Effect of Mixture Pressure and Equivalence Ratio on Detonation Cell Size for Hydrogen-Air Mixtures

Cell sizes of fuel and oxidizer combinations are the fundamental length scale of detonations. The detonation cell size is correlated to dynamic detonation properties. One of the properties, detonability is the motivation for this research. In order to design combustion chambers for detonating engines, specifically PDEs and RDEs, the cell size is needed. Higher than atmospheric mixture pressure detonation cell sizes are important for scaling the combustion chambers, and before this research no data existed for hydrogen and air detonation cell sizes at mixture pressures up to 10.0 atm. This research successfully validated a new detonation cell size measurement technique and measured 15 cases for varying mixture pressures up to 10 atm and equivalence ratios. The results were concurrent with previous trends, as increase in mixture pressure decreased detonation cell size and a decrease in equivalence ratio from stoichiometric increased detonation cell size. The experimental results were used to establish a correlation that estimates hydrogen and air detonation cell size given initial mixture pressure and equivalence ratio

Basics of Communication Research

This book is organizedinto three main parts. Part 1 examines introductory issues of interest to both quantitavely oriented and qualitatively oriented producers/consumers. Chapter 1 introduces readers to the domain of communication, discussing the kinds of issues addressed by communication researchers and how students can access published communication research. Chapter 2 offers an overview of the research process, providing a step by step discussion of the major kinds of decisions that face researchers as they plan a study. Chapter 3 discusses four of the major sets af assumptions in which communication research is grounded: the positivist paradigm, the system paradigm, the interpretive paradigm, and critical paradigm. Chapter 4 emphasizes the role of logic and reasoning in the research process. Chapter 5 presents an in depth discussion of the ethics that guide communication research. Part 2 of the book is devoted to issues and methods of particular relevance to producers/consumers of quantitatively oriented communication research. Chapter 6 continues the Babbie tradition of a lucid discussion of conceptualization and operationalization. Chapter 7 is devoted largely to probability based sampling methods, although nonprobability sampling methods are previewd for a return performance in part 3 of the book. Chapter 8 is devoted to standardized questionnaires and interviews. Chapter 9 discusses pre experiments, quasi experiments, and classic experiments. Chapter 10 provides detailed treatment of the two text analysis methods most commonly found in communication research. Chapters 11 and 12 fuction as an introductory “primer” of sorts to descriptive and inferential statistics. Part 3 shifts our attention issues and methods relevant to producers/consumers of qualitative communication research. Participant observation takes many forms, and these are presented and illustrated in chapter 13. Chapter 14 presents unstructured and semi structured interviewing. Chapter 15 examines how qualitative researchers study naturally occurring communication messages and symbols what we call social texts. Chapter 16 can be thought of as the qualitative counterpart of chapter 11 and 12

The Galam Model of Minority Opinion Spreading and the Marriage Gap

In 2002, Serge Galam designed a model of a minority opinion spreading. The effect is expected to lead a conservative minority to prevail if the issue is discussed long enough. Here we analyze the marriage gap, i.e. the difference in voting for Bush and Kerry in 2004 between married and unmarried people. It seems possible to interpret this marriage gap in terms of the Galam model.Comment: 6 page

Exploring the acceptability and feasibility of a preconception and diabetes information app for women with pregestational diabetes: A mixed-methods study protocol

Background Women with diabetes are at increased risk of adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. Preconception care can improve pregnancy outcomes and is paramount to minimise complications, but, current provision is sub-optimal. Mobile technology, particularly smartphones and apps have the potential to improve preconception care provision but research is lacking in this area. The need to use modern technologies to improve preconception care knowledge and awareness led to the development of a Preconception and Diabetes Information app in stage A of this study. Objective The aim of this paper, stage B of the study, is to explore the feasibility and acceptability of the Preconception and Diabetes Information app to improve preconception care knowledge and attitudes in women with diabetes, and explore the potential for wider implementation. Methods A mixed methods study design adopting a quasi-experimental approach will assess women’s knowledge and attitudes related to preconception care, and level of patient activation (knowledge and confidence for self-management of health) before and after the 3 month intervention period. A log of activity will be used to determine engagement with the app and semi-structured interviews will explore women’s experiences. Conclusions This is the first study to explore the acceptability and feasibility of a Preconception and Diabetes Information app for women with diabetes. The app has potential to change the way preconception care is delivered, improve pregnancy outcomes and be widely implemented in both developed and developing countries. This is important given the considerable shortfalls in current preconception care services in the United Kingdom and around the world

Public sector innovation, e-government, and anticorruption in China and India: insights from civil servants

Both China and India are adopting information and communication technologies to facilitate openness and transparency in their governments, and hence reduce corruption. Distinctive from their traditional anticorruption approaches, is the innovative e-government approach an effective solution to corruption in these two large developing countries? This paper addresses the question through comparative in-depth interviews with 44 mid- or senior-level officials in the public sector in these two countries. The first study of its kind, our research shows that civil servants in both countries overall think positively about transparency and technology in reducing corruption. However, to what extent these innovative measures will be effective is conditional on various factors, such as political willingness, income inequality, and infrastructure readiness. What is worth noting is that the Chinese respondents were more positive regarding the role of transparency, whereas the Indian respondents were more positive about the role of technology, which may reflect the different facilitators of corruption and the constraints of anticorruption in China and India

How Can I Drink Safely?; Perception Versus the Reality of Alcohol Consumption

This article investigates differences between perception and actual consumption of alcohol in young adults within the UK, suggesting that inaccurate information in the public domain may hamper those seeking to drink safely plus the development of moderate drinking cultures. Results confirm that inaccurate information may be preventing the development of safe drinking behaviours among certain groups. In addition, they indicate that some groups choose to ignore safe consumption limits in particular circumstances. Results indicate that many government strategies aimed at reducing unsafe drinking behaviour are inaccurately targeted; changing male public consumption behaviour may trigger changes in female behaviour

Psychosocial correlates of attitudes towards male sexual violence in a sample of financial crime, property crime, general violent, and homicide offenders

Whilst those currently serving prison sentences for sexual violence can be identified and receive treatment, the number of prisoners with a history of sexual violence against female partners is unknown. Methods to identify prisoners with a proclivity for such violence and accurately assess the risk they pose before and after incarceration are therefore required. Here, we aimed to assess the level of sexually violent attitudes within dating relationships and to examine their associations with experiences of child abuse and neglect (CAN), psychopathic personality traits, prisonization, number of incarcerations, age, years of schooling, relationship status, and parenting among different types of offenders (financial crime, property crime, general violent, and homicide offenders). Data were collected among a large systematically selected sample of adult male inmates (N = 1,123). We demonstrated that sexual violence-supportive attitudes appear to be a function of child sexual abuse, psychopathic personality traits, and may be developed through early socialisation experiences as well as incarceration. Practical implications of current findings are discussed

Analysis of College Students’ Personal Health Information Activities: Online Survey

Background: With abundant personal health information at hand, individuals are faced with a critical challenge in evaluating the informational value of health care records to keep useful information and discard that which is determined useless. Young, healthy college students who were previously dependents of adult parents or caregivers are less likely to be concerned with disease management. Personal health information management (PHIM) is a special case of personal information management (PIM) that is associated with multiple interactions among varying stakeholders and systems. However, there has been limited evidence to understand informational or behavioral underpinning of the college students’ PHIM activities, which can influence their health in general throughout their lifetime. Objective: This study aimed to investigate demographic and academic profiles of college students with relevance to PHIM activities. Next, we sought to construct major PHIM-related activity components and perceptions among college students. Finally, we sought to discover major factors predicting core PHIM activities among college students we sampled. Methods: A Web survey was administered to collect responses about PHIM behaviors and perceptions among college students from the University of Kentucky from January through March 2017. A total of 1408 college students were included in the analysis. PHIM perceptions, demographics, and academic variations were used as independent variables to predict diverse PHIM activities using a principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical regression analyses (SPSS v.24, IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA). Results: Majority of the participants were female (956/1408, 67.90%), and the age distribution of this population included an adequate representation of college students of all ages. The most preferred health information resources were family (612/1408, 43.47%), health care professionals (366/1408, 26.00%), friends (27/1408, 1.91%), and the internet (157/1408, 11.15%). Organizational or curatorial activities such as Arranging, Labeling, Categorizing, and Discarding were rated low (average=3.21, average=3.02, average=2.52, and average=2.42, respectively). The PCA results suggested 3 components from perception factors labeled as follows: Assistance (alpha=.85), Awareness (alpha=.716), and Difficulty (alpha=.558). Overall, the Demographics and Academics variables were not significant in predicting dependent variables such as Labeling, Categorizing, Health Education Materials, and Discarding, whereas they were significant for other outcome variables such as Sharing, Collecting, Knowing, Insurance Information, Using, and Owning. Conclusions: College years are a significant time for students to learn decision-making skills for maintaining information, a key aspect of health records, as well as for educators to provide appropriate educational and decision aids in the environment of learning as independent adults. Our study will contribute to better understand knowledge about specific skills and perceptions for college students’ practice of effective PHIM throughout their lives

An archaeology of borders: qualitative political theory as a tool in addressing moral distance

Interviews, field observations and other qualitative methods increasingly are being used to inform the construction of arguments in normative political theory. This article works to demonstrate the strong salience of some kinds of qualitative material for cosmopolitan arguments to extend distributive boundaries. The incorporation of interviews and related qualitative material can make the moral claims of excluded others more vivid and possibly more difficult to dismiss by advocates of strong priority to compatriots in distributions. Further, it may help to promote the kind of perspective taking that has been associated with actually motivating a willingness to aid by individuals. Illustrative findings are presented from field work conducted for a normative project on global citizenship, including interviews with unauthorized immigrants and the analysis of artifacts left behind on heavily used migrant trails

Social media and young people’s involvement in social work education

While service-user involvement in social work education generally is increasing, young people’s involvement has, to date, been limited, and as such their voice is missing. Social media potentially offers mechanisms for addressing this, widening young people’s participation. This article presents the findings of research, conducted in partnership with young people, exploring different types of social media currently available that may have the potential to be used in social work education to provide young people with a voice. Using methods developed from systematic review processes, the research set out to find, synthesise and collate these different resources. The findings suggest social media could provide an appropriate mechanism for enabling young people to share experiences relevant to social care. However, whilst some resources do exist, there are fewer than expected. A need is identified to develop new sustainable ways of enabling young people to have a voice. Current approaches were found to replicate barriers associated with service provision being compartmentalised, service led, and framed by eligibility criteria. Recommendations are made for a united response from social work education institutions supporting approaches that give ownership to young people themselves whilst promoting sustainability and continuity