Optically pumped resonance magnetometer for determining vectoral components in a spatial coordinate system Patent

Design and development of optically pumped resonance magnetometer for determining vectoral components in spatial coordinate syste

Aging and aerobic fitness affect the contribution of noradrenergic sympathetic nerves to the rapid cutaneous vasodilator response to local heating

Sedentary aging results in a diminished rapid cutaneous vasodilator response to local heating. We investigated whether this diminished response was due to altered contributions of noradrenergic sympathetic nerves; assessing 1) the age-related decline and, 2) the effect of aerobic fitness. We measured skin blood flow (SkBF)(laser-Doppler flowmetry) in young (24±1 yr) and older (64±1 yr) endurance-trained and sedentary men (n=7 per group) at baseline and during 35 min of local skin heating to 42 °C at three forearm sites: 1) untreated; 2) bretylium tosylate (BT), preventing neurotransmitter release from noradrenergic sympathetic nerves; and 3) yohimbine and propranolol (YP), antagonising α- and β-adrenergic receptors. SkBF was converted to cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC) (SkBF/mean arterial pressure) and normalized to maximal CVC (%CVCmax) achieved by skin heating to 44 °C. Pharmacological agents were administered using microdialysis. In the young trained, the rapid vasodilator response was reduced at the BT and YP sites (P0.05) but treatment with BT did (P>0.05). Neither BT nor YP treatments affected the rapid vasodilator response in the older sedentary group (P>0.05). These data suggest that the age-related reduction in the rapid vasodilator response is due to an impairment of sympathetic-dependent mechanisms, which can be partly attenuated with habitual aerobic exercise. Rapid vasodilation involves noradrenergic neurotransmitters in young trained men, and non-adrenergic sympathetic cotransmitters (e.g., neuropeptide Y) in young sedentary and older trained men, possibly as a compensatory mechanism. Finally, in older sedentary men, the rapid vasodilation appears not to involve the sympathetic system

Improving the geometry of manholes designed for separate sewer systems

The design of manholes dates back more than 100 years. However, there have been developments such as the use of new materials for the manufacture of manholes, and advances in inspection and maintenance technologies, allowing improvements to the shape of manholes. This paper presents an innovative design for manholes, created to overcome the challenges associated with the installation of separate sewer systems in narrow streets, common to both UK and EU cities. The traditional separate sewer system has two separate manholes. The proposed manhole combines these two manholes into one structure, with two separate chambers, to allow storm flow and foul flow to pass through the same manhole without mixing. The structural performance of the new design has been tested using mathematical modelling validated by experimental tests. The results are compared with the structural performance of traditional manholes. The new design shows an improved resistance to high live loads

Believing in food addiction: helpful or counter-productive for eating behaviour?

Objective: Obesity is often attributed to an addiction to food, and many people believe themselves to be “food addicts.” However, little is known about how such beliefs may affect dietary control and weight management. The current research examined the impact of experimentally manipulating participants' personal food addiction beliefs on eating behavior. Methods In two studies, female participants (study 1: N  = 64; study 2: N  = 90) completed food‐related computerized tasks and were given bogus feedback on their performance which indicated that they had high, low, or average food addiction tendencies. Food intake was then assessed in an ad libitum taste test. Dietary concern and time taken to complete the taste test were recorded in study 2. Results: In study 1, participants in the high‐addiction condition consumed fewer calories than those in the low‐addiction condition, F (1,60) = 7.61, P  = 0.008, η p2 = 0.11. Study 2 replicated and extended this finding, showing that the effect of the high‐addiction condition on food intake was mediated by increased dietary concern, which reduced the amount of time participants willingly spent exposed to the foods during the taste test, b  = −0.06 (0.03), 95% confidence interval = −0.13 to −0.01. Conclusions: Believing oneself to be a food addict is associated with short‐term dietary restriction. The longer‐term effects on weight management now warrant attention

Does alcohol cue inhibitory control training survive a context shift?

Inhibitory control training (ICT) is a novel psychological intervention that aims to improve inhibitory control in response to alcohol-related cues through associative learning. Laboratory studies have demonstrated reductions in alcohol consumption following ICT compared with control/sham training, but it is unclear if these effects are robust to a change of context. In a preregistered study, we examined whether the effects of ICT would survive a context shift from a neutral context to a seminaturalistic bar setting. In a mixed design, 60 heavy drinkers (40 female) were randomly allocated to receive either ICT or control/sham training in a neutral laboratory over 2 sessions. We developed a novel variation of ICT that used multiple stop signals to establish direct stimulus–stop associations. The effects of ICT/control were measured once in the same context and once following a shift to a novel (alcohol-related) context. Our dependent variables were ad libitum alcohol consumption following training, change in inhibitory control processes, and change in alcohol value. ICT did not reduce alcohol consumption in either context compared with the control group. Furthermore, we demonstrated no effects of ICT on inhibitory control processes or alcohol value. Bayesian analyses demonstrated overall support for the null hypotheses. This study failed to find any effects of ICT on alcohol consumption or candidate psychological mechanisms. These findings illustrate the difficulty in training alcohol-inhibition associations and add to a growing body of literature suggesting that ICT holds little evidential value as a psychological intervention for alcohol use disorders

Remotely Powered Wireless Strain Telemeter

This paper presents a wirelessly powered strain telemeter for mechanical health monitoring applications. The telemter is integrated with a rectenna tuned at 2.4 GHz. The rectenna is comprised by a resonant printed dipole antenna, microstrip transmission line filters and commercially available high-frequency diodes. The experimental results demonstrate that the rectenna is able to deliver 8 mW of DC power to the wireless telemeter when illuminated by a 10-W Yagi transmitter with a gain of 15 dB placed at a distance of over 2.5 m

Analog Computer Research

Contains reports on three research projects

Experimental data used to validate the FE model of the structural performance of two flexible pipes laid in a single trench.

The objective of the article is to describe the methodology followed to validate the finite element model for the new method of setting pipes in a separate sewer system, using one trench to accommodate the storm pipe over the sanitary pipe "doi.org/10.1016/j.tust.2019.103019" (Abbas et al., 2019). A physical model was established in the Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) lab to test the structural performance of two PVC pipes buried in one trench. The results of the physical model were used to validate an FE model using the same material properties and boundary conditions used in the physical model. The validation process allowed the FE model to be upgraded to a 3D FE full-scale model for testing the novel method used to place the separate sewer system