Statistics Of Particle Diffusion Subject To Oscillatory Flow In A Porous Bed

Enhanced diffusion of a suspended particle in a porous medium has been observed when an oscillatory forcing has been imposed. The mechanism of enhancement, termed oscillatory diffusion, occurs when oscillating particles occasionally become temporarily trapped in the pore spaces of the porous medium, and are then later released back into the oscillatory flow. This thesis investigates the oscillatory diffusion process experimentally, stochastically, and analytically. An experimental apparatus, consisting of a packed bed of spheres subjected to an oscillatory flow field, was used to study the dynamics of a single particle. A variety of statistical measures were used and developed to characterize the diffusive process. A stochastic model was developed and showed great agreement with the experimental results. The experimentally validated stochastic model was then compared to an analytic prediction for diffusion coefficient from the continuous-time random walk (CTRW) theory for a range of physical and numerical parameter values. Good agreement between the stochastic model and CTRW theory was observed for certain ranges of parameter values, while differences of predictions are discussed and explained in terms of the assumptions used in each model. Results of the paper are relevant to applications such as nanoparticle penetration into biofilms, drug capsule penetration into human tissue, and microplastic transport within saturated soil

Effects of environmental colour on mood: a wearable life colour capture device

Colour is everywhere in our daily lives and impacts things like our mood, yet we rarely take notice of it. One method of capturing and analysing the predominant colours that we encounter is through visual lifelogging devices such as the SenseCam. However an issue related to these devices is the privacy concerns of capturing image level detail. Therefore in this work we demonstrate a hardware prototype wearable camera that captures only one pixel - of the dominant colour prevelant in front of the user, thus circumnavigating the privacy concerns raised in relation to lifelogging. To simulate whether the capture of dominant colour would be sufficient we report on a simulation carried out on 1.2 million SenseCam images captured by a group of 20 individuals. We compare the dominant colours that different groups of people are exposed to and show that useful inferences can be made from this data. We believe our prototype may be valuable in future experiments to capture colour correlated associated with an individual's mood

Neuropsychological and psychiatric functioning in sheep farmers exposed to low levels of organophosphate pesticides

The study aim was to determine whether low level exposure to organophosphate pesticides (OPs) causes neuropsychological or psychiatric impairment. Methodological weaknesses of earlier studies were addressed by: recruiting participants who had retired on ill health grounds; excluding participants with a history of acute poisoning, medical or psychiatric conditions that might account for ill health; and exploring factors which may render some individuals more vulnerable to the effects of OPs than others. Performance on tests of cognition and mood of 127 exposed sheep farmers (67 working, 60 retired) was compared with 78 unexposed controls (38 working, 40 retired) and published test norms derived from a cross section of several thousand adults in the general population. Over 40% of the exposed cohort reported clinically significant levels of anxiety and depression compared to less than 23% of controls. Exposed subjects performed significantly worse than controls and standardisation samples on tests of memory, response speed, fine motor control, mental flexibility and strategy making, even after controlling for the effects of mood. The pattern was similar for both working and retired groups. The cognitive deficits identified cannot be attributed to mood disorder, malingering, a history of acute exposure or genetic vulnerability in terms of PON1(192) polymorphisms. Results suggest a relationship may exist between low level exposure to organophosphates and impaired neurobehavioural functioning and these findings have implications for working practice and for other occupational groups exposed to OPs such as aviation workers and Gulf War veterans

Alternatives to Pretrial Detention:Pre Global Best Practice Catalog

This Global Best Practice Catalog of Alternatives to Pretrial Detention was completed by students of the Master of Arts Degree Program in International Crime and Justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice as part of their capstone course, in collaboration with the US State Department\u27s Diplomacy Lab program. This catalog is intended to cover best practices in reducing pretrial detention (either before it occurs or while it is occurring) across the globe, including laws, policies and programs. It does not include Oceania or very detailed information on North America. Each entry meets 5 of 8 criteria below, as decided by the students: 1. It respects human rights 2. It is affordable for the country\u27s budget 3. It is available to the majority of accused 4. It is definable: we know how the best practice works in context 5. It ensures public safety: no further crime or victimization occurs upon release from detention 6. It is verifiable: more than one source attests to it (it is not a recommendation - it really exists) 7. It is sustainable - it really works and it can self-subsist 8. It should not result in profits for private entities, beyond reasonable salaries Each entry includes: Title of the Practice Listing of the class best practice criteria that it meets (5 out of 8) Paragraph description of the practice, to include -how long it’s been in practice -what the main components of the best practice are -scope: local or national -who it affects -costs if available (how it’s funded) -who’s in charge of it (e.g. NGO/organizational structure) -any independent evaluations? -results -whether it has been exported elsewhere (used in another country) Links Bibliography Associated files are a series of case studies where student teams apply global best practice to selected countries. (El Salvador, Uruguay, Bangladesh, Ghana, Liberia and Macedonia.

Cislunar Explorers: Lessons Learned from the Development of an Interplanetary CubeSat

The Cislunar Explorers mission is a pair of ~3U nanosatellites (named Hydrogen and Oxygen) launching as a single 6U CubeSat as part of NASA’s Artemis-1 mission on the Space Launch System (SLS). The two spacecraft will demonstrate technologies increasing the reach, flexibility, and cost-effectiveness of interplanetary smallsats. These innovations include water electrolysis propulsion, multi-body optical navigation, passive spin-stabilization, and the operation of femtosatellites beyond low earth orbit. Cislunar Explorers also serves as a pathfinder for demonstrating the utility and versatility of water for future In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) on space missions. Critical subsystems complement each other to reduce the cost and complexity. Water not only serves as the propellant for the propulsion system, but also as a radiation shield, electronics heat sink, and nutation damper. Each spacecraft’s spin provides attitude stabilization, separates electrolyzed gas from the water in the propulsion tank, simplifies the active attitude control system, and enables the optical navigation system to cover a panoramic view around the spacecraft. The unique elements of the mission spacecraft’s design provided advantages to traditional CubeSat architectures but also produced unexpected development challenges. By leveraging the lessons learned from the development of the Cislunar Explorers mission, future interplanetary missions can utilize its technology to reduce cost, risk, and complexity