11,719 research outputs found

    Study of Forces During Ultrasonic Vibration Assisted Grinding

    Get PDF
    AbstractRadial and tangential grinding forces were presented as four components connected with workpiece material microcutting and plastic deformation, and friction of cutting and abrasive grains (AGs) with the workpiece.The depth of abrasive grain penetration in the workpiece and the cutting width are determined with regard to ultrasonic vibrations (USV) amplitude and frequency. Summing up of the forces from single grains was conducted by using a multiple integral, provided that one of the integration limits is a function describing change of the depth of the AGs penetration in the workpiece material which depends on the USV parameters. Dependencies were obtained for calculation of all grinding force components at different vibration amplitudes and frequencies when various number of USV waves fits the contact arc of the grain and the workpiece.Experimental values of grinding forces turned out to be 10 – 15% lower than those when USV waves are not applied

    Validation of the Harvard Lyman-α in situ water vapor instrument: Implications for the mechanisms that control stratospheric water vapor

    Get PDF
    Building on previously published details of the laboratory calibrations of the Harvard Lyman-α photofragment fluorescence hygrometer (HWV) on the NASA ER-2 and WB-57 aircraft, we describe here the validation process for HWV, which includes laboratory calibrations and intercomparisons with other Harvard water vapor instruments at water vapor mixing ratios from 0 to 10 ppmv, followed by in-flight intercomparisons with the same Harvard hygrometers. The observed agreement exhibited in the laboratory and during intercomparisons helps corroborate the accuracy of HWV. In light of the validated accuracy of HWV, we present and evaluate a series of intercomparisons with satellite and balloon borne water vapor instruments made from the upper troposphere to the lower stratosphere in the tropics and midlatitudes. Whether on the NASA ER-2 or WB-57 aircraft, HWV has consistently measured about 1–1.5 ppmv higher than the balloon-borne NOAA/ESRL/GMD frost point hygrometer (CMDL), the NOAA Cryogenic Frost point Hygrometer (CFH), and the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on the Aura satellite in regions of the atmosphere where water vapor is <10 ppmv. Comparisons in the tropics with the Halogen Occultation Experiment (HALOE) on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite show large variable differences near the tropopause that converge to ~10% above 460 K, with HWV higher. Results we show from the Aqua Validation and Intercomparison Experiment (AquaVIT) at the AIDA chamber in Karlsruhe do not reflect the observed in-flight differences. We illustrate that the interpretation of the results of comparisons between modeled and measured representations of the seasonal cycle of water entering the lower tropical stratosphere is dictated by which data set is used

    The effect of ongoing feedback on physical activity levels following an exercise intervention in older adults: a randomised controlled trial protocol

    Get PDF
    Background: Physical inactivity ranks as a major contributing factor in the development and progression of chronicdisease. Lifestyle interventions reduce the progression of chronic disease, however, compliance decreases over timeand health effects only persist as long as the new lifestyle is maintained. Telephone counselling (TC) is an effectiveway to provide individuals with ongoing support to maintain lifestyle changes. Remote physical activity monitoringand feedback (RAMF) via interactive technologies such as activity trackers and smartphones may be a cost-effectivealternative to TC, however, this comparison has not been made. This study, therefore, aims to determine the effectof ongoing feedback (TC vs. RAMF) on the maintenance of physical activity following a 12-week individualisedlifestyle program, and the effect of this on health risk factors and health services usage.Methods and design: A randomised controlled trial with a parallel groups design. A total of 150 adults (≥60 years)who participate in a 12-week face-to-face individualised lifestyle program will be randomised to twelve months ofRAMF (n = 50), TC (n = 50), or usual care (n = 50). Participants randomised to RAMF will use a smartphone activitytracker app, synced to a wrist worn activity tracker, to provide them with automated feedback regarding compliance toprescribed activity targets. Telephone counselling involves a follow-up phone call every fortnight for the first threemonths and a monthly call for the remaining nine months of the follow-up period.The primary outcome measures are physical activity compliance (accelerometry and Active Australia survey). Secondaryoutcome measures include cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength, dynamic balance, quality of life, blood pressure,body composition, and health services usage. Measures will be made before and after the individualised lifestyleprogram, and at three, six and twelve months during the intervention.Discussion: The results of this study will help to determine the efficacy of RAMF devices on compliance to prescribedphysical activity compared to the current gold standard of TC. If the remote monitoring proves effective, it mayprovide a cost efficient alternative method of assisting maintenance of behaviour change from lifestyle interventions

    Response to 'Does smoking or alcohol cause early vascular damage in teenage years?'

    Get PDF
    This commentary refers to ‘Early vascular damage from smoking and alcohol in teenage years: the ALSPAC study’, by M. Charakida et al., 345–353

    Impact of proctoring on success rates for percutaneous revascularisation of coronary chronic total occlusions.

    Get PDF
    OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of proctoring for chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in six UK centres. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed 587 CTO procedures from six UK centres and compared success rates of operators who had received proctorship with success rates of the same operators before proctorship (pre-proctored) and operators in the same institutions who had not been proctored (non-proctored). There were 232 patients in the pre-proctored/non-proctored group and 355 patients in the post-proctored group. Complexity was assessed by calculating the Japanese CTO (JCTO) score for each case. RESULTS: CTO PCI success was greater in the post-proctored compared with the pre-proctored/non-proctored group (77.5% vs 62.1%, p<0.0001). In more complex cases where JCTO≥2, the difference in success was greater (70.7% vs 49.5%, p=0.0003). After proctoring, there was an increase in CTO PCI activity in centres from 2.5% to 3.5%, p<0.0001 (as a proportion of total PCI), and the proportion of very difficult cases with JCTO score ≥3 increased from 15.3% (35/229) to 29.7% (105/354), p<0.0001. CONCLUSIONS: Proctoring resulted in an increase in procedural success for CTO PCI, an increase in complex CTO PCI and an increase in total CTO PCI activity. Proctoring may be a valuable way to improve access to CTO PCI and the likelihood of procedural success

    A dual process account of creative thinking

    Get PDF
    This article explicates the potential role played by type 1 thinking (automatic, fast) and type 2 thinking (effortful, logical) in creative thinking. The relevance of Evans's (2007) models of conflict of dual processes in thinking is discussed with regards to creative thinking. The role played by type 1 thinking and type 2 thinking during the different stages of creativity (problem finding and conceptualization, incubation, illumination, verification and dissemination) is discussed. It is proposed that although both types of thinking are active in creativity, the extent to which they are active and the nature of their contribution to creativity will vary between stages of the creative process. Directions for future research to test this proposal are outlined; differing methodologies and the investigation of different stages of creative thinking are discussed. © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

    Topological quenching of the tunnel splitting for a particle in a double-well potential on a planar loop

    Get PDF
    The motion of a particle along a one-dimensional closed curve in a plane is considered. The only restriction on the shape of the loop is that it must be invariant under a twofold rotation about an axis perpendicular to the plane of motion. Along the curve a symmetric double-well potential is present leading to a twofold degeneracy of the classical ground state. In quantum mechanics, this degeneracy is lifted: the energies of the ground state and the first excited state are separated from each other by a slight difference ¿E, the tunnel splitting. Although a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of the loop does not influence the classical motion of the charged particle, the quantum-mechanical separation of levels turns out to be a function of its strength B. The dependence of ¿E on the field B is oscillatory: for specific discrete values Bn the splitting drops to zero, indicating a twofold degeneracy of the ground state. This result is obtained within the path-integral formulation of quantum mechanics; in particular, the semiclassical instanton method is used. The origin of the quenched splitting is intuitively obvious: it is due to the fact that the configuration space of the system is not simply connected, thus allowing for destructive interference of quantum-mechanical amplitudes. From an abstract point of view this phenomenon can be traced back to the existence of a topological term in the Lagrangian and a nonsimply connected configuration space. In principle, it should be possible to observe the splitting in appropriately fabricated mesoscopic rings consisting of normally conducting metal

    Hypofunctional TrkA Accounts for the Absence of Pain Sensitization in the African Naked Mole-Rat.

    Get PDF
    The naked mole-rat is a subterranean rodent lacking several pain behaviors found in humans, rats, and mice. For example, nerve growth factor (NGF), an important mediator of pain sensitization, fails to produce thermal hyperalgesia in naked mole-rats. The sensitization of capsaicin-sensitive TRPV1 ion channels is necessary for NGF-induced hyperalgesia, but naked mole-rats have fully functional TRPV1 channels. We show that exposing isolated naked mole-rat nociceptors to NGF does not sensitize TRPV1. However, the naked mole-rat NGF receptor TrkA displays a reduced ability to engage signal transduction pathways that sensitize TRPV1. Between one- and three-amino-acid substitutions in the kinase domain of the naked mole-rat TrkA are sufficient to render the receptor hypofunctional, and this is associated with the absence of heat hyperalgesia. Our data suggest that evolution has selected for a TrkA variant that abolishes a robust nociceptive behavior in this species but is still compatible with species fitness.This work was supported by a European Research Council grant (grant 294678 Extremeophile Mammal) to G.R.L. E.S.J.S. acknowledges support from the Alexander von Humboldt foundation.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier (Cell Press) via https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2016.09.03

    Results from the First Science Run of the ZEPLIN-III Dark Matter Search Experiment

    Get PDF
    The ZEPLIN-III experiment in the Palmer Underground Laboratory at Boulby uses a 12kg two-phase xenon time projection chamber to search for the weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) that may account for the dark matter of our Galaxy. The detector measures both scintillation and ionisation produced by radiation interacting in the liquid to differentiate between the nuclear recoils expected from WIMPs and the electron recoil background signals down to ~10keV nuclear recoil energy. An analysis of 847kg.days of data acquired between February 27th 2008 and May 20th 2008 has excluded a WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering spin-independent cross-section above 8.1x10(-8)pb at 55GeV/c2 with a 90% confidence limit. It has also demonstrated that the two-phase xenon technique is capable of better discrimination between electron and nuclear recoils at low-energy than previously achieved by other xenon-based experiments.Comment: 12 pages, 17 figure
    corecore