Pressure and velocity measurements in a three-dimensional wall jet

The effects on the flow fields of varying the ratio of the velocity at the exit plane of the nozzle to the outer tunnel flow are reported. The pressure-velocity correlations are taken and some trends are discussed. Emphasis is placed on comparing the coherence between the fluctuating pressure and velocity fields at various locations in the different flow configurations

An experimental investigation of an axisymmetric jet in a coflowing airstream

The flow development of an axisymmetric jet exhausting into a moving airstream has been studied. The jet has a Reynolds number of 22,600, and the ratio of the jet velocity to the wind tunnel velocity is 5.1 to 1. The flow field of the axisymmetric jet was examined at locations varying from approximately zero to eight diameters downstream of the orifice. Of primary concern at each downstream location was the mapping of the one point statistical properties of the flow, including mean velocity, turbulent intensity, and intermittency. Autocorrelations and power spectral density curves were determined for both the fluctuating velocity field and the concentration signal at various distances from the jet's center line for different downstream locations. A laser Doppler velocimeter, using a phase locked loop processor, was used to make the desired velocity field measurements which were compared with hot wire anemometer and pressure probe data

Representations of power: A critical multimodal analysis of U.S. CEOs, the Italian Mafia and government in the media

In September 2008, the collapse of the bank Lehman Brothers led to a financial crisis and the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, threatening the entire global financial system. Some of the effects of the crisis included evictions, foreclosures and high and prolonged unemployment. Despite the fact that bankers and corporate executives are widely known to bear much of the blame for the crisis (“The origins of the financial crisis,” 2013), very few have actually been convicted of any crime. In addition, recent investigations of the relationship between the New York Federal Reserve and banks such as Goldman Sachs have revealed that even the regulators assigned to keep banks in check have become “too risk averse and deferential to the banks it supervised” (Bernstein 2014). Yet, the public has largely “learned to accept the implicit idea that some people have simply more rights than others. Some people go to jail, and others just don’t” (Taibbi 2014, xix). Similarly, in Italy, there is a large public consensus that many politicians and corporate executives are allies of Mafia groups such as ‘Ndrangheta and Cosa Nostra (who are engaging in activities such as setting up bogus firms in order to receive public subsidies, money laundering, fraudulent real estate schemes, etc.), yet few of them ever end up being prosecuted or serving jail time. In fact, while the government has created numerous task forces to combat Mafia groups, the ‘Ndrangheta has continued to gross billions of euros and has become a global presence, active in countries such as Germany as well as in South America (Conti 2014). The present paper seeks to understand why these CEOs and Mafia organizations are not often punished for their crimes and why there is little public outcry about it. We are concerned with one element that plays a crucial role: the lack of connection between their actions and their representation in the media. The representation of social actors in public discourse has always played an important role in how the public perceives them, how they are treated by legal and government entities and what the consequences of their actions are (van Leeuwen 1996). Discourses not only represent what is happening, but also evaluate, justify, highlight or background certain aspects of it (van Leeuwen, 2008, 6). Consequently, this multimodal critical discourse analysis will attempt to reveal less-than-obvious discursive strategies that (re)produce dominant ideologies of criminality and how groups in power, convicted or accused of crimes, are treated in the discourse. To do this, we take a qualitative approach that examines online newspaper articles reporting crimes committed by CEOs in the U.S. and Italian Mafia groups. Our focus is on the metonymic strategies

Representations of power: A critical multimodal analysis of U.S. CEOs, the Italian Mafia and government in the media

In September 2008, the collapse of the bank Lehman Brothers led to a financial crisis and the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, threatening the entire global financial system. Some of the effects of the crisis included evictions, foreclosures and high and prolonged unemployment. Despite the fact that bankers and corporate executives are widely known to bear much of the blame for the crisis (“The origins of the financial crisis,” 2013), very few have actually been convicted of any crime. In addition, recent investigations of the relationship between the New York Federal Reserve and banks such as Goldman Sachs have revealed that even the regulators assigned to keep banks in check have become “too risk averse and deferential to the banks it supervised” (Bernstein 2014). Yet, the public has largely “learned to accept the implicit idea that some people have simply more rights than others. Some people go to jail, and others just don’t” (Taibbi 2014, xix). Similarly, in Italy, there is a large public consensus that many politicians and corporate executives are allies of Mafia groups such as ‘Ndrangheta and Cosa Nostra (who are engaging in activities such as setting up bogus firms in order to receive public subsidies, money laundering, fraudulent real estate schemes, etc.), yet few of them ever end up being prosecuted or serving jail time. In fact, while the government has created numerous task forces to combat Mafia groups, the ‘Ndrangheta has continued to gross billions of euros and has become a global presence, active in countries such as Germany as well as in South America (Conti 2014). The present paper seeks to understand why these CEOs and Mafia organizations are not often punished for their crimes and why there is little public outcry about it. We are concerned with one element that plays a crucial role: the lack of connection between their actions and their representation in the media. The representation of social actors in public discourse has always played an important role in how the public perceives them, how they are treated by legal and government entities and what the consequences of their actions are (van Leeuwen 1996). Discourses not only represent what is happening, but also evaluate, justify, highlight or background certain aspects of it (van Leeuwen, 2008, 6). Consequently, this multimodal critical discourse analysis will attempt to reveal less-than-obvious discursive strategies that (re)produce dominant ideologies of criminality and how groups in power, convicted or accused of crimes, are treated in the discourse. To do this, we take a qualitative approach that examines online newspaper articles reporting crimes committed by CEOs in the U.S. and Italian Mafia groups. Our focus is on the metonymic strategies

Male fetal loss in the U.S. following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001

Background: The secondary sex ratio (i.e., the odds of a male birth) reportedly declines following natural disasters, pollution events, and economic collapse. It remains unclear whether this decline results from an excess of male fetal loss or reduced male conceptions. The literature also does not converge as to whether the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 induced "communal bereavement", or the widespread feeling of distress among persons who never met those directly involved in the attacks. We test the communal bereavement hypothesis among gravid women by examining whether male fetal deaths rose above expected levels in the US following September 11, 2001. Methods: We apply interrupted time-series methods to all fetal deaths at or greater than the 20(th) week of gestation in the US from 1996 to 2002. Time-series methods control for trends, seasonality, and other forms of autocorrelation that could induce spurious associations. Results: Results support the hypothesis in that the fetal death sex ratio (i.e., the odds of a male fetal death) increased above its expected value in September 2001. Additional analysis of the secondary sex ratio indirectly supports that the terrorist attacks may have threatened the gestation of male more than female fetuses. Conclusions: Societal responses to events such as September 11, 2001 do not appear confined only to persons who have ever met the deceased. The fetal death sex ratio in the US population may serve as a sentinel indicator of the degree to which pregnant women react to population stressors

Blurring the boundaries between synthesis and evaluation. A customized realist evaluative synthesis into adolescent risk behavior prevention

Realist methodologies have been increasingly advocated for the investigation of complex social issues. Public health programs, such as those designed to prevent adolescent risk behavior, are typically considered complex. In conducting a realist review of the empirical literature relating to such programs, we encountered several challenges, including (a) an overabundance of empirical evidence, (b) a problematic level of heterogeneity within and between methodological approaches, (c) discrepancies between theoretical underpinnings and program operationalization, (d) homogeneity of program outcomes, with very little variation in program effectiveness, and (d) a paucity of description relating to content and process. To overcome these challenges, we developed a customized approach to realist evidence synthesis, drawing on the VICTORE (Volition, Implementation, Contexts, Time, Outcomes, Rivalry, and Emergence) complexity checklist and incorporating stakeholder engagement as primary data to achieve greater depth of understanding relating to contextual and mechanistic factors, and the complex interactions between them. Here we discuss the benefits of this adapted methodology alongside an overview of the research through which the methodology was developed. A key finding from this research was that combining the complexity checklist with primary data from stakeholder engagement enabled us to systematically interrogate the data across data sources, uncovering and evidencing mechanisms which may otherwise have remained hidden, giving greater ontological depth to our research findings. This paper builds on key methodological developments in realist research, demonstrating how realist methodologies can be customized to overcome challenges in developing and refining program theory from the literature, and contributes to the broader literature of innovative approaches to realist research

Determinants associated with obesity and physical activity in the public and private schools of the city of palermo

Introduction: Obesity is a medical condition associated with premature death and it is a risk factor for many chronic diseases. In this context, performing a regular physical activity promotes a healthy lifestyle, with significant health benefits. The aim of the study was to investigate behaviors that increase the risk of obesity and the determinants that encourage physical activity among adolescents. Materials and methods: The HBSC (Health Behavior in School-aged Children) questionnaire was administered to students in Palermo's private and public schools. For the sampling of public schools the protocol of the HBSC Surveillance System was followed; for the private ones it was opportunistic. Results: Private school students are more likely to exercise more than 3 days per week (OR 1.58) and are more likely to exercise more than 2 times a week (OR 2.08). Obese students in private schools in Palermo are more likely to perform physical activity for less than 3 days a week (OR 3.52) and a higher risk of not having breakfast (OR 10.11) and a snack between main meals (OR 3.82) every day. For all the schools examined, it emerged that obese subjects are more likely not to consume fruit (OR 3.13), to stay more than 6 hours a day in front of PCs and video games (OR 3.24) and more than 2 hours a day in front of TV (OR 3.79). Male students are more likely to perform physical activity for more than 3 days per week (OR 1.48) and intense physical activity at least 2 times per week (OR 1.76) Conclusions: It is necessary to intervene early with training on school and family in order to promote correct and responsible food choices and increase the level of physical activity among students. Therefore prevention interventions must be an integral part of coherent strategies based on tests of agreed effectiveness in order to minimize the risk linked to the development of diseases

Transcranial Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Focused Ultrasound Treatment at 1.5 T: A Retrospective Study on Treatment- and Patient-Related Parameters Obtained From 52 Procedures

Objective: To present a retrospective analysis of patient- and sonication-related parameters of a group of patients treated with a transcranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-guided focused ultrasound (tcMRgFUS) system integrated with a 1.5-T MRI unit. Methods: The data obtained from 59 patients, who underwent the tcMRgFUS procedure from January 2015 to April 2019, were retrospectively reviewed for this study. The following data, among others, were mainly collected: skull density ratio (SDR), skull area (SA), number of available transducer elements (Tx), and estimated focal power at target (FP). For each of the four different treatment stages, we calculated the number of sonication processes (S-n), user-defined sonication power (S-p), effective measured power (S-mp), sonication duration (S-d), user-defined energy (E), effective measured energy (E-m), maximum temperature (T-max), and MR thermometry plane orientation. Furthermore, the time delay between each sonication (S-t) and the total treatment time (T-t) were recorded. Results: Fifty-two patients (40 males and 12 females; age 64.51 +/- SD 11.90 years; range 26-86 years), who underwent unilateral Vim thalamotomy (left = 50, 96.15%; right = 2, 3.85%) for medication-refractory essential tremor (n = 39; 78%) or Parkinson tremor (n = 13; 22%) were considered. A total of 1,068 (95.10%) sonication processes were included in our final analysis (average S-n per treatment: 20.65 +/- 6.18; range 13-41). The energy released onto the planned target was found to decrease with the SDR for all temperature ranges. A positive correlation was observed between the slope of T-max vs. E-m plot and the SDR (R-2 = 0.765; p < 0.001). In addition, the T-max was positively correlated with SDR (R-2 = 0.398; p < 0.005). On the contrary, no significant correlation was found between SDR and SA or Tx. An analysis of the MR thermometry scanning plane indicated that, at our site, the axial and the coronal planes were used (on average) 10.4 (SD +/- 3.8) and 7.7 (SD +/- 3.0) times, respectively, whereas the sagittal plane was used only 2.5 (SD +/- 3.0) times per treatment. Conclusion: Our results confirm the factors that significantly influence the course of a tcMRgFUS procedure even when a 1.5-T MRI scanner is used for procedure guidance. The experience we gained in this study indicates that the SDR remains one of the most significant technical parameters to be considered in a tcMRgFUS procedure. The possibility of prospectively setting the sonication energy according to the presented curves of energy delivery as a function of SDR for each treatment stage could provide a further understanding and a greater awareness of this emerging technology