Thermal Conductance Measurement and Flexibility Enhancement of Flexible Thermal Links

Introduction • Flexible thermal links provide a thermally conductive path with low mechanical stiffness • Scope of this work is to characterize – Uncertainty in thermal conductance measurements – Compliance improvements gained by slitting foil

Environmental Attitudes and Perceptions: A Comparison of Peru and the United States

This project is a cross-cultural study comparing global and local perspectives by inhabitants of Peru and the United States regarding the natural environment. Using a 5- point Likert-scale survey, we assessed the environmental attitudes Peruvians and U.S. participants have regarding their self in nature, use of nature, local responsibility toward nantre, and global resolutions to environmental issues. Additionally, we assessed how individuals of one country perceive the environmental conciousness of the other country as well as how they believe the other country perceives them. Results showed Peruvians being concurrently ecocentric and anthropocentric regarding environmental perceptions, while U.S. participants were generally more anthropocentric and indi fferent than ecocentric. Information obtained from this study furthers the global understanding of how culture, and to a lesser extent geography, influence individuals\u27 perceptions of the environment

White wash death watch (2015) [screening]

Jane Topping's film White Wash Death Watch (2015, 10 min) is screened as part of Scottish Competition 3: I'm Deranged at the Glasgow Short Film Festival 2016. White Wash Death Watch removes everything but shots of Glasgow, Scotland and Romy Schneider from Death Watch, reducing the film’s original duration from 117 minutes to less than ten. A snowy scene mimics and obscures the tenements, towers and gravestones of Glasgow as we watch Katherine/Romy attempt to escape the city and the camera lens for the imagined seclusion of the coast and the sea. White Wash Death Watch is an homage to a woman and a city

Decades of Delay: EPA Leadership Still Lacking in Protecting America's Great River

This report demonstrates the continuing failure of EPA's voluntary approach and the continuing and growing threats of unregulated nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. EPA has the power and the duty to act to require reasonable, common-sense regulations to address the growing scourge of nutrient pollution, and it should do so. Once again, MRC calls upon EPA to remedy this state of affairs, specifically recommending that EPA:Develop numeric phosphorus criteria for each of the eight states that have yet to adopt them, and numeric nitrogen criteria for all 10 states.Require states to assess their waters for nitrogen and phosphorus pollution and to prioritize TMDL development and implementation planning accordingly.Increase oversight of the state NPDES programs to ensure that both narrative and numeric nutrient criteria are implemented through limits in permits, including the use of Water Quality Based Effluent Limits (WQBELs) where appropriate.Disapprove TMDLs that lacking reasonable assurance that nonpoint source reductions are likely to occur and lack monitoring and timelines to ensure that planned reductions actually take place. Further, EPA needs to provide oversight to ensure consistency among EPA Regions in TMDL review and approval (especially in Regions 4 and 6.)Ensure that states' Nutrient Reduction Strategies contain implementation plans detailing point and nonpoint source reductions needed, responsible parties, funding mechanisms, milestones, measurement metrics, and reasonable timelines.Require states under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act to identify programs and practices for controlling nonpoint sources of pollution to the maximum extent possible

The EU Settled Status (Wales) data linkage project: Initial findings relating to health and education

Objectives Funded by ADR UK (ESRC) from 2020 to 2023, the project aims to anonymously link European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) data with other data already held within the SAIL Databank, based at Swansea University, and produce a research-ready dataset that can be used by researchers to obtain policy-relevant findings. Method Using a range of de-identified data in the SAIL Databank, a control group of British citizens in Wales has been matched with EU citizens with similar characteristics using the Census 2011 as a spine to identify country of birth. The SQL coding programme is used to link Census data with several other datasets in the SAIL Databank relating to health, with a focus on mental health, education and employment. The R software package is used for statistical analysis to produce comparisons between the groups and performing significance tests of these comparisons (e.g. Mann Whitney). Results Initial findings indicate small but statistically significant differences in school attendance between British pupils in Wales and pupils from EU14 and EU8 countries and similar differences in school attainment between British pupils in Wales and pupils from EU14 and EU8 countries. Further analysis has been conducted to explore differences between pupils from EU14 and EU8 countries. Census data are also linked to GP attendance data to explore differences in mental health related consultations and referrals for British citizens in Wales and citizens from EU countries and differences between citizens from EU14 and EU8 countries. Detailed findings from this linking of datasets and analysis will be presented. Conclusion Linking data in this way helps to gain a better understanding of the experiences and outcomes of EU citizens in Wales, generating better evidence to help inform policies and services that address the needs of this population and offers a dataset of great interest to academics

EpiGraphDB: a database and data mining platform for health data science

Motivation: The wealth of data resources on human phenotypes, risk factors, molecular traits and therapeutic interventions presents new opportunities for population health sciences. These opportunities are paralleled by a growing need for data integration, curation and mining to increase research efficiency, reduce mis-inference and ensure reproducible research. Results: We developed EpiGraphDB (https://epigraphdb.org/), a graph database containing an array of different biomedical and epidemiological relationships and an analytical platform to support their use in human population health data science. In addition, we present three case studies that illustrate the value of this platform. The first uses EpiGraphDB to evaluate potential pleiotropic relationships, addressing mis-inference in systematic causal analysis. In the second case study, we illustrate how protein-protein interaction data offer opportunities to identify new drug targets. The final case study integrates causal inference using Mendelian randomization with relationships mined from the biomedical literature to 'triangulate' evidence from different sources

A Volumetric Method for Quantifying Atherosclerosis in Mice by Using MicroCT: Comparison to En Face

Precise quantification of atherosclerotic plaque in preclinical models of atherosclerosis requires the volumetric assessment of the lesion(s) while maintaining in situ architecture. Here we use micro-computed tomography (microCT) to detect ex vivo aortic plaque established in three dyslipidemic mouse models of atherosclerosis. All three models lack the low-density lipoprotein receptor (Ldlr−/−), each differing in plaque severity, allowing the evaluation of different plaque volumes using microCT technology. From clearly identified lesions in the thoracic aorta from each model, we were able to determine plaque volume (0.04–3.1 mm3), intimal surface area (0.5–30 mm2), and maximum plaque (intimal-medial) thickness (0.1–0.7 mm). Further, quantification of aortic volume allowed calculation of vessel occlusion by the plaque. To validate microCT for future preclinical studies, we compared microCT data to intimal surface area (by using en face methodology). Both plaque surface area and plaque volume were in excellent correlation between microCT assessment and en face surface area (r2 = 0.99, p<0.0001 and r2 = 0.95, p<0.0001, respectively). MicroCT also identified internal characteristics of the lipid core and fibrous cap, which were confirmed pathologically as Stary type III-V lesions. These data validate the use of microCT technology to provide a more exact empirical measure of ex vivo plaque volume throughout the entire intact aorta in situ for the quantification of atherosclerosis in preclinical models

Effects of Laser Peening, and Shot Peening, on Friction Stir Welding

A viewgraph presentation describing the effects of laser peening and shot peening on friction stir welding is shown. The topics include: 1) Background; 2) Friction Stir Welding (FSW); 3) Microstructure; 4) Laser & Shot Peening; 5) Residual Stresses; 6) Tensile Behavior; 7) Fatigue Life & Surface Roughness; 8) Crack Growth; and 9) Benefits

Sled-push load-velocity profiling and implications for sprint training prescription in young athletes

Resisted sled pushing is a popular method of sprint-specific training; however, little evidence exists to support the prescription of resistive loads in young athletes. The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability and linearity of the force-velocity relationship during sled pushing, as well as the amount of between-athlete variation in the load required to cause a decrement in maximal velocity (Vdec) of 25, 50 and 75%. Ninety (n=90) high school, male athletes (age 16.9 ± 0.9 years) were recruited for the study. All participants performed one un-resisted and three sled-push sprints with increasing resistance. Maximal velocity was measured with a radar gun during each sprint and the load-velocity relationship established for each participant. A subset of 16 participants examined the reliability of sled pushing on three separate occasions. For all individual participants, the load-velocity relationship was highly linear (r > 0.96). The slope of the load-velocity relationship was found to be reliable (CV = 3.1%), with the loads that cause a decrement in velocity of 25, 50 and 75% also found to be reliable (CVs = <5%). However, there was large between-participant variation (95%CI) in the load that caused a given Vdec, with loads of 23-42% body mass (%BM) causing a Vdec of 25%, 45-85%BM causing a Vdec of 50% and 69-131%BM causing a Vdec of 75%. The Vdec method can be reliably used to prescribe sled-push loads in young athletes, but practitioners should be aware that the load required to cause a given Vdec is highly individualized