Community Benefits and Lessons for Local Engagement in a California Open Streets Event: A Mixed-Methods Assessment of Viva CalleSJ 2018

This report presents the findings from an evaluation of the September 2018 Viva CalleSJ open streets event in San José,CA. The research was designed to assess the success of the event, guide planning for future open streets events, and inform potential funders and community partners about the benefits of such events. To gather the impressions of participants, local residents, and workers at businesses along the event route, the mixed-methods study analyzed results from a survey of 1,571participants, 114 interviews with community members and businesses, and participant observations. Researchers also examined social media presence and a related augmented reality gaming component. The study found that Viva CalleSJ 2018 participants were resoundingly positive about their experience. Many said that the event brought people together from across the city and inspired a sense of community and civic pride, and the majority of participants benefited from at least one hour of physical activity. Most local businesses and residents viewed the event positively as well, and many food and beverage outlets appeared to benefit from increased patronage during the event. However, some shop keepers along the event route and residents in surrounding neighborhoods were not aware of Viva CalleSJ in the weeks prior to it happening or did not have a clear understanding of how it might impact them. Some were wary of the road closures and in some cases were ultimately frustrated by what they perceived to be negative impacts on their businesses

Hydrodynamic skin-friction reduction

A process for reducing skin friction, inhibiting the effects of liquid turbulence, and decreasing heat transfer in a system involving flow of a liquid along a surface of a body includes applying a substantially integral sheet of a gas, e.g., air, immediately adjacent to the surface of the body; a marine vehicle, which has a longitudinally grooved surface in proximity with the liquid and with a surface material having high contact angle between the liquid and said wall to reduce interaction of the liquid; water, with the surface of the body; and the hull of the marine vehicle

Hydrodynamic skin-friction reduction

A process for reducing skin friction, inhibiting the effects of liquid turbulence, and decreasing heat transfer in a system involving flow of a liquid along a surface of a body includes applying a substantially integral sheet of a gas, e.g., air, immediately adjacent to the surface of the body, e.g., a marine vehicle, which has a longitudinally grooved surface in proximity with the liquid and with a surface material having high contact angle between the liquid and said wall to reduce interaction of the liquid, e.g., water, with the surface of the body, e.g., the hull of the marine vehicle

Superoperator Analysis of Entanglement in a Four-Qubit Cluster State

In this paper we utilize superoperator formalism to explore the entanglement evolution of four-qubit cluster states in a number of decohering environments. A four-qubit cluster state is a resource for the performance of an arbitrary single logical qubit rotation via measurement based cluster state quantum computation. We are specifically interested in the relationship between entanglement evolution and the fidelity with which the arbitrary single logical qubit rotation can be implemented in the presence of decoherence as this will have important experimental ramifications. We also note the exhibition of entanglement sudden death (ESD) and ask how severely its onset affects the utilization of the cluster state as a means of implementing an arbitrary single logical qubit rotation.Comment: 9 pages, 9 composite figures, presentation of results completely rewritte

Public Safety and Online Privacy—Myth Versus Reality

Public Safety and Online Privacy—Myth Versus Realit

Public Safety and Online Privacy—Myth Versus Reality

Public Safety and Online Privacy—Myth Versus Realit

Slowing and cooling molecules and neutral atoms by time-varying electric field gradients

A method of slowing, accelerating, cooling, and bunching molecules and neutral atoms using time-varying electric field gradients is demonstrated with cesium atoms in a fountain. The effects are measured and found to be in agreement with calculation. Time-varying electric field gradient slowing and cooling is applicable to atoms that have large dipole polarizabilities, including atoms that are not amenable to laser slowing and cooling, to Rydberg atoms, and to molecules, especially polar molecules with large electric dipole moments. The possible applications of this method include slowing and cooling thermal beams of atoms and molecules, launching cold atoms from a trap into a fountain, and measuring atomic dipole polarizabilities.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures. Scheduled for publication in Nov. 1 Phys. Rev.

Assessment of Fractionated Exhaled Nitric Oxide as a Biomarker for the Treatment of Eosinophilic Esophagitis

Diagnosis of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and determination of response to therapy is based on histological assessment of the esophagus, which requires upper endoscopy. In children, in whom a dietary approach is commonly used, multiple endoscopies are needed, because foods are eliminated and then gradually reintroduced. Ideally, noninvasive methods could supplement or replace upper endoscopy to facilitate management. Fractionated exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) has been proposed as a useful measure for monitoring disease activity in studies of patients with eosinophil-predominant asthma and in other atopic disorders. Thus, we evaluated whether FeNO levels could be a useful biomarker to assess the response to therapy in EoE patients. This study was designed to determine whether there is a change in FeNO levels during treatment with topical corticosteroids and whether changes correlated with clinical response. This was a prospective, multicenter study that enrolled nonasthmatic patients with established EoE. FeNO levels and symptom scores were measured at baseline, biweekly during 6-week swallowed fluticasone treatment, and 4 weeks posttreatment. Twelve patients completed the trial. We found a statistically significant difference between median pre- and posttreatment FeNO levels [20.3 ppb (16.0–29.0 ppb) vs 17.6 ppb (11.7–27.3 ppb), p=0.009]. However, neither the pretreatment FeNO level, a change of FeNO level after 2 weeks of treatment, nor the FeNO level at the end of treatment confidently predicted a clinical or histological response. Although our findings suggest nitric oxide possibly has a physiological role in EoE, our observations do not support a role of FeNo determination for management of EoE

Ground Motion Study on Dumbarton Toll Bridge

The existing Dumbarton Toll Bridge was built in 1982, connecting the cities of Newark and East Palo Alto in the San Francisco Bay Area. The initial vulnerability studies conducted by California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) in 2004 indicated that the performance of the bridge during a maximum credible earthquake was uncertain. Earth Mechanics, Inc. (EMI) has carried out the necessary study for the seismic evaluation of the bridge. An extensive field investigation was undertaken both on-land and over-water at the site to develop the idealized subsurface profile along the bridge alignment. According to the probabilistic and deterministic seismic hazard analyses incorporated with new seismic source model and Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) models, a 1,000-year return period spectrum was adopted for the Safety Evaluation Earthquake (SEE) event and a 100-year return period spectrum for the Function Evaluation Earthquake (FEE) event. SHAKE and KIPS programs were used to conduct the seismic response analysis and kinematic soil-pile interaction analysis were carried out at selected piers. From this study, two sets of Acceleration Response Spectrum (ARS) curves were generated for the seismic retrofit of this bridge: one for the Main Channel piers and another for the West and East Approach structures. Other seismic retrofit-related issues are also addressed