Briefing:Concrete – Innovations and practical applications

Concrete is a highly adaptable material and capable of considerable variation, development and innovation, as can be seen from the pages of journals such as the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers–Construction Materials. This briefing paper describes the 43rd Convention of the Institute of Concrete Technology, which took place on 26 March 2015. The event provided an opportunity for practitioners and researchers to meet and communicate, and to showcase the variety and diversity of current innovations, developments and applications in concrete and cement technology, including carbon-negative aggregate, polycarboxylate ether superplasticisers, waste wood in concrete, steel fibres, calcium aluminate cements, superabsorbent polymers and sprayed concrete tunnel linings

Influenza Virus Aerosols in Human Exhaled Breath: Particle Size, Culturability, and Effect of Surgical Masks

The CDC recommends that healthcare settings provide influenza patients with facemasks as a means of reducing transmission to staff and other patients, and a recent report suggested that surgical masks can capture influenza virus in large droplet spray. However, there is minimal data on influenza virus aerosol shedding, the infectiousness of exhaled aerosols, and none on the impact of facemasks on viral aerosol shedding from patients with seasonal influenza. We collected samples of exhaled particles (one with and one without a facemask) in two size fractions (“coarse”>5 µm, “fine”≤5 µm) from 37 volunteers within 5 days of seasonal influenza onset, measured viral copy number using quantitative RT-PCR, and tested the fine-particle fraction for culturable virus. Fine particles contained 8.8 (95% CI 4.1 to 19) fold more viral copies than did coarse particles. Surgical masks reduced viral copy numbers in the fine fraction by 2.8 fold (95% CI 1.5 to 5.2) and in the coarse fraction by 25 fold (95% CI 3.5 to 180). Overall, masks produced a 3.4 fold (95% CI 1.8 to 6.3) reduction in viral aerosol shedding. Correlations between nasopharyngeal swab and the aerosol fraction copy numbers were weak (r = 0.17, coarse; r = 0.29, fine fraction). Copy numbers in exhaled breath declined rapidly with day after onset of illness. Two subjects with the highest copy numbers gave culture positive fine particle samples. Surgical masks worn by patients reduce aerosols shedding of virus. The abundance of viral copies in fine particle aerosols and evidence for their infectiousness suggests an important role in seasonal influenza transmission. Monitoring exhaled virus aerosols will be important for validation of experimental transmission studies in humans

The first super-Earth Detection from the High Cadence and High Radial Velocity Precision Dharma Planet Survey

The Dharma Planet Survey (DPS) aims to monitor about 150 nearby very bright FGKM dwarfs (within 50 pc) during 2016$-$2020 for low-mass planet detection and characterization using the TOU very high resolution optical spectrograph (R$\approx$100,000, 380-900nm). TOU was initially mounted to the 2-m Automatic Spectroscopic Telescope at Fairborn Observatory in 2013-2015 to conduct a pilot survey, then moved to the dedicated 50-inch automatic telescope on Mt. Lemmon in 2016 to launch the survey. Here we report the first planet detection from DPS, a super-Earth candidate orbiting a bright K dwarf star, HD 26965. It is the second brightest star ($V=4.4$ mag) on the sky with a super-Earth candidate. The planet candidate has a mass of 8.47$\pm0.47M_{\rm Earth}$, period of $42.38\pm0.01$ d, and eccentricity of $0.04^{+0.05}_{-0.03}$. This RV signal was independently detected by Diaz et al. (2018), but they could not confirm if the signal is from a planet or from stellar activity. The orbital period of the planet is close to the rotation period of the star (39$-$44.5 d) measured from stellar activity indicators. Our high precision photometric campaign and line bisector analysis of this star do not find any significant variations at the orbital period. Stellar RV jitters modeled from star spots and convection inhibition are also not strong enough to explain the RV signal detected. After further comparing RV data from the star's active magnetic phase and quiet magnetic phase, we conclude that the RV signal is due to planetary-reflex motion and not stellar activity.Comment: 13 pages, 17 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRA

Financing Direct Democracy: Revisiting the Research on Campaign Spending and Citizen Initiatives

The conventional view in the direct democracy literature is that spending against a measure is more effective than spending in favor of a measure, but the empirical results underlying this conclusion have been questioned by recent research. We argue that the conventional finding is driven by the endogenous nature of campaign spending: initiative proponents spend more when their ballot measure is likely to fail. We address this endogeneity by using an instrumental variables approach to analyze a comprehensive dataset of ballot propositions in California from 1976 to 2004. We find that both support and opposition spending on citizen initiatives have strong, statistically significant, and countervailing effects. We confirm this finding by looking at time series data from early polling on a subset of these measures. Both analyses show that spending in favor of citizen initiatives substantially increases their chances of passage, just as opposition spending decreases this likelihood

Commissioning and initial experience with the first clinical gantry-mounted proton therapy system

The purpose of this study is to describe the comprehensive commissioning process and initial clinical experience of the Mevion S250 proton therapy system, a gantry-mounted, single-room proton therapy platform clinically implemented in the S. Lee Kling Proton Therapy Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, MO, USA. The Mevion S250 system integrates a compact synchrocyclotron with a C-inner gantry, an image guidance system and a 6D robotic couch into a beam delivery platform. We present our commissioning process and initial clinical experience, including i) CT calibration; ii) beam data acquisition and machine characteristics; iii) dosimetric commissioning of the treatment planning system; iv) validation through the Imaging and Radiation Oncology Core credentialing process, including irradiations on the spine, prostate, brain, and lung phantoms; v) evaluation of localization accuracy of the image guidance system; and vi) initial clinical experience. Clinically, the system operates well and has provided an excellent platform for the treatment of diseases with protons

A Virtual World for Teaching German

In this research, a virtual world of an Austrian town centre was created to teach German to first year students at the University of Calgary. While interacting with characters in the City of Salzburg, students were able to take control of their own learning, and at the same time were exposed to cultural and linguistic realia that are often not present in other types of language games. In playing the game, students reported an improvement in their listening skills, and they also noted that the experience was beneficial for vocabulary learning, pronunciation, general fluency, and improving reading skills. Surveys and direct observation of student game play offer insights into attitudes towards personal use of games, the value of educational games for teaching language and impact of different testing environments on the success of playing a game. Examining the recorded paths taken through this world by students during the game, space syntax research offers some interesting perspective insights into strategies game players employ when looking for the correct path through an urban space. In fact, isovist and axial maps may be helpful in predicting the first line of action taken by game players as they navigate through a virtual world with no verbal clues

Vadnais Heights Business Retention and Expansion: Summary Report

1 electronic resource (PDF). This archival publication may not reflect current scientific knowledge or recommendations. Current information available from the University of Minnesota Extension: https://www.extension.umn.edu.Local Sponsors: Platinum sponsors: Vadnais Heights Economic Development Corporation, Connexus Energy, City of Vadnais Heights Gold sponsors: Jimmy’s Conference Center, Xcel Energy, State Sponsors, University of Minnesota Extension Service, Community Development and Vitalit

An innovation perspective on design: part 1

This paper analyzes innovation and design from a management and economic perspective. The management sciences, innovation studies, economics, and the social sciences in general have, traditionally, paid little attention to design as a core creative industrial and economic activity. This situation is now changing as innovation and management studies increasingly recognize the technical and wider role of design in business and economic activity. Within the social sciences, including management studies, one might think that one of the natural “homes” of design research and teaching would be innovation studies—a well-established subject area that focuses on the role of research and development (R&D), engineering, science, and technology in the economy. However, with the exception of a stream of important product development and design management research, this expectation is not fulfilled. As this paper makes clear, within mainstream innovation studies, design has been largely absent from theory, teaching, textbooks, and research. The purpose of this paper is therefore to provide an “innovation studies” perspective on design, focusing on design in business and the economy. This approach can be seen as part of a broader question of where design could be positioned within the social sciences as the subject expands across an increasingly wide range of business and social activity. Design potentially might thrive in many areas within the social sciences, including strategy, entrepreneurship, and marketing in the business management area, as well as in sociological, organizational science, and economic fields. In this paper we argue that by developing an innovation perspective on design, and a design perspective on innovation, both fields stand to gain. The idea of the paper is to critically examine the role of design in business and the economy from an innovation viewpoint. First, we provide definitions and perspectives on the terms, “design” and “innovation,” helping to define the boundary conditions of both subjects. Second, we assess the treatment of design in innovation studies. More often than not, design is either treated in passing or entirely overlooked. This section also asks why this neglect happens, given the recognized importance of design in innovation. Finally, we assess the design discourse from an innovation and social science perspective, showing how design as a human-centered, core creative activity in business challenges the overly scientific, rational view of the firm and many of the standard intervention tools of innovation management. Part 2 of this paper (in an upcoming issue of Design Issues) builds on this analysis to illustrate the gains that can be achieved by bringing the fields of innovation studies and design/design thinking closer together

Transforming the Applied Learning Experience Through Interdisciplinary Fieldwork

This paper introduces an interdisciplinary field research project undertaken by faculty at Missouri Western State University in an effort to improve student learning outcomes and enrich student experience. The project uses a single ecosystem, the nine human-built ponds on the campus, and combines five different faculty members’ areas of research across ecology, microbiology, and geography to immerse students in an interactive applied learning opportunity that not only helps them develop research skills, but also learn to present their research to a variety of audiences. The paper reviews the nature of the project, the conditions that allowed the project to emerge, individual team activities, findings from student assessment, and suggests ways in which others can pursue a similar interdisciplinary fieldwork experience. Overall, we found that both students and faculty experienced some sort of transformation throughout the experience and highly recommend others engage their students in similar applied learning opportunities