Biologically Significant Illinois Streams: An Evaluation of the Streams of Illinois based on Aquatic Biodiversity: Part 1

Part 1: Text. See Reference ID-1365 for Part 2: AtlasReport issued on: December 31, 1991INHS Technical Report prepared for Illinois Dept. of Conservation, Illinois Dept. of Energy and Natural Resource

Biological Assessments of Six Selected Fishes, Amphibians, and Mussels in Illinois

ID: 8758; issued November 1, 1996INHS Technical Report prepared for Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Heritag

Composing and realising a game-like performance for disklavier and electronics

“Climb!” is a musical composition that combines the ideas of a classical virtuoso piece and a computer game. We present a case study of the composition process and realization of “Climb!”, written for Disklavier and a digital interactive engine, which was co-developed together with the musical score. Specifically, the engine combines a system for recognising and responding to musical trigger phrases along with a dynamic digital score renderer. This tool chain allows for the composer’s original scoring to include notational elements such as trigger phrases to be automatically extracted to auto-configure the engine for live performance. We reflect holistically on the development process to date and highlight the emerging challenges and opportunities. For example, this includes the potential for further developing the workflow around the scoring process and the ways in which support for musical triggers has shaped the compositional approach

Designing the audience journey through repeated experiences

We report on the design, premiere and public evaluation of a multifaceted audience interface for a complex non-linear musical performance called Climb! which is particularly suited to being experienced more than once. This interface is designed to enable audiences to understand and appreciate the work, and integrates a physical instrument and staging, projected visuals, personal devices and an online archive. A public premiere concert comprising two performances of Climb! revealed how the audience reoriented to the second performance through growing understanding and comparison to the first. Using trajectories as an analytical framework for the audience ‘journey’ made apparent: how the trajectories of a single performance are embedded within the larger trajectories of a concert and the creative work as a whole; the distinctive demands of understanding and interpretation; and the potential of the archive in enabling appreciation across repeated performances

Acute taurine supplementation enhances thermoregulation and endurance cycling performance in the heat

This study investigated the effects of oral taurine supplementation on cycling time to exhaustion at a fixed-intensity and thermoregulation in the heat. In a double-blind, randomised crossover design, 11 healthy males participated in a time to exhaustion test in the heat (35°C, 40% RH), cycling at the power output associated with ventilatory threshold, 2 h after ingesting: Taurine (50 mg kg-1) or placebo (3 mg kg-1 maltodextrin). Core and mean skin temperature, mean sweat rate, heart rate, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), thermal comfort and thermal sensation were measured during exercise and blood lactate concentration (B[La]) was measured after exercise. Taurine supplementation increased time to exhaustion by 10% (25.16 min vs. 22.43 min, p = 0.040), end sweat rate by 12.7% (687 nL min-1 vs. 600 nL min-1, p = 0.034) and decreased B[La] by 16.5% (5.75 mmol L-1 vs. 6.85 mmol L-1, p = 0.033). Core temperature was lower in the final 10% of the time to exhaustion (38.5°C vs. 38.1°C, p = 0.049). Taurine supplementation increased time to exhaustion and local sweating, while decreasing RPE and core temperature in the later stages of exercise, as well as reducing post-exercise B[La]. This study provides the evidence of taurine's role in thermoregulatory processes. These findings have implications for the short-term preparation strategies of individuals exercising in the heat. Based on these findings, a single dose of taurine 2 h prior to training or competition would provide an ergogenic and thermoregulatory effect

Additives for Ambient 3D Printing with Visible Light

With 3D printing we desire to be “limited only by our imagination”, and although remarkable advancements have been made in recent years the scope of printable materials remains narrow compared to other forms of manufacturing. Light-driven polymerization methods for 3D printing are particularly attractive due to unparalleled speed and resolution, yet the reliance on high energy UV/violet light in contemporary processes limits the number of compatible materials due to pervasive absorption, scattering, and degradation at these short wavelengths. Such issues can be addressed with visible light photopolymerizations. However, these lower-energy methods often suffer from slow reaction times and sensitivity to oxygen, precluding their utility in 3D printing processes that require rapid hardening (curing) to maximize build speed and resolution. Herein, multifunctional thiols are identified as simple additives to enable rapid high resolution visible light 3D printing under ambient (atmospheric O2) conditions that rival modern UV/violet-based technology. The present process is universal, providing access to commercially relevant acrylic resins with a range of disparate mechanical responses from strong and stiff to soft and extensible. Pushing forward, the insight presented within this study will inform the development of next generation 3D printing materials, such as multicomponent hydrogels and composites.We thank the Robert A. Welch Foundation (F-2007) and the Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials: an NSF MRSEC (DMR-1720595) for financial support. The authors acknowledge the use of shared research facilities supported in part by the Texas Materials Institute, the Center for Dynamics and Control of Materials: an NSF MRSEC (DMR-1720595), and the NSF National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (ECCS-1542159).Center for Dynamics and Control of Material

Optical modeling and polarization calibration for CMB measurements with ACTPol and Advanced ACTPol

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarimeter (ACTPol) is a polarization sensitive upgrade to the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. Located at an elevation of 5190 m, ACTPol measures the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature and polarization with arcminute-scale angular resolution. Calibration of the detector angles is a critical step in producing maps of the CMB polarization. Polarization angle offsets in the detector calibration can cause leakage in polarization from E to B modes and induce a spurious signal in the EB and TB cross correlations, which eliminates our ability to measure potential cosmological sources of EB and TB signals, such as cosmic birefringence. We present our optical modeling and measurements associated with calibrating the detector angles in ACTPol.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, conference proceedings submitted to Proceedings of SPIE; added reference in section 2 and merged repeated referenc

Mechanical design and development of TES bolometer detector arrays for the Advanced ACTPol experiment

The next generation Advanced ACTPol (AdvACT) experiment is currently underway and will consist of four Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometer arrays, with three operating together, totaling ~5800 detectors on the sky. Building on experience gained with the ACTPol detector arrays, AdvACT will utilize various new technologies, including 150mm detector wafers equipped with multichroic pixels, allowing for a more densely packed focal plane. Each set of detectors includes a feedhorn array of stacked silicon wafers which form a spline profile leading to each pixel. This is then followed by a waveguide interface plate, detector wafer, back short cavity plate, and backshort cap. Each array is housed in a custom designed structure manufactured from high purity copper and then gold plated. In addition to the detector array assembly, the array package also encloses cryogenic readout electronics. We present the full mechanical design of the AdvACT high frequency (HF) detector array package along with a detailed look at the detector array stack assemblies. This experiment will also make use of extensive hardware and software previously developed for ACT, which will be modified to incorporate the new AdvACT instruments. Therefore, we discuss the integration of all AdvACT arrays with pre-existing ACTPol infrastructure.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation conference proceeding