9,928 research outputs found
Cavitation Inception - A Selective Review
This paper reviews recent developments in selected cavitation research areas which have been active mainly within the past two years. The new understanding resulting from this work is summarized. Research topics discussed are cavitation inception on smooth surfaces, on vortex cavitation and scaling, on the measurement of cavitation nuclei, and on the effects of polymer additives. Because of the selective nature of the review, a fairly comprehensive listing of recent contributions to the literature on these and related aspects of cavitation research is an essential part of the exposition
Motivation among construction workers in Turkey
The role of management is to apply organisational resources to achieve organisational
objectives. The nature of commercial enterprise necessitates the desire for increased
productivity and efficiency, and workforce motivation is acknowledged to be an
influencing factor in these areas. Theory suggests that motivational factors follow a
hierarchical format where higher level needs become dominant when lower level
needs have been fulfilled, and improvements in motivation are facilitated more
effectively through the higher level needs. This study looks at factors affecting the
motivation of workers on Turkish construction sites. 370 construction workers were
asked in a questionnaire to give examples of positive and negative factors which
affect their motivation at work. It was found that money earned is the foremost
motivating and de-motivating factor in the eyes of the construction workers. As a
result it is suggested that workers on Turkish construction sites are managed in a way
which limits their opportunities to fulfil higher level needs, and in order to increase
worker motivation, and therefore productivity, the management of such workers
should move away from control through external means and towards control through
internal and cultural forces
Can we use starlings' aversion to eyespots as the basis for a novel 'cognitive bias' task?
Experiments in humans have shown that changes in emotional (affective) state cause adaptive changes in the processing of incoming information, termed "cognitive bias". For instance, the states of anxiety and depression have been shown to be associated with "pessimistic" judgements of ambiguous stimuli intermediate between stimuli associated with positive and negative outcomes. This phenomenon provides a promising method for objectively assessing animal emotional states and has been successfully demonstrated in preliminary studies. However, the experiments yielding these results required extensive training to establish the necessary positive and negative associations. Here we present an experiment using responses to eyespot stimuli that are naturally aversive to many bird species, and require no explicit associative training. We manipulated the state of wild-caught European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) by playing one of four possible sounds: starling "threat call" (control manipulation), a sparrowhawk call (i.e. predator), starling alarm call or white noise, on the assumption that the latter three sounds would cause anxiety. Immediately following the auditory stimulus, we recorded the birds' behaviour in the presence of each of three visual stimuli: eyespots, ambiguous eyespots or no eyespots. We hypothesised that there would be an interaction between the state of the birds and their response to eyespots, with birds showing enhanced aversion to ambiguous eyespots when anxious. We found evidence that white noise and alarm calls generated anxiety, and that eyespots were aversive. However, there was no interaction between state and response to eyespots. In an attempt to understand our failure to obtain the predicted cognitive bias, we discuss evidence that the aversive nature of eyespots is not attributable to predator mimicry, and is therefore not modulated by anxiety. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Transport and Magnetic Properties of FexVse2 (x = 0 - 0.33)
We present our results of the effect of Fe intercalation on the structural,
transport and magnetic properties of 1T-VSe2. Intercalation of iron, suppresses
the 110K charge density wave (CDW) transition of the 1T-VSe2. For the higher
concentration of iron, formation of a new kind of first order transition at
160K takes place, which go on stronger for the 33% Fe intercalation.
Thermopower of the FexVSe2 compounds (x = 0 - 0.33), however do not show any
anomaly around the transition. The intercalation of Fe does not trigger any
magnetism in the weak paramagnetic 1T-VSe2, and Fe is the low spin state of
Fe3+.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, 2 table
An investigation into the effect of thickness of titanium dioxide and gold-silver nanoparticle titanium dioxide composite thin-films on photocatalytic activity and photo-induced oxygen production in a sacrificial system
Thin films of titanium dioxide and titanium dioxide with incorporated gold and silver nanoparticles were deposited onto glass microscope slides, steel and titanium foil coupons by two solâgel dip-coating methods. The film's photocatalytic activity and ability to evolve oxygen in a sacrificial solution were assessed. It was found that photocatalytic activity increased with film thickness (from 50 to 500 nm thick samples) for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue in solution and resazurin redox dye in an intelligent ink dye deposited on the surface. Contrastingly, an optimum film thickness of [similar]200 nm for both composite and pure films of titanium dioxide was found for water oxidation, using persulfate (S2O82â) as a sacrificial electron acceptor. The nanoparticle composite films showed significantly higher activity in oxygen evolution studies compared with plain TiO2 films
Deriving preference-based single indices from non-preference based condition-specific instruments: Converting AQLQ into EQ5D indices
Suppose that one has a clinical dataset with only non-preference-based QOL data, and that one nevertheless would like to perform a cost/QALY analysis. This study reports on some efforts to establish a "mapping" relationship between AQLQ (a non-preference-based QOL instrument for asthma) and EQ5D (a preference-based generic instrument). Various methods are described in terms of associated assumptions regarding the measurement properties of the instruments. This is followed by empirical mapping, based on regressing EQ5D on AQLQ. Six main regression models and two supplementary models are identified, and the regressions carried out. Performance of each model is explored in terms of goodness of fit between observed and predicted values, and of robustness of predictions on external data. The results show that it is possible to predict mean EQ5D indices given AQLQ data. The general implications for methods of mapping non-preference-based instruments onto preference-based measures are discussed
Software tools for big data resources in family names dictionaries
This paper describes the design and development of specific software tools used during the creation of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (FaNBI) research project, started by the University of the West of England in 2010 and finished successfully in 2016. First, the overview of the project and methodology is provided. Next section contains the description of dictionary management tools and software tools to combine input data resources
Deriving preference-based single indices from non-preference based condition-specific instruments: converting AQLQ into EQ5D indices
Suppose that one has a clinical dataset with only non-preference-based QOL data, and that one nevertheless would like to perform a cost/QALY analysis. This study reports on some efforts to establish a âmappingâ relationship between AQLQ (a non-preference-based QOL instrument for asthma) and EQ5D (a preference-based generic instrument). Various methods are described in terms of associated assumptions regarding the measurement properties of the instruments. This is followed by empirical mapping, based on regressing EQ5D on AQLQ. Six main regression models and two supplementary models are identified, and the regressions carried out. Performance of each model is explored in terms of goodness of fit between observed and predicted values, and of robustness of predictions on external data. The results show that it is possible to predict mean EQ5D indices given AQLQ data. The general implications for methods of mapping non-preference-based instruments onto preference-based measures are discussed.EQ5D; AQLQ; mapping
On the origin of \gamma-ray emission in \eta\ Carina
\eta\ Car is the only colliding-wind binary for which high-energy \gamma\
rays are detected. Although the physical conditions in the shock region change
on timescales of hours to days, the variability seen at GeV energies is weak
and on significantly longer timescales. The \gamma-ray spectrum exhibits two
features that can be interpreted as emission from the shocks on either side of
the contact discontinuity. Here we report on the first time-dependent modelling
of the non-thermal emission in \eta\ Car. We find that emission from primary
electrons is likely not responsible for the \gamma-ray emission, but
accelerated protons interacting with the dense wind material can explain the
observations. In our model, efficient acceleration is required at both shocks,
with the primary side acting as a hadron calorimeter, whilst on the companion
side acceleration is limited by the flow time out of the system, resulting in
changing acceleration conditions. The system therefore represents a unique
laboratory for the exploration of hadronic particle acceleration in
non-relativistic shocks.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in MNRAS
Letter
Studies in matter antimatter separation and in the origin of lunar magnetism
Antimatter experiments of the University of Santa Clara are investigated. Topics reported include: (1) planetary geology, (2) lunar Apollo magnetometer experiments, and (3) Roche limit of a solid body
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