Bursting phenomenon created by bridge piers group in open channel flow

YesBridge pier is a common feature in hydraulic structure. Its impact to the river usually occurs in group form rather than single pier, so this challenging piers-group influence towards river hydraulics and turbulence needs to be explored. In this paper, the measurements were conducted using an Acoustic doppler velocimeter (ADV) to study velocities in three dimensions (longitudinal, transversal, and vertical). Based on the experimental data, we have observed reversed depth-averaged velocity vector after each pier in the group of three-pier. The analysis has been conducted on the contribution of each bursting event to Reynolds shear stress (RSS) generation, in order to identify the critical events and turbulence structures around the piers. In the upstream near-wake flow in the bed-wall layer, strong sweep and ejection events have been observed; while at downstream, sweeps were more dominant. The pattern of burst changed in the outer layer of flow, where ejections were more dominant. Furthermore, the contribution fractional ratio to RSS variation at hole size H = 0 indicates that sweeps and ejections were significantly generated at the near wake-flow in upstream

Emotional Biases and Recurrence in Major Depressive Disorder. Results of 2.5 Years Follow-Up of Drug-Free Cohort Vulnerable for Recurrence

An interesting factor explaining recurrence risk in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) may be neuropsychological functioning, i.e., processing of emotional stimuli/information. Negatively biased processing of emotional stimuli/information has been found in both acute and (inconclusively) remitted states of MDD, and may be causally related to recurrence of depression. We aimed to investigate self-referent, memory and interpretation biases in recurrently depressed patients in remission and relate these biases to recurrence. We included 69 remitted recurrent MDD-patients (rrMDD-patients), 35–65 years, with ≥2 episodes, voluntarily free of antidepressant maintenance therapy for at least 4 weeks. We tested self-referent biases with an emotional categorization task, bias in emotional memory by free recall of the emotion categorization task 15 min after completing it, and interpretation bias with a facial expression recognition task. We compared these participants with 43 never-depressed controls matched for age, sex and intelligence. We followed the rrMDD-patients for 2.5 years and assessed recurrent depressive episodes by structured interview. The rrMDD-patients showed biases toward emotionally negative stimuli, faster responses to negative self-relevant characteristics in the emotional categorization, better recognition of sad faces, worse recognition of neutral faces with more misclassifications as angry or disgusting faces and less misclassifications as neutral faces (0.001 < p < 0.05). Of these, the number of misclassifications as angry and the overall performance in the emotional memory task were significantly associated with the time to recurrence (p ≤ 0.04), independent of residual symptoms and number of previous episodes. In a support vector machine data-driven model, prediction of recurrence-status could best be achieved (relative to observed recurrence-rate) with demographic and childhood adversity parameters (accuracy 78.1%; 1-sided p = 0.002); neuropsychological tests could not improve this prediction. Our data suggests a persisting (mood-incongruent) emotional bias when patients with recurrent depression are in remission. Moreover, these persisting biases might be mechanistically important for recurrence and prevention thereof

The COVID-19 intelligence failure: Why warning was not enough by Erik J Dahl

For decades, public health experts and journalists worldwide warned about a viral pandemic capable of causing illness and loss of life. Previous outbreaks of SARS, Ebola, and MERS highlighted this threat, which occupied top positions in risk assessments globally. Yet even with knowledge and precedent, the COVID-19 pandemic caught the world off guard. It revealed a world inadequately prepared and plunged societies into a state of disruption, with over 7 million deaths reported to the World Health Organization by April 2024. How did this tragedy foretold take the world by such surprise? In The COVID-19 Intelligence Failure: Why Warning Was Not Enough, Erik J. Dahl explores this question from the vantage point of the United States.In his book, Dahl, who is highly regarded for his expertise on intelligence failures, analyzes past and present intelligence efforts to underline the shortcomings and successes of the U.S. intelligence community's anticipation of the pandemic, comparing the anticipation and response to COVID-19 with historical failed warnings, such as those preceding 9/11 and Pearl Harbor.NWOVI.Veni.221R.093Security and Global Affair

Crisis and change in European Union foreign policy: a framework of EU foreign policy change

How do crises produce changes in specific European Union foreign policy areas, and how should we conceptualise these policy changes?This book provides a novel analytical framework that serves to investigate the way in which the EU changes its foreign policy after crisis. Ikani adapts the existing theorising of foreign policy change to a single framework applicable to the EU context, providing readers with a toolbox to both explain the process of change and measure the policy change that follows. The framework is developed through an investigation of two important EU foreign policy change episodes, taking place after the Arab uprisings and the Ukraine conflict, and test- driven in three recent cases of EU foreign policy change after crisis.Security and Global Affair

European foreign policy in times of crisis: a political development lens

Institutions, Decisions and Collective Behaviou

Spatio-temporal associations with memory cues are linked to analogue traumatic intrusions

Trauma survivors with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) frequently experience intrusive trauma memories associated with a feeling of "nowness". Information-processing models of PTSD ascribe these symptoms to an insufficient integration of memories with their spatio-temporal context in the past, turning them into powerful stressors. Here, we tested the idea that automatic associations of trauma reminders with the present or the past predict intrusive memories. We instructed 96 healthy participants to view two different traumatic films. Participants then underwent a computerized training that established implicit contingencies between film reminder pictures with the verbal responses "now" or "past" to increase and reduce intrusions, respectively. The training successfully altered implicit spatio-temporal associations for film reminder stimuli on a subsequent Implicit Association Test (IAT). There were no additional transfer effects for tense usage during a free recall task after one week and for the development of intrusion symptoms (one-week diary, retrospective questionnaire). However, participants who associated one film more strongly with the present and the other with the past consistently reported relatively more intrusive memories related to the former film. Thus, our results lend support to information processing models of PTSD and warrant further investigation of the causal role of implicit associations with spatio-temporal information

Changing metacognitive appraisal bias in high-worriers through reappraisal training

Background and Objectives: Worry-related negative metacognitive beliefs about worrying maintain and predict pathological worry. For the current proof-of-principle study, we developed a computerized cognitive bias modification based-reappraisal training (RT), to modify the appraisal of negative metacognitive beliefs in a high-worrying sample. A functional and dysfunctional RT were pitted against each other to investigate whether appraisals of one’s thinking and coping changed following training. Moreover, training effects on the number of negative thoughts and interpretations of the worry content were examined. Methods: Participants (N = 81) were trained to adopt a functional (disconfirmation of negative metacognitive beliefs) or dysfunctional (confirmation of negative metacognitive beliefs) appraisal style using a series of vignettes that had to be completed in line with the intended training direction. Changes in negative thoughts from pre- to post-RT were assessed with a behavioral state worry task, and transfer to interpretations with an open-ended stem sentence task. Results: Findings support the use of the RT to alter a metacognitive appraisal bias, as participants receiving the functional RT reported fewer negative appraisals of one’s thinking and coping than participants in the dysfunctional RT group. Number of negative thoughts and interpretations were not directly affected by training. Limitations: This study employed an analog sample and future research should replicate findings in a clinical sample for which negative metacognitions are more relevant. Conclusions: These findings highlight the potential of metacognitive RT for future translational studies with (clinical) samples characterized by repetitive negative thinking and/or negative metacognitive beliefs

Analytical modelling and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) to evaluate influence of corrosion product on solution resistance

YesElectrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is a technique used to evaluate the electrochemical behavior of metallic materials in different environments. In this study, a mathematical model has been developed to analyse the relationship between solution resistance and concentration conductive-corrosion products (Fe2O3) of metallic corroded materials. This model has been designed as a part of an experimental series to use EIS as a tool for mapping the spatial distribution of corrosion by-product from bridge, in order to evaluate the impact of conductive-corrosion on the properties of the solution. The influence of Fe2O3 on the solution resistance at varying concentrations, has been modelled. Repetitive electrochemical tests were conducted to investigate the relationship between the impedance and concentration in three different concentrations of corrosion by-product. Nyquist and Bode's graphs have been used to quantitatively analyse the EIS data. The implementation of the proposed mathematical model can quantify the solution resistace based on the mass of presented particles, and provide significant efficiency and methodological advancement over EIS technique. The experimental outcomes show a clear link between solution resistance and iron oxide concentration within the solution which is consistent with the model's finding