Technique of elbow bending small jacketed transfer lines Patent

Elbow forming in jacketed pipes while maintaining separation between core shape and jacket pipe

Muscle Tension Induced after Learning Enhances Long-Term Narrative and Visual Memory in Healthy Older Adults

Arousing events are better remembered than mundane events. Indeed, manipulation of arousal, such as by muscle tension, can influence memory even when it occurs shortly after learning. Indeed, our founding study showed this approach can raise delayed memory performance in older adults to a level comparable to that of unaided young adults. Yet, systematic studies, especially those investigating different modalities or types of memory, have not been done. This study investigated the effects of a brief bout of isometric exercise via handgrip on narrative and visuospatial episodic memory in healthy elders. Forty-seven participants completed the Logical Memory subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scales III (LM) and the Benton Visual Retention Test (BVRT), followed alternately by no treatment and by moderately squeezing a sand-filled latex ball for 1-min (counterbalanced order and test forms). Isometric exercise significantly increased both positive and negative affect ratings. Retention was tested 2 weeks later. Delayed recall and recognition of LM was enhanced by arousal relative to control, as was recognition of the BVRT. The results extend past findings that muscle tension induced after learning modulates memory consolidation, extending findings in elders to suggest that a simple form of isometric exercise can have practical effects, such as aiding memory for stories and images

Quantum Faraday Effect in Double-Dot Aharonov-Bohm Ring

We investigate Faraday's law of induction manifested in the quantum state of Aharonov-Bohm loops. In particular, we propose a flux-switching experiment for a double-dot AB ring to verify the phase shift induced by Faraday's law. We show that the induced {\em Faraday phase} is geometric and nontopological. Our study demonstrates that the relation between the local phases of a ring at different fluxes is not arbitrary but is instead determined by Faraday's inductive law, which is in strong contrast to the arbitrary local phase of an Aharonov-Bohm ring for a given flux.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Comparison of Land and Aquatic Loaded Countermovement Jump Landings in Female NCAA Division I Collegiate Athletes

The purpose of this study was to investigate alterations in lower extremity kinematics during the landing phase of a countermovement jump when performed in different environments and under multiple external loads. Twenty-four NCAA Divison I collegiate female athletes performed 12 countermovement jumps on land and 12 jumps in water, submerged to the xiphoid process, for a total of 24 jumps. Within each environmental condition, four loading conditions of three jumps each were performed using a weighted vest: Unloaded, 10%, 20%, or 30% of body mass. The hip, knee, and ankle angles were measured as the smallest angles between the major body segments (trunk, thigh, shank, and foot) in the sagittal plane using the digital goniometer tool from Kinovea video analysis software at the point of maximum knee flexion. Larger angles indicated decreased joint flexion and smaller angles indicated increased joint flexion. The mean hip, knee, and ankle angles were significantly greater for the jump landings in water compared to on land, regardless of load (133.7° vs. 113.9°, 119.5° vs. 107.5°, and 91.7° vs. 85.6°, p \u3c 0.001). Independent of environment, the loading conditions also affected the joint angles. The unloaded hip angles were significantly greater than the 10%, 20%, and 30% loaded angles (128.0° vs. 123.3°, 122.5°, and 121.6°, p \u3c 0.001) and the unloaded ankle angle was significantly greater than the 10%, 20%, and 30% loaded angles (89.6° vs. 88.5°, 88.4°, and 88.0°, p = 0.015, p = 0.023, and p = 0.007). Increasing lower extremity joint flexion during jump landing may help minimize ACL injury. The decreases in joint flexion during the aquatic jump landings may have occurred due to the off-loading from the buoyancy characteristics of water, which may be less harmful compared to decreased joint flexion on land. The significant increases in joint flexion due to loading condition may provide evidence for use in athlete training programs to help decrease the probability of ACL injury

Should Government Facilitate Voluntary Pension Plans?

Several proposals have surfaced recently that government develop and offer some sort of voluntary pension plan (VPP). This paper examines areas of public policy on pensions where changes should take place with or without the development of a VPP, including those that promote greater harmonization, portability, and labour mobility. Similarly, the challenges of inertia and annuitization are areas in which a VPP is only one of several available policy devices. In the final analysis, two key arguments provide the only compelling reasons to support the establishment of large, economically efficient funds: that their assets could be managed professionally and efficiently and that they could reduce the distraction from employers’ primary goals. Neither of these arguments, however, offers convincing evidence that VPPs should be developed by government rather than by the private sector. Ultimately, the marketplace will determine whether the additional option of a VPP is needed and whether it is offered on terms that make it more attractive than the other available alternatives

Sticky Regulations and Net Neutrality Restoring Internet Freedom

Stable law is valuable, yet also remarkably lacking in our nation’s internet policy. Over the last two decades, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has charted a zigzagging course between heavier and lighter regulation. Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit largely upheld the agency’s latest shift—this time toward deregulation. But in 2016, that same court upheld the agency’s shift in the opposite direction. And to top it all off, some predict that after political control of the White House shifts, the FCC may again reverse course and reinstate a policy similar to what the FCC has recently overridden. The upshot of this series of policy reversals is that it is difficult for anyone to make long-term investment decisions premised on any particular internet policy because that policy may not have a long shelf life. This makes it harder for the private sector to plan and for the FCC to encourage investment. This Essay, however, is not about internet policy. Rather, it uses this example to examine stickiness more broadly, as well as whether and how that stickiness can or should be increased. To the extent, for instance, that we believe that greater stability is sufficiently valuable, which is debatable, it may make sense to revisit aspects of administrative law that make it relatively easy for agencies to reverse course, including adding more procedural steps or requiring better explanations to change policy. Ultimately, however, administrative law likely will not be able to create stability for controversial, highly-salient issues. When it comes to achieving the social benefits of stability, rulemaking is a poor substitute for legislation

How Agencies Choose Whether to Enforce the Law: A Preliminary Investigation

One of the most controversial aspects of administrative law in recent years concerns agency decisions not to enforce the law. Such nonenforcement is often beneficial or, in any event, inevitable. A particular violation may be so distant from what Congress or the agency had in mind when the general prohibition was put on the books that enforcement makes little sense. Likewise, because agencies have finite resources, they cannot enforce the law in all situations. At the same time, however, nonenforcement can also raise difficult questions about basic notions of fairness and administrative regularity, as well as separation of powers concerns. Nonenforcement decisions can be particularly significant, moreover, because they often are not subject to judicial review. Despite the importance of the topic, however, little empirical work has been done on the processes agencies use to evaluate potential nonenforcement. This Article has three purposes. First, drawing on interviews and survey data, it offers a preliminary real-world look into how a number of agencies choose whether to enforce the law in the context of waivers, exemptions, and prosecutorial discretion. The evidence suggests that nonenforcement is heterogeneous across numerous dimensions—including who is involved in the process, the steps the agency must take to make a nonenforcement decision, the scope of nonenforcement, and the potential for public and judicial scrutiny of the agency’s decision. Second, this Article begins to sketch a taxonomy of nonenforcement. Although nonenforcement is often treated as a unitary concept, in fact it comes in many flavors, some of which are more dangerous than others. Finally, building on this taxonomy, this Article urges safeguards to prevent nonenforcement’s abuse. Most significantly, nonenforcement should be rare and requests for it should serve as a signal that retrospective review may be in order

Visualizing Change in Administrative Law

Although few realize it, the structure of administrative law has not changed much in two decades. Unlike past eras of upheaval, the key statutes, institutions, and judicial doctrines that defined administrative law in the early 1990s remain remarkably intact today. Administrative law\u27s complexity, however, makes it difficult to see the big picture. This Article addresses that complexity by introducing a new visual framework. This framework has two principal benefits. First, it illustrates how administrative law\u27s many parts fit together and shows that the field has been in a holding pattern for a long time. Second, it also allows scholars to better predict future regulatory evolution. Indeed, by applying this new framework, it appears that at least three dynamics may change today\u27s administrative law: Partisan Escalation, Regulatory Competence, and New Protectionism