ACTE Wing Loads Analysis

The Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge (ACTE) project modified a Gulfstream III (GIII) aircraft with a new flexible flap that creates a seamless transition between the flap and the wing. As with any new modification, it is crucial to ensure that the aircraft will not become overstressed in flight. To test this, Star CCM a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software program was used to calculate aerodynamic data for the aircraft at given flight conditions

Examining the Inclusivity of Extended Reality (XR) in Current Products

Users with diverse abilities, skills, cultures, preferences, and physical differences will be using XR products. Some XR devices are customizable to these diverse users, while others are unusable. Hardware design should be updated to make XR more inclusive

Extended Reality (XR) Hardware: One Size Doesn’t Fit All, Yet.

Extended Reality (XR) encompasses virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR). Virtual content continues to be incorporated into our real world as more devices become available to support it. It has been accepted into the entertainment space (games like Beat Saber and Pokémon GO), social media apps (SnapChat and TikTok filters), training, and education. Soon everyone will be able to put on a headset or pick up a phone and see virtual holograms in action. But, is XR built inclusively, for everyone? Inclusive design has been defined as, designing a diversity of ways for users to participate so that everyone has a sense of belonging” (Holmes, 2018). We evaluated the inclusivity of popular XR devices: head-mounted displays, smart glasses, and mobile devices – both the physical design and user interaction methods. Results demonstrate that the devices have room for improvement to be fully inclusive

Inspection time and general speed of processing

Recent research suggests that the relationship between inspection time (IT) and psychometric intelligence arises because IT is a measure of general speed of processing (Gs). However, hierarchical models of intelligence propose several distinct speed of processing factors; this study examines IT in relation to these multiple speed factors. Participants (N=102) completed tests of speed of processing yielding 18 measures. Factor analysis revealed a second order general speed factor (Gs) and four group factors: perceptual speed, visualisation speed, decision time and movement time. IT correlated with a visualisation speed factor (r=0.36) and with a perceptual speed factor (r=0.28). However, the correlation between IT and perceptual speed was near-zero when the correlation with visualisation speed was partialled out. These findings are consistent with the notion that IT is a measure of Gs but suggest that IT most directly measures speed of visualisation processes. These results are also congruent with research on the psychophysics of IT.Tess A. O’Connor and Nicholas R. Burnshttp://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/603/description#descriptio

Water resource accounting for Uganda : use and policy relevancy

This paper uses the system of economic and environmental accounting for water to demonstrate how the water sector interacts with the social-economic sectors of the economy. Furthermore, it reviews the existing institutional and policy framework in Uganda, and proposes an analytical framework which can be used to provide sound intersectoral planning in order to achieve sustainable water resource use. The proposed framework also articulates how outcomes of water policies and social-economic policies can be analyzed. In Uganda, the uneven distribution of water resources both in space and time, poses constraints to economic activity particularly in the water-scarce regions of the country. The problem is being exacerbated by the increasingly erratic rainfall and rising temperatures. The accounting results show that the current level of water use within the economy is less than the available quantity. In this regard, there is room for the development of mechanisms to increase its utilization. This would serve to mitigate the scarcity especially of water for production which primarily emanates from climate variability. This in turn affects the performance of the economy, as key sectors such as agriculture are rainfall-dependent.The Carnegie Corporation of New York under the Next Generation of African Academics (NGAA II) project, and Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA).http://www.iwaponline.com2016-08-31hb2016Economic

Using mobile sensing data to assess stress: Associations with perceived and lifetime stress, mental health, sleep, and inflammation

Background Although stress is a risk factor for mental and physical health problems, it can be difficult to assess, especially on a continual, non-invasive basis. Mobile sensing data, which are continuously collected from naturalistic smartphone use, may estimate exposure to acute and chronic stressors that have health-damaging effects. This initial validation study validated a mobile-sensing collection tool against assessments of perceived and lifetime stress, mental health, sleep duration, and inflammation. Methods Participants were 25 well-characterized healthy young adults (Mage = 20.64 years, SD = 2.74; 13 men, 12 women). We collected affective text language use with a custom smartphone keyboard. We assessed participants’ perceived and lifetime stress, depression and anxiety levels, sleep duration, and basal inflammatory activity (i.e. salivary C-reactive protein and interleukin-1β). Results Three measures of affective language (i.e. total positive words, total negative words, and total affective words) were strongly associated with lifetime stress exposure, and total negative words typed was related to fewer hours slept (all large effect sizes: r = 0.50 – 0.78). Total positive words, total negative words, and total affective words typed were also associated with higher perceived stress and lower salivary C-reactive protein levels (medium effect sizes; r = 0.22 – 0.32). Conclusions Data from this initial longitudinal validation study suggest that total and affective text use may be useful mobile sensing measures insofar as they are associated with several other stress, mental health, behavioral, and biological outcomes. This tool may thus help identify individuals at increased risk for stress-related health problems

Comparison of Methods for Classifying Persistent Post-Concussive Symptoms in Children

Pediatric mild traumatic brain injury (pmTBI) has received increased public scrutiny over the past decade, especially regarding children who experience persistent post-concussive symptoms (PPCS). However, several methods for defining PPCS exist in clinical and scientific literature, and even healthy children frequently exhibit non-specific, concussive-like symptoms. Inter-method agreement (six PPCS methods), observed misclassification rates, and other psychometric properties were examined in large cohorts of consecutively recruited adolescent patients with pmTBI (n = 162) 1 week and 4 months post-injury and in age/sex-matched healthy controls (HC; n = 117) at equivalent time intervals. Six published PPCS methods were stratified into Simple Change (e.g., International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision [ICD-10]) and Standardized Change (e.g., reliable change indices) algorithms. Among HC, test-retest reliability was fair to good across the 4-month assessment window, with evidence of bias (i.e., higher symptom ratings) during retrospective relative to other assessments. Misclassification rates among HC were higher (>30%) for Simple Change algorithms, with poor inter-rater reliability of symptom burden across HC and their parents. A 49% spread existed in terms of the proportion of pmTBI patients "diagnosed" with PPCS at 4 months, with superior inter-method agreement among standardized change algorithms. In conclusion, the self-reporting of symptom burden is only modestly reliable in typically developing adolescents over a 4-month period, with additional evidence for systematic bias in both adolescent and parental ratings. Significant variation existed for identifying pmTBI patients who had "recovered" (i.e., those who did not meet individual criteria for PPCS) from concussion across the six definitions, representing a considerable challenge for estimating the true incidence rate of PPCS in published literature. Although relatively straightforward to obtain, current findings question the utility of the most commonly used Simple Change scores for diagnosis of PPCS in clinical settings

C -Axis Transport in Ute2: Evidence of Three-Dimensional Conductivity Component

We study the temperature dependence of electrical resistivity for currents directed along all crystallographic axes of the spin-triplet superconductor UTe2. We focus particularly on an accurate determination of the resistivity along the c axis (ρc) by using a generalized Montgomery technique that allows extraction of crystallographic resistivity components from a single sample. In contrast to expectations from the observed highly anisotropic band structure, our measurement of the absolute values of resistivities in all current directions reveals a surprisingly nearly isotropic transport behavior at temperatures above Kondo coherence, with ρc∼ρb∼2ρa, that evolves to reveal qualitatively distinct behaviors on cooling. The temperature dependence of ρc exhibits a peak at a temperature much lower than the onset of Kondo coherence observed in ρa and ρb, consistent with features in magneto transport and magnetization that point to a magnetic origin. A comparison to the temperature-dependent evolution of the scattering rate observed in angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy experiments provides important insights into the underlying electronic structure necessary for building a microscopic model of superconductivity in UTe2