信用体系相当薄弱，不管是证券市场还是银行信贷市场，信息不对称问题都非常突出。因此，选择关系型融资作为研究对象，并在研究其本身的理论前沿与国内外实践进展的基础上，研究构建什么模式的关系型融资体系，以适应我国经济转轨时期中小企业的融资需求，具有十分重要的理...The development of SMEs(small and medium-sized enterprises) faces financing puzzle all over the world. Relation financing, as a brand-new financing way which based on tacit information, becomes an important point and a concerned front problem of government and economists since 1990s.This way can help reduce the information asymmetry and cut the transaction cost so as to solve the financing “bottle...学位：经济学硕士院系专业：经济学院经济系_政治经济学学号：20040906

Exacerbation of hepatitis C induced subclinical hypoadrenalism by Interferon-alpha2beta: A case report

Adrenal disease is an uncommon manifestation of hepatitis C infection and its related treatment regimen. This is a case of subclinical hypoadrenalism, probably induced by hepatitis C infection and further exacerbated by interferon-α2β and Ribavirin therapy. The adrenal deterioration during the treatment course was observed closely with 24-hour salivary profiles and 250 μg adrenocorticotropin stimulation tests using parallel serum and salivary cortisol concentrations. A number of possible pathogenic mechanisms are discussed, and the controversy over its management is emphasized

Practitioner’s Section: Integrated Resource Efficiency Analysis for Reducing Climate Impacts in the Chemical Industry

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions of the material-intensive chemical industry requires an integrated analysis and optimization of the complex production systems including raw material and energy use, resulting costs and environmental and climate impacts. To meet this challenge, the research project InReff (Integrated Resource Efficiency Analysis for Reducing Climate Impacts in the Chemical Industry) has been established. It aims at the development of an IT-supported modeling and evaluation framework which is able to comprehensively address issues of resource efficiency and climate change within the chemical industry, e.g. the minimization of material and energy intensity and consequently greenhouse gas emissions, without compromising on production performance. The paper presents background information on resource efficiency and the research project, an ideal-typical decision model for resource efficiency analysis, the conceptual approach for an IT-based integration platform as well as the case study design at the industrial project partners’ sites. These first results are linked to future activities and further research questions are highlighted in the concluding section