505 research outputs found
Real-time deterministic power flow control through dispatch of distributed energy resources
Integration of intermittent renewable resources and mass electrification of heat and transport into the existing electricity network, with limited network asset reinforcement requires incorporation of intelligence in form of active management of flexible resources within different sections of the distribution network. A hierarchical multi-level control framework is proposed for this purpose which incorporates the appropriate optimisation and control strategies at different levels. In particular a novel deterministic control algorithm for controlling power flows at the community cell level has been developed and presented in this paper. This algorithm incorporates robustness to communication and device failure and is easily expandable to an arbitrary number of devices. The simulation results presented in this paper show that the effectiveness of the proposed control technique depends on distributed energy resources flexibility and storage capacity
Further education improves cognitive reserve and triggers improvement in selective cognitive functions in older adults: The Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project
Introduction The strong link between early-life education and subsequent reduced risk of dementia suggests that education in later life could enhance cognitive function and may reduce age-related cognitive decline and protect against dementia. Methods Episodic memory, working memory, executive function, and language processing performances were assessed annually over 4 years in 359 healthy older adults who attended university for a minimum of 12 months (intervention) and were compared against 100 healthy adult controls. Results Multiple group latent growth curve modeling revealed a significant improvement in language processing capacity over time in the intervention group. No changes were detected for episodic memory, working memory, or executive function. Discussion These results suggest that complex mental stimulation resulting from late-life further education results in improved crystallized knowledge but no changes to fluid cognitive functions. © 2017 The Author
Experimental study of pedestrian flow through a bottleneck
In this work the results of a bottleneck experiment with pedestrians are
presented in the form of total times, fluxes, specific fluxes, and time gaps. A
main aim was to find the dependence of these values from the bottleneck width.
The results show a linear decline of the specific flux with increasing width as
long as only one person at a time can pass, and a constant value for larger
bottleneck widths. Differences between small (one person at a time) and wide
bottlenecks (two persons at a time) were also found in the distribution of time
gaps.Comment: accepted for publication in J. Stat. Mec
Phenomenological psychology & descriptive experience sampling: a new approach to exploring music festival experience
This paper provides in-depth discussion of a methodological
approach to researching music festival experience. Grounded in existential phenomenology (Heidegger, 1927/1962. Being and time (J. Macquarrie and E. Robinson, Trans.). Oxford: Blackwell) it argues for the adoption of an interpretative phenomenological perspective (MerleauâPonty, 1945/1962. Phenomenology of perception (C. Smith, Trans.). New York, NY: Humanities Press) to more fully understand the live music festival experience.
Phenomenological psychology (Smith, Harre and Van angenhove,
1995. Ideography and the caseâstudy. In J. A. Smith, R. Harre, & L.Van Langenhove (Eds.), Rethinking psychology (pp. 59â69). London:
SAGE Publications) contextualises the music festival experience within the attendeeâs Lifeworld. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith, 2015. Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications Ltd) provides a robust process for analysing the music festival experience ideographically. Participants used Descriptive Experience Sampling (DES)(Hurlburt & Heavey, 2001. Telling what we know: Describing inner experience. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5(9), 400â403) to record their Green Man music festival experiences, this data was then explored during phenomenological interviews. DES and IPA provide a contrasting conceptualisation of experience, with
findings that contribute to Ashworthâs (2003b. The
phenomenology of the lifeworld and social psychology. Social
Psychology Review, 5(1), 18â34) theories of Lifeworld and Kruegerâs (2014b. Varieties of extended emotions. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 13(4), 533â555) Hypothesis of Individual Extended Emotions and his Hypothesis of Collective Extended Emotions. Lastly, building upon the application and adaptability to
the music festival context allows a consideration of future studies
Prevalence and determinants of the use of self-tests by members of the public: a mixed methods study
Background
Self-tests can be used by members of the public to diagnose conditions without involving a doctor, nurse or other health professional. As technologies to design and manufacture diagnostic tests have developed, a range of self-tests have become available to the public to buy over-the-counter and via the Internet. This study aims to describe how many people have used self-tests and identify factors associated with their use.
Methods
A postal questionnaire will elicit basic information, including sociodemographic characteristics, and whether the person has used or would use specified self-tests. Consent will be sought to recontact people who want to participate further in the study, and interviews and focus groups will be used to develop hypotheses about factors associated with self-test use. These hypotheses will be tested in a case-control study. An in-depth questionnaire will be developed incorporating the identified factors. This will be sent to: people who have used a self-test (cases); people who have not used a self-test but would use one in the future (controls); and people who have not used and would not use a self-test (controls). Logistic regression analysis will be used to establish which factors are associated with self-test use.
Discussion
Self-tests do have potential benefits, for example privacy and convenience, but also potential harms, for example delay seeking treatment after a true negative result when the symptoms are actually due to another condition. It is anticipated that the outcomes from this study will include recommendations about how to improve the appropriate use of self-tests and existing health services, as well as information to prepare health professionals for patients who have used self-tests
High Spatial Resolution Fast-Neutron Imaging Detectors for Pulsed Fast-Neutron Transmission Spectroscopy
Two generations of a novel detector for high-resolution transmission imaging
and spectrometry of fast-neutrons are presented. These devices are based on a
hydrogenous fiber scintillator screen and single- or multiple-gated intensified
camera systems (ICCD). This detector is designed for energy-selective neutron
radiography with nanosecond-pulsed broad-energy (1 - 10 MeV) neutron beams.
Utilizing the Time-of-Flight (TOF) method, such a detector is capable of
simultaneously capturing several images, each at a different neutron energy
(TOF). In addition, a gamma-ray image can also be simultaneously registered,
allowing combined neutron/gamma inspection of objects. This permits combining
the sensitivity of the fast-neutron resonance method to low-Z elements with
that of gamma radiography to high-Z materials.Comment: Also published in JINST:
http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/1748-0221/4/05/P0501
Special Section on Pediatric Drug Disposition and Pharmacokinetics-Minireview Ontogeny of Hepatic Drug Transporters and Relevance to Drugs Used in Pediatrics
ABSTRACT Most of the pharmacokinetic studies conducted to calculate pediatric drug doses are based on scaling from adult data using various allometric parameters related to body size. However, these uniform scaling methods cannot account for all physiologic changes occurring during maturation, which influence various drugs in different ways. The ontogeny of physiologic and biologic functions accompanying the progression from infancy to childhood to adulthood does not proceed in a simple monotonic rate with body size for various elimination pathways. The transporters and their interplay with enzymes have a substantial role in drug metabolism and disposition. Although much is known about enzymes and their ontogeny, there is a scarcity of information on the ontogenic profile of drug transporters, particularly during the early years of human life. These ontogeny data are required for the enhancement of physiologically based pharmacokinetic models, and consequently for the prediction of pharmacokinetic profiles of new therapeutic compounds in pediatric populations. This review points to the relative ontogeny rate for enzymes and transporters and how these may confound our understanding of the role that transporters may or may not play in childhood compared with adulthood
Derailment-based fault tree analysis on risk management of railway turnout systems
Railway turnouts are fundamental mechanical infrastructures, which allow a rolling stock to divert one direction to another. As those are of a large number of engineering subsystems, e.g. track, signalling, earthworks, these particular sub-systems are expected to induce high potential through various kind of failure mechanisms. This could be a cause of any catastrophic event. A derailment, one of undesirable events in railway operation, often results, albeit rare occurs, in damaging to rolling stock, railway infrastructure and disrupt service, and has the potential to cause casualties and even loss of lives. As a result, it is quite significant that a well-designed risk analysis is performed to create awareness of hazards and to identify what parts of the systems may be at risk. This study will focus on all types of environment based failures as a result of numerous contributing factors noted officially as accident reports. This risk analysis is designed to help industry to minimise the occurrence of accidents at railway turnouts. The methodology of the study relies on accurate assessment of derailment likelihood, and is based on statistical multiple factors-integrated accident rate analysis. The study is prepared in the way of establishing product risks and faults, and showing the impact of potential process by Boolean algebra
A Development Environment for Visual Physics Analysis
The Visual Physics Analysis (VISPA) project integrates different aspects of
physics analyses into a graphical development environment. It addresses the
typical development cycle of (re-)designing, executing and verifying an
analysis. The project provides an extendable plug-in mechanism and includes
plug-ins for designing the analysis flow, for running the analysis on batch
systems, and for browsing the data content. The corresponding plug-ins are
based on an object-oriented toolkit for modular data analysis. We introduce the
main concepts of the project, describe the technical realization and
demonstrate the functionality in example applications
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