Investigation of Noise Field and Velocity Profiles of an Afterburning Engine

Sound pressure levels, frequency spectrum, and jet velocity profiles are presented for an engine-afterburner combination at various values of afterburner fuel - air ratio. At the high fuel-air ratios, severe low-frequency resonance was encountered which represented more than half the total energy in the sound spectrum. At similar thrust conditions, lower sound pressure levels were obtained from a current fighter air craft with a different afterburner configuration. The lower sound pressure levels are attributed to resonance-free afterburner operation and thereby indicate the importance of acoustic considerations in afterburner design

Intelligent environments: a manifesto

We explain basic features of an emerging area called Intelligent Environments. We give a short overview on how it has developed, what is the current state of the art and what are the challenges laying ahead. The aim of the article is to make aware the Computer Science community of this new development, the differences with previous dominant paradigms and the opportunities that this area offers to the scientific community and society

Fractional boundary value problems: Analysis and numerical methods

This is the author's PDF of an article published in Fractional calculus and applied analysis 2011. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.comThis journal article discusses nonlinear boundary value problems.Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologi

Basic Conditioning Factors' Influences on Adolescents' Healthy Behaviors, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Care

This article reports a secondary statistical analysis of data from a study investigating the relationships among health-promoting self-care behaviors, self-care self-efficacy, and self-care agency in an adolescent population (Callaghan, 2005). The purpose of this study was to identify the influences of selected basic conditioning factors on the practice of healthy behaviors, self-efficacy beliefs, and ability for self-care in 256 adolescents. The research instruments used to collect data for this study include: Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II Scale; Self-Rated Abilities for Health Practices Scale; Exercise of Self-Care Agency Scale; demographic questionnaire assessing basic conditioning factors. The results of this analysis identified significant relationships between the following basic conditioning factors and adolescents' practice of healthy behaviors, self-efficacy of those behaviors, and self-care abilities: support system, adequate income, adequate living conditions, gender, routine practice of religion, and reported medical problems/disabilities. These findings can give adolescent health nurses direction in developing interventions that promote the self-care and health in this specific population

Dynamics of Air-Fluidized Granular System Measured by the Modulated Gradient Spin-echo

The power spectrum of displacement fluctuation of beads in the air-fluidized granular system is measured by a novel NMR technique of modulated gradient spin-echo. The results of measurement together with the related spectrum of the velocity fluctuation autocorrelation function fit well to an empiric formula based on to the model of bead caging between nearest neighbours; the cage breaks up after a few collisions \cite{Menon1}. The fit yields the characteristic collision time, the size of bead caging and the diffusion-like constant for different degrees of system fluidization. The resulting mean squared displacement increases proportionally to the second power of time in the short-time ballistic regime and increases linearly with time in the long-time diffusion regime as already confirmed by other experiments and simulations.Comment: 4 figures. Submited to Physical Review Letters, April 200

Targeted interventions for patellofemoral pain syndrome (TIPPS): classification of clinical subgroups

Introduction Patellofemoral pain (PFP) can cause significant pain leading to limitations in societal participation and physical activity. An international expert group has highlighted the need for a classification system to allow targeted intervention for patients with PFP; we have developed a work programme systematically investigating this. We have proposed six potential subgroups: hip abductor weakness, quadriceps weakness, patellar hypermobility, patellar hypomobility, pronated foot posture and lower limb biarticular muscle tightness. We could not uncover any evidence of the relative frequency with which patients with PFP fell into these subgroups or whether these subgroups were mutually exclusive. The aim of this study is to provide information on the clinical utility of our classification system. Methods and analysis 150 participants will be recruited over 18 months in four National Health Services (NHS) physiotherapy departments in England. Inclusion criteria: adults 18–40 years with PFP for longer than 3 months, PFP in at least two predesignated functional activities and PFP elicited by clinical examination. Exclusion criteria: prior or forthcoming lower limb surgery; comorbid illness or health condition; and lower limb training or pregnancy. We will record medical history, demographic details, pain, quality of life, psychomotor movement awareness and knee temperature. We will assess hip abductor and quadriceps weakness, patellar hypermobility and hypomobility, foot posture and lower limb biarticular muscle tightness. The primary analytic approach will be descriptive. We shall present numbers and percentages of participants who meet the criteria for membership of (1) each of the subgroups, (2) none of the subgroups and (3) multiple subgroups. Exact (binomial) 95% CIs for these percentages will also be presented. Ethics and dissemination This study has been approved by National Research Ethics Service (NRES) Committee North West—Greater Manchester North (11/NW/0814) and University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) Built, Sport, Health (BuSH) Ethics Committee (BuSH 025). An abstract has been accepted for the third International Patellofemoral Pain Research Retreat, Vancouver, September 2013

High allelic diversity in the methyltransferase gene of a phase variable type III restriction-modification system has implications for the fitness of Haemophilus influenzae

Phase variable restriction-modification (R-M) systems are widespread in Eubacteria. Haemophilus influenzae encodes a phase variable homolog of Type III R-M systems. Sequence analysis of this system in 22 non-typeable H.influenzae isolates revealed a hypervariable region in the central portion of the mod gene whereas the res gene was conserved. Maximum likelihood (ML) analysis indicated that most sites outside this hypervariable region experienced strong negative selection but evidence of positive selection for a few sites in adjacent regions. A phylogenetic analysis of 61 Type III mod genes revealed clustering of these H.influenzae mod alleles with mod genes from pathogenic Neisseriae and, based on sequence analysis, horizontal transfer of the mod–res complex between these species. Neisserial mod alleles also contained a hypervariable region and all mod alleles exhibited variability in the repeat tract. We propose that this hypervariable region encodes the target recognition domain (TRD) of the Mod protein and that variability results in alterations to the recognition sequence of this R-M system. We argue that the high allelic diversity and phase variable nature of this R-M system have arisen due to selective pressures exerted by diversity in bacteriophage populations but also have implications for other fitness attributes of these bacterial species

Field dependence of the vortex core size in a multi-band superconductor

The magnetic field dependence of the vortex core size in the multi-band superconductor NbSe2 has been determined from muon spin rotation measurements. The spatially extended nature of the quasiparticle core states associated with the smaller gap leads to a rapid field-induced shrinkage of the core size at low fields, while the more tightly bound nature of the states associated with the larger gap leads to a field-independent core size for fields greater than 4 kOe. A simple model is proposed for the density of delocalized core states that establishes a direct relationship between the field-induced reduction of the vortex core size and the corresponding enhancement of the electronic thermal conductivity. We show that this model accurately describes both NbSe2 and the single-band superconductor V3Si.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Version accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Beyond ‘witnessing’: children’s experiences of coercive control in domestic violence and abuse

Children’s experiences and voices are underrepresented in academic literature and professional practice around domestic violence and abuse. The project ‘Understanding Agency and Resistance Strategies’ addresses this absence, through direct engagement with children. We present an analysis from interviews with 21 children in the United Kingdom (12 girls and 9 boys, aged 8-18 years), about their experiences of domestic violence and abuse, and their responses to this violence. These interviews were analysed using interpretive interactionism. Three themes from this analysis are presented: a) ‘Children’s experiences of abusive control’, which explores children’s awareness of controlling behaviour by the adult perpetrator, their experience of that control, and its impact on them; b) ‘Constraint’, which explores how children experience the constraint associated with coercive control in situations of domestic violence, and c) ‘Children as agents’ which explores children’s strategies for managing controlling behaviour in their home and in family relationships. The paper argues that, in situations where violence and abuse occurs between adult intimate partners, children are significantly impacted, and can be reasonably described as victims of abusive control. Recognising children as direct victims of domestic violence and abuse would produce significant changes in the way professionals respond to them, by 1) recognising children’s experience of the impact of domestic violence and abuse; 2) recognising children’s agency, undermining the perception of them as passive ‘witnesses’ or ‘collateral damage’ in adult abusive encounters; and 3) strengthening professional responses to them as direct victims, not as passive witnesses to violence

Relationship between pulse-wave velocity and arterial elasticity

Pulse wave velocity (PWV) was measured in situ in 11 isolated canine common carotid arteries. Seven arteries exhibited a linear PWV vs. pressure function at pressures ranging from 0 to 200 mmHg. Four arteries yielded a linear relationship between PWV and pressure between 1 and 100 mmHg; for these vessels the relationship was nonlinear at higher pressures. Seven arteries (five from the group which was linear up to 200 mmHg and two from the group which was linear up to 100 mmHg) were excised and pressure/volume measurements were made in vivo. Using pressure/volume data, the Moens-Korteweg equation was evaluated as a predictor of the PWV vs. pressure relationship over the linear region. An expression was developed to enable prediction of the pressure/volume relationship using the coefficients at the linear PWV vs. pressure function, and these predictions were evaluated. We found that, for this range, the Moens-Korteweg equation provides a very good basis for predicting the increase in PWV with increasing bias pressure. In addition, we found that the pressure/volume relationship of common carotid arteries is well represented by an exponential of the form V/V0 = Keαf(P) , which was derived as the inverse solution to the Moens-Korteweg equation