Observations of Cavitation on a Three-Dimensional Oscillating Hydrofoil

A test apparatus was designed and constructed to observe the effect of sinusoidal pitching oscillations on the cavitation of three-dimensional hydrofoils. The apparatus is capable of oscillating hydrofoils at a rate up to 50 Hz and provides for adjustments in oscillation amplitude and mean angle of attack. Observations of the effect of pitching oscillation on cavitation have been made for a NACA 64-309 (modified) hydrofoil operating at its designed mean angle of attack of 7 degrees with an oscillation amplitude of 2 degrees. Photographs illustrating the interaction between natural cavity shedding frequencies and the foil reduced frequency are included

A microcontroller system for investigating the catch effect: Functional electrical stimulation of the common peroneal nerve

Correction of drop foot in hemiplegic gait is achieved by electrical stimulation of the common peroneal nerve with a series of pulses at a fixed frequency. However, during normal gait, the electromyographic signals from the tibialis anterior muscle indicate that muscle force is not constant but varies during the swing phase. The application of double pulses for the correction of drop foot may enhance the gait by generating greater torque at the ankle and thereby increase the efficiency of the stimulation with reduced fatigue. A flexible controller has been designed around the Odstock Drop Foot Stimulator to deliver different profiles of pulses implementing doublets and optimum series. A peripheral interface controller (PIC) microcontroller with some external circuits has been designed and tested to accommodate six profiles. Preliminary results of the measurements from a normal subject seated in a multi-moment chair (an isometric torque measurement device) indicate that profiles containing doublets and optimum spaced pulses look favourable for clinical use

Loss of redundant gene expression after polyploidization in plants

Based on chromosomal location data of genes encoding 28 biochemical systems in allohexaploid wheat,Triticum aestivum L. (genomes AABBDD), it is concluded that the proportions of systems controlled by triplicate, duplicate, and single loci are 57%, 25%, and 18% respectively

A positive relationship between the abundance of ammonia oxidizing archaea and natural abundance δ15N of ecosystems

We present a significant relationship between the natural abundance isotopic composition of ecosystem pools and the abundance of a microbial gene. Natural abundance 15N of soils and soil DNA were analysed and compared with archaeal ammonia oxidizer abundance along an elevation gradient in northern Arizona and along a substrate age gradient in Hawai'i. There was a significant positive correlation between the abundance of archaeal amoA genes and natural abundance δ15N of total soil or DNA suggesting that ammonia oxidizing archaea play an important role in ecosystem N release. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

Directed Explicit Model Checking with HSF-SPIN

We present the explicit state model checker HSF-SPIN which is based on the model checker SPIN and its Promela modeling language. HSF-SPIN incorporates directed search algorithms for checking safety and a large class of LTL-specified liveness properties. We start off from the A* algorithm and define heuristics to accelerate the search into the direction of a specified failure situation. Next we propose an improved nested depth-first search algorithm that exploits the structure of Promela Never-Claims. As a result of both improvements, counterexamples will be shorter and the explored part of the state space will be smaller than with classical approaches, allowing to analyze larger state spaces. We evaluate the impact of the new heuristics and algorithms on a set of protocol models, some of which are real-world industrial protocols

Voltage controlling mechanisms in low resistivity silicon solar cells: A unified approach

An experimental technique capable of resolving the dark saturation current into its base and emitter components is used as the basis of an analysis in which the voltage limiting mechanisms were determined for a variety of high voltage, low resistivity silicon solar cells. The cells studied include the University of Florida hi-low emitter cell, the NASA and the COMSAT multi-step diffused cells, the Spire Corporation ion-implanted emitter cell, and the University of New South Wales MINMIS and MINP cells. The results proved to be, in general, at variance with prior expectations. Most surprising was the finding that the MINP and the MINMIS voltage improvements are due, to a considerable extent, to a previously unrecognized optimization of the base component of the saturation current. This result is substantiated by an independent analysis of the material used to fabricate these devices

Study protocol: Delayed intervention randomised controlled trial within the Medical Research Council (MRC) Framework to assess the effectiveness of a new palliative care service

Background: Palliative care has been proposed to help meet the needs of patients who suffer progressive non-cancer conditions but there have been few evaluations of service development initiatives. We report here a novel protocol for the evaluation of a new palliative care service in this context. Methods/Design: Using the MRC Framework for the Evaluation of Complex Interventions we modelled a new palliative care and neurology service for patients severely affected by Multiple Sclerosis (MS). We conducted qualitative interviews with patients, families and staff, plus a literature review to model and pilot the service. Then we designed a delayed intervention randomised controlled trial to test its effectiveness as part of phase II of the MRC framework. Inclusion criteria for the trial were patients identified by referring clinicians as having unresolved symptoms or psychological concerns. Referrers were advised to use a score of greater than 8 on the Expanded Disability Scale was a benchmark. Consenting patients newly referred to the new service were randomised to either receive the palliative care service immediately (fast-track) or after a 12-week wait (standard best practice). Face to face interviews were conducted at baseline (before intervention), and at 4–6, 10–12 (before intervention for the standard-practice group), 16– 18 and 22–24 weeks with patients and their carers using standard questionnaires to assess symptoms, palliative care outcomes, function, service use and open comments. Ethics committee approval was granted separately for the qualitative phase and then for the trial. Discussion: We publish the protocol trial here, to allow methods to be reviewed in advance of publication of the results. The MRC Framework for the Evaluation of Complex Interventions was helpful in both the design of the service, methods for evaluation in convincing staff and the ethics committee to accept the trial. The research will provide valuable information on the effects of palliative care among non-cancer patients and a method to evaluate palliative care in this context

Defect turbulence in inclined layer convection

We report experimental results on the defect turbulent state of undulation chaos in inclined layer convection of a fluid withPrandtl number $\approx 1$. By measuring defect density and undulation wavenumber, we find that the onset of undulation chaos coincides with the theoretically predicted onset for stable, stationary undulations. At stronger driving, we observe a competition between ordered undulations and undulation chaos, suggesting bistability between a fixed-point attractor and spatiotemporal chaos. In the defect turbulent regime, we measured the defect creation, annihilation, entering, leaving, and rates. We show that entering and leaving rates through boundaries must be considered in order to describe the observed statistics. We derive a universal probability distribution function which agrees with the experimental findings.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Shortest Path Computation with No Information Leakage

Shortest path computation is one of the most common queries in location-based services (LBSs). Although particularly useful, such queries raise serious privacy concerns. Exposing to a (potentially untrusted) LBS the client's position and her destination may reveal personal information, such as social habits, health condition, shopping preferences, lifestyle choices, etc. The only existing method for privacy-preserving shortest path computation follows the obfuscation paradigm; it prevents the LBS from inferring the source and destination of the query with a probability higher than a threshold. This implies, however, that the LBS still deduces some information (albeit not exact) about the client's location and her destination. In this paper we aim at strong privacy, where the adversary learns nothing about the shortest path query. We achieve this via established private information retrieval techniques, which we treat as black-box building blocks. Experiments on real, large-scale road networks assess the practicality of our schemes.Comment: VLDB201

Magneto-x-ray effects in transition-metal alloys

We present a theory that combines the relativistic spin-polarized version of the Koringa-Kohn-Rostoker coherent-potential approximation theory and the macroscopic theory of magneto-optical effects enabling us to calculate magneto-x-ray effects from first principles. The theory is illustrated by calculation of Faraday and Kerr rotations and ellipticities for transition-metal alloys