6,304 research outputs found
Grid-enabled Workflows for Industrial Product Design
This paper presents a generic approach for developing and using Grid-based workflow technology for enabling cross-organizational engineering applications. Using industrial product design examples from the automotive and aerospace industries we highlight the main requirements and challenges addressed by our approach and describe how it can be used for enabling interoperability between heterogeneous workflow engines
Aerodynamic design for improved manueverability by use of three-dimensional transonic theory
Improvements in transonic maneuver performance by the use of three-dimensional transonic theory and a transonic design procedure were examined. The FLO-27 code of Jameson and Caughey was used to design a new wing for a fighter configuration with lower drag at transonic maneuver conditions. The wing airfoil sections were altered to reduce the upper-surface shock strength by means of a design procedure which is based on the iterative application of the FLO-27 code. The plan form of the fighter configuration was fixed and had a leading edge sweep of 45 deg and an aspect ratio of 3.28. Wind-tunnel tests were conducted on this configuration at Mach numbers from 0.60 to 0.95 and angles of attack from -2 deg to 17 deg. The transonic maneuver performance of this configuration was evaluated by comparison with a wing designed by empirical methods and a wing designed primarily by two-dimensional transonic theory. The configuration designed by the use of FLO-27 had the same or lower drag than the empirical wing and, for some conditions, lower drag than the two-dimensional design. From some maneuver conditions, the drag of the two-dimensional design was somewhat lower
Asymmetric Gaussian steering: when Alice and Bob disagree
Asymmetric steering is an effect whereby an inseparable bipartite system can
be found to be described by either quantum mechanics or local hidden variable
theories depending on which one of Alice or Bob makes the required
measurements. We show that, even with an inseparable bipartite system,
situations can arise where Gaussian measurements on one half are not sufficient
to answer the fundamental question of which theory gives an adequate
description and the whole system must be considered. This phenomenon is
possible because of an asymmetry in the definition of the original
Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox and in this article we show theoretically that
it may be demonstrated, at least in the case where Alice and Bob can only make
Gaussian measurements, using the intracavity nonlinear coupler.Comment: 5 Pages, 4 Figure
A biophysical model of prokaryotic diversity in geothermal hot springs
Recent field investigations of photosynthetic bacteria living in geothermal
hot spring environments have revealed surprisingly complex ecosystems, with an
unexpected level of genetic diversity. One case of particular interest involves
the distribution along hot spring thermal gradients of genetically distinct
bacterial strains that differ in their preferred temperatures for reproduction
and photosynthesis. In such systems, a single variable, temperature, defines
the relevant environmental variation. In spite of this, each region along the
thermal gradient exhibits multiple strains of photosynthetic bacteria adapted
to several distinct thermal optima, rather than the expected single thermal
strain adapted to the local environmental temperature. Here we analyze
microbiology data from several ecological studies to show that the thermal
distribution field data exhibit several universal features independent of
location and specific bacterial strain. These include the distribution of
optimal temperatures of different thermal strains and the functional dependence
of the net population density on temperature. Further, we present a simple
population dynamics model of these systems that is highly constrained by
biophysical data and by physical features of the environment. This model can
explain in detail the observed diversity of different strains of the
photosynthetic bacteria. It also reproduces the observed thermal population
distributions, as well as certain features of population dynamics observed in
laboratory studies of the same organisms
Impact of introducing practical obstetric multi-professional training (PROMPT) into maternity units in Victoria, Australia
Objective: To assess the introduction of Practical Obstetric Multi-professional Training (PROMPT) into maternity units and evaluate effects on organisational culture and perinatal outcomes. Design: A retrospective cohort study. Setting: Maternity units in eight public hospitals in metropolitan and regional Victoria, Australia. Population: Staff in eight maternity units and a total of 43 408 babies born between July 2008 and December 2011. Methods: Representatives from eight Victorian hospitals underwent a single day of training (Train the Trainer), to conduct PROMPT. Organisational culture was compared before and after PROMPT. Clinical outcomes were evaluated before, during and after PROMPT. Main outcome measures: The number of courses run and the proportion of staff trained were determined. Organisational culture was measured using the Safety Attitude Questionnaire. Clinical measures included Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes (Apgar 1 and Apgar 5), cord lactate, blood loss and length of baby's stay in hospital. Results: Seven of the eight hospitals conducted PROMPT. Overall about 50% of staff were trained in each year of the study. Significant increases were found in Safety Attitude Questionnaire scores representing domains of teamwork (Hedges' g 0.27, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.13-0.41), safety (Hedges' g 0.28, 95% CI 0.15-0.42) and perception of management (Hedges' g 0.17, 95% CI 0.04-0.31). There were significant improvements in Apgar 1 (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.77-0.91), cord lactates (odds ratio 0.92, 95% CI 0.85-0.99) and average length of baby's stay in hospital (Hedges' g 0.03, 95% CI 0.01-0.05) during or after training, but no change in Apgar 5 scores or proportion of cases with high blood loss. Conclusion: PROMPT can be introduced using the Train the Trainer model. Improvements in organisational culture and some clinical measures were observed following PROMPT
Multi-frequency fine resolution imaging radar instrumentation and data acquisition
Development of a dual polarized L-band radar imaging system to be used in conjunction with the present dual polarized X-band radar is described. The technique used called for heterodyning the transmitted frequency from X-band to L-band and again heterodyning the received L-band signals back to X-band for amplification, detection, and recording
Near-wins and near-losses in gambling: a behavioral and facial EMG study.
This is thefinal published version. It originally appeared at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/psyp.12336/abstract.This study investigated responses to near-wins (i.e., nonwin outcomes that were close to a major win, and their counterpart, near-losses (nonwin outcomes that are proximal to a major loss) in a decision-making task, measuring (a) luck ratings, (b) adjustment of bet amount, and (c) facial muscle reactivity at zygomaticus and corrugator sites. Compared to full-misses, near-wins decreased self-perceived luck and near-losses increased self-perceived luck, consistent with the effects of upward versus downward counterfactual thinking, respectively. Wins and losses both increased zygomaticus reactivity, and losses selectively enhanced corrugator reactivity. Near-wins heightened zygomaticus activity, but did not affect corrugator activity, thus showing a similar response pattern to actual wins. There were no significant facial EMG effects of near-losses. We infer that near-wins engender some appetitive processing, despite their objective nonwin status.This work was completed within University of Cambridge Behavioural and Clinical
Neuroscience Institute (director: TW Robbins), supported by a consortium award from the
Medical Research Council (MRC) and Wellcome Trust. Y.W. was supported by a Chinese
Scholarship Council – Cambridge International Scholarship and the Treherne Studentship in
Biological Sciences from Downing College, Cambridge. The Centre for Gambling Research
at UBC is supported by an award from the British Columbia Lottery Corporation and the
British Columbia Government
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