Masser-W\"ustholz bound for reducibility of Galois representations for Drinfeld modules of arbitrary rank

In this paper, we give an explicit bound on the irreducibility of mod-$\mathfrak{l}$ Galois representation for Drinfeld modules of arbitrary rank without complex multiplication. This is a function field analogue of Masser-W\"ustholz bound on irreducibility of mod-$\ell$ Galois representation for elliptic curves over number field.Comment: 8 page

Does PPP hold for Big Mac price or consumer price index? Evidence from panel cointegration

This paper examines the validity of purchasing power parity (PPP) using CPI and Big Mac prices. The benchmark model, i.e., the OLS method, which does not take nonstationarity into account, rejects the hypothesis of PPP regardless of prices used. We next use the panel cointegration method to consider the nonstationary nature of variables. Estimated results for CPI are mixed. The PPP is rejected when the nominal exchange rate is employed as the dependent variable but is not rejected when the price ratio is used as the dependent variable. By contrast, the PPP is overwhelmingly not rejected when the Big Mac price is used. Last, we remove the production bias and re-examine the same issue by using panel cointegration. The PPP is again decisively rejected when CPI price is used but not for Big Mac price. Accordingly, Big Mac price is more supportive to the validity of PPP than CPI price.Big Mac

3D Printed Loop Heat Pipes for High-Performance Small Satellites

Advanced Cooling Technologies has been developing 3D printed loop heat pipes as low-cost, rapidly-manufacturable alternatives to standard loop heat pipes. With 3D printing, the evaporator build can be entirely automated leading to significant savings in costs and lead times. The 3D printed loop heat pipe can enable high-performance small satellites with significant enhancement of the heat rejection capability. This paper provides a comprehensive narrative of the 3D printed loop heat pipe development, including an exposition of the wick and evaporator development, and a discussion of select test results acquired in the laboratory. The evaporator wick was achieved by carefully controlling the build parameters in laser powder bed fusion to force incomplete melting of the stainless-steel powder. The evaporator was developed as a single bi-porous part, containing a wick section that is surrounded by an annular wall, requiring zero post-build assembly. The 3D printed loop heat pipes were successfully operated in the laboratory with both propylene and ammonia, including at a heat load of over 300 W with the latter working fluid. A purpose-built propylene 3D printed loop heat pipe for NASA’s VIPER EDU was also demonstrated successfully, leading to a TRL 6 advancement for the technology

Association Between Type I and II Diabetes With Gallbladder Stone Disease

Objective: To assess the association of type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) with the subsequent development of gallbladder stone disease (GSD).Setting: Cohort Study.Participants: We identified two study cohort groups to evaluate the association of T1DM and T2DM with the development of GSD. The first group comprised a T1DM cohort of 7015 patients aged ≤ 40 years and a non-diabetes cohort randomly matched with the study cohort (4:1). The second group comprised a T2DM cohort of 51,689 patients aged ≥20 years and a non-diabetes cohort randomly matched with the study cohort (1:1). All patients were studied from 1996 to the end of 2011 or withdrawal from the National Health Insurance program to determine the incidence of GSD.Results: Compared with patients without diabetes, those with T1DM had a decreased risk of GSD [adjusted hazard ratios (aHR) = 0.48, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.25–0.92]. Those with T2DM had an increased risk of GSD (aHR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.41–1.69), after adjustment for age, sex, comorbidities, and number of parity. The relative risk of GSD in the T2DM cohort was higher than that in the non-diabetes cohort in each group of age, sex, and patients with or without comorbidity. However, the relative risk of GSD in the T1DM cohort was lower than that in the non-diabetes cohort only in the age group of 20–40 years.Conclusion: Our population-based cohort study reveals a strong association between T2DM and GSD. However, an inverse relationship exists between T1DM and GSD in patients aged 20–40 years

Foreign body in the urinary bladder causing persistent cystitis

SummaryAn unusual cause of a urinary tract infection (UTI) that presented in a woman who had previously undergone anti-incontinence sling surgery is presented here. A urinary bladder stone had formed on an eroded, nonabsorbable suture that had been used in the previous operation. Before identifying the underlying cause, the patient suffered from lower urinary tract symptoms and had undergone a prolonged course of antibiotic therapy for 3 years. Following removal of the suture, the UTI symptoms were rapidly resolved and only a short course of antibiotics was needed after the operation

Accelerated colorimetric immunosensingusing surface-modified porous monolithsand gold nanoparticles

A rapid and sensitive immunoassay platform integrating polymerized monoliths and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) has been developed. The porous monoliths are photopolymerized in situ within a silica capillary and serve as solid support for high-mass transport and high-density capture antibody immobilization to create a shorter diffusion length for antibody–antigen interactions, resulting in a rapid assay and low reagent consumption. AuNPs are modified with detection antibodies and are utilized as signals for colorimetric immunoassays without the need for enzyme, substrate and sophisticated equipment for quantitative measurements. This platform has been verified by performing a human IgG sandwich immunoassay with a detection limit of 0.1 ng ml−1. In addition, a single assay can be completed in 1 h, which is more efficient than traditional immunoassays that require several hours to complete

Structural and Thermoelectric Properties Characterization of Individual Single Crystalline Nanowire

Herein, we report a method for structural characterization as well as TE properties measurements of individual single-crystalline Lead telluride (PbTe) NWs by employing a new microchip design. In this work, the single PbTe NW was characterized in four different types of measurement: structural characterization, Seebeck coefficient S, electrical conductivity σ, and thermal conductivity κ. The structural characterization by transmission electron microscope (TEM) revealed that the PbTe NWs were high-quality single crystals with a growth along the [100] direction. The TE properties S, σ, and κ measurement results of individual 75 nm PbTe NW at room temperature were −54.76 µV K−1, 1526.19 S m−1, and 0.96 W m−1 K−1, respectively. Refer to the result of S, σ and κ; the figure of merit ZT values of a 75 nm PbTe NW at the temperature range of 300‒350 K were 1.4‒4.3 x 10−3. Furthermore, it was observed that the κ value is size-dependent compared to previous reported, which indicates that thermal transport through the individual PbTe NWs is limited by boundary scattering of both electrons and phonons. The results show that this new technique measurement provided a reliable ZT value of individual NW yielded high accuracy for size-dependent studies

THE UPPER LIMB EMG ACTIVITY COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT TABLE TENNIS FOREHAND DRIVES

The purpose of this study was to combine dynamics and surface EMG methods to analyze the movements of table tennis forehand drives by Taiwan elite table tennis players performing straight and cross court forehand drives from topspin and backspin serves. The kinematical data were collected by 10 Vicon MX13+ high-speed cameras and one Biovision system was used to record the EMG signal of seven muscles groups on the dominate hand. The results showed that there were significant differences among the four table tennis drives. The players exerted greater muscular activity in the wrist extensors, the biceps and the triceps for the backspin serve forehand drive than when returning the topspin serve forehand drive, not only on the straight but also on the cross court strokes

Heat transfer performance in 3D internally finned heat pipe

An experimental study of heat transfer performance in 3D internally finned steel-water heat pipe was carried out in this project. All the main parameters that can significantly influence the heat transfer performance of heat pipe, such as working temperature, heat flux, inclination angle, working fluid fill ratio (defined by the evaporation volume), have been examined. Within the experimental conditions (working temperature 40 C–95 C, heat flux 5.0 kw/m2–40 kw/m2, inclination angle 2–90 ), the evaporation and condensation heat transfer coefficients in 3D internally finned heat pipe are found to be increased by 50–100% and 100–200%, respectively, as compared to the smooth gravity-assisted heat pipe under the same conditions. Therefore, it is concluded that the special structures of 3D-fins on the inner wall can significantly reduce the internal thermal resistance of heat pipe and then greatly enhance its heat transfer performance