Electro-impulse de-icing testing analysis and design

Electro-Impulse De-Icing (EIDI) is a method of ice removal by sharp blows delivered by a transient electromagnetic field. Detailed results are given for studies of the electrodynamic phenomena. Structural dynamic tests and computations are described. Also reported are ten sets of tests at NASA's Icing Research Tunnel and flight tests by NASA and Cessna Aircraft Company. Fabrication of system components are described and illustrated. Fatigue and electromagnetic interference tests are reported. Here, the necessary information for the design of an EIDI system for aircraft is provided

Mixed Linear Layouts of Planar Graphs

A $k$-stack (respectively, $k$-queue) layout of a graph consists of a total order of the vertices, and a partition of the edges into $k$ sets of non-crossing (non-nested) edges with respect to the vertex ordering. In 1992, Heath and Rosenberg conjectured that every planar graph admits a mixed $1$-stack $1$-queue layout in which every edge is assigned to a stack or to a queue that use a common vertex ordering. We disprove this conjecture by providing a planar graph that does not have such a mixed layout. In addition, we study mixed layouts of graph subdivisions, and show that every planar graph has a mixed subdivision with one division vertex per edge.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 25th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2017

Graph Treewidth and Geometric Thickness Parameters

Consider a drawing of a graph $G$ in the plane such that crossing edges are coloured differently. The minimum number of colours, taken over all drawings of $G$, is the classical graph parameter "thickness". By restricting the edges to be straight, we obtain the "geometric thickness". By further restricting the vertices to be in convex position, we obtain the "book thickness". This paper studies the relationship between these parameters and treewidth. Our first main result states that for graphs of treewidth $k$, the maximum thickness and the maximum geometric thickness both equal $\lceil{k/2}\rceil$. This says that the lower bound for thickness can be matched by an upper bound, even in the more restrictive geometric setting. Our second main result states that for graphs of treewidth $k$, the maximum book thickness equals $k$ if $k \leq 2$ and equals $k+1$ if $k \geq 3$. This refutes a conjecture of Ganley and Heath [Discrete Appl. Math. 109(3):215-221, 2001]. Analogous results are proved for outerthickness, arboricity, and star-arboricity.Comment: A preliminary version of this paper appeared in the "Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Graph Drawing" (GD '05), Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3843:129-140, Springer, 2006. The full version was published in Discrete & Computational Geometry 37(4):641-670, 2007. That version contained a false conjecture, which is corrected on page 26 of this versio

How to compare arc-annotated sequences: The alignment hierarchy

International audienceWe describe a new unifying framework to express comparison of arc-annotated sequences, which we call alignment of arc-annotated sequences. We first prove that this framework encompasses main existing models, which allows us to deduce complexity results for several cases from the literature. We also show that this framework gives rise to new relevant problems that have not been studied yet. We provide a thorough analysis of these novel cases by proposing two polynomial time algorithms and an NP-completeness proof. This leads to an almost exhaustive study of alignment of arc-annotated sequences

Objective Church Environment Audits and Attendee Perceptions of Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Supports within the Church Setting

Interventions in faith-based settings are increasingly popular, due to their effectiveness for improving attendee health outcomes and behaviors. Little past research has examined the important role of the church environment in individual-level outcomes using objective environmental audits. This study examined associations between the objectively measured physical church environment and attendees’ perceptions of physical activity (PA) and healthy eating (HE) supports within the church environment, self-efficacy for PA and HE, and self-reported PA and HE behaviors. Data were collected via church audits and church attendee surveys in 54 churches in a rural, medically underserved county in South Carolina. Multi-level regression was used to analyze associations between the church environment and outcomes. Physical elements of churches were positively related to attendees’ perceptions of church environment supports for PA (B = 0.03, 95% CI = 0.01, 0.05) and HE (B = 0.05, 95% CI = 0.01, 0.09) and there was a significant interaction between perceptions of HE supports and HE church environment. Self-efficacy and behaviors for PA and HE did not show an association with the church environment. Future research should establish a temporal relationship between the church environment and these important constructs for improving health. Future faith-based interventions should apply infrastructure changes to the church environment to influence important mediating constructs to health behavior

A fast and versatile method for spectral emissivity measurement at high temperatures

International audienceIn this paper, the development of a new device for high temperature emissivity measurement is described. This device aims at measuring both spectral and total emissivity for a thermal range of 600–1000 °C. The main targeted properties of this device are versatility and simplicity. To achieve this, a rigorous selection of components such as heating systems, heat sources, sample holders, and measuring devices was made. Sample dimensions and the corresponding sample holder were optimized through a ray tracing model computation. Selection of sensors to compute the total emissivity was also discussed. A near-infrared (NIR) spectrometer and two mid-infrared (MIR) cameras equipped with optical filters covering the bandwidth of 3–5 and 7.5–13 μm were chosen for spectral measurements. The major impediment was the separation of the sample signal and various spurious signals emitted by the environment. A specific measurement methodology was then made for each bandwidth to resolve this issue. Platinum was chosen as the reference material for the device validation. Spectral emissivity measurements were then compared to values from a commercial spectrometer. A good agreement was found between NIR and MIR band I measurements, and a higher error rate was seen in MIR band II which is explained by a less favorable signal to noise ratio. Integrated emissivity is then calculated and compared to values found in the literature. A good agreement between these values is found, and similar trends with temperature are observed. The device is then validated for spectral and total emissivity measurements. Device versatility and simplicity allow for an easy adaptation to a large area of applications

Model-based probe set optimization for high-performance microarrays

A major challenge in microarray design is the selection of highly specific oligonucleotide probes for all targeted genes of interest, while maintaining thermodynamic uniformity at the hybridization temperature. We introduce a novel microarray design framework (Thermodynamic Model-based Oligo Design Optimizer, TherMODO) that for the first time incorporates a number of advanced modelling features: (i) A model of position-dependent labelling effects that is quantitatively derived from experiment. (ii) Multi-state thermodynamic hybridization models of probe binding behaviour, including potential cross-hybridization reactions. (iii) A fast calibrated sequence-similarity-based heuristic for cross-hybridization prediction supporting large-scale designs. (iv) A novel compound score formulation for the integrated assessment of multiple probe design objectives. In contrast to a greedy search for probes meeting parameter thresholds, this approach permits an optimization at the probe set level and facilitates the selection of highly specific probe candidates while maintaining probe set uniformity. (v) Lastly, a flexible target grouping structure allows easy adaptation of the pipeline to a variety of microarray application scenarios. The algorithm and features are discussed and demonstrated on actual design runs. Source code is available on request

Assessing the Utility of Thermodynamic Features for microRNA Target Prediction under Relaxed Seed and No Conservation Requirements

BACKGROUND: Many computational microRNA target prediction tools are focused on several key features, including complementarity to 5'seed of miRNAs and evolutionary conservation. While these features allow for successful target identification, not all miRNA target sites are conserved and adhere to canonical seed complementarity. Several studies have propagated the use of energy features of mRNA:miRNA duplexes as an alternative feature. However, different independent evaluations reported conflicting results on the reliability of energy-based predictions. Here, we reassess the usefulness of energy features for mammalian target prediction, aiming to relax or eliminate the need for perfect seed matches and conservation requirement. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We detect significant differences of energy features at experimentally supported human miRNA target sites and at genome-wide sites of AGO protein interaction. This trend is confirmed on datasets that assay the effect of miRNAs on mRNA and protein expression changes, and a simple linear regression model leads to significant correlation of predicted versus observed expression change. Compared to 6-mer seed matches as baseline, application of our energy-based model leads to ∼3-5-fold enrichment on highly down-regulated targets, and allows for prediction of strictly imperfect targets with enrichment above baseline. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In conclusion, our results indicate significant promise for energy-based miRNA target prediction that includes a broader range of targets without having to use conservation or impose stringent seed match rules

The dimensions of responsiveness of a health system: a Taiwanese perspective

BACKGROUND: Responsiveness is an indicator used to measure how well a health system performs relative to non-health aspects. This study assessed whether seven dimensions proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to measure responsiveness (dignity, autonomy, confidentiality, prompt attention, social support, basic amenities, and choices of providers) are applicable in evaluating the health system of Taiwan. METHODS: A key informant survey and focus group research were used in this study. The translated WHO proposed questionnaire was sent to 205 nominated key informants by mail, and 132 (64.4%) were returned. We used principal component analysis to extract factors. Linear regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between the total score and the extracted factors. A qualitative content analysis was also carried out in focus group research. RESULTS: Principal component analysis produced five factors (respect, access, confidentiality, basic amenities, and social support) that explained 63.5% of the total variances. These five factors demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and four of them (except social support) were significantly correlated with the total responsiveness score. The focus group interviews revealed health providers' communication ability and medical ethics were also highly appraised by Taiwanese. CONCLUSION: When the performance of a health system is to be evaluated, elements of responsiveness proposed by WHO may have to be tailored to fit different cultural backgrounds. Four key features illustrate the uniqueness of Taiwanese perspectives: the idea of autonomy may not be conceptualized, prompt attention and choice of providers are on the same track, social support during care is trivially correlated to the total responsiveness score, and accountability of health providers is deemed essential to a health system

The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project:High-Resolution Paleoclimate Records from the East African Rift System and Their Implications for Understanding the Environmental Context of Hominin Evolution

The possibility of a causal relationship between Earth history processes and hominin evolution in Africa has been the subject of intensive paleoanthropological research for the last 25 years. One fundamental question is: can any geohistorical processes, in particular, climatic ones, be characterized with sufficient precision to enable temporal correlation with events in hominin evolution and provide support for a possible causal mechanism for evolutionary changes? Previous attempts to link paleoclimate and hominin evolution have centered on evidence from the outcrops where the hominin fossils are found, as understanding whether and how hominin populations responded to habitat change must be examined at the local basinal scale. However, these outcrop records typically provide incomplete, low-resolution climate and environmental histories, and surface weathering often precludes the application of highly sensitive, state-of-the-art paleoenvironmental methods. Continuous and well-preserved deep-sea drill core records have provided an alternative approach to reconstructing the context of hominin evolution, but have been collected at great distances from hominin sites and typically integrate information over vast spatial scales. The goal of the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) is to analyze climate and other Earth system dynamics using detailed paleoenvironmental data acquired through scientific drilling of lacustrine depocenters at or near six key paleoanthropological sites in Kenya and Ethiopia. This review provides an overview of a unique collaboration of paleoanthropologists and earth scientists who have joined together to explicitly explore key hypotheses linking environmental history and mammalian (including hominin) evolution and potentially develop new testable hypotheses. With a focus on continuous, high-resolution proxies at timescales relevant to both biological and cultural evolution, the HSPDP aims to dramatically expand our understanding of the environmental history of eastern Africa during a significant portion of the Late Neogene and Quaternary, and to generate useful models of long-term environmental dynamics in the regionpublishersversionPeer reviewe