Empirical prediction of traffic noise transmission loss across plenum windows

A parametric study on the traffic noise transmission loss across plenum windows was carried out experimentally in this investigation in an attempt to establish a simple empirical model for predicting this transmission loss. A total of fourteen full scale plenum windows were included in this study. The results of a site mockup measurement were used for model validation. The present model was developed based on the existing plenum chamber theory in which the sound fields inside the plenum window cavities were assumed to make up of a diffracted wave and a reverberant field. Results suggest that both the diffracted and reverberant field inside the plenum window cavities are weaker than those assumed in existing plenum chamber theory. It is found that a model, which assumes frequency-independent diffraction directivity and percentage reverberant field attenuation, gives the best prediction of traffic noise transmission loss. This prediction model is also able to predict site test results with good accurac

Constructing a measure of industry-specific human capital using Tobin's Q theory

In this paper, we develop a measure of industry specific human capital using the Tobin's qtheory. The measure is derived from a structural model of heterogeneous knowledge labor,which is homogeneous physical labor embodied with industry specific human capital

Defect and anisotropic gap induced quasi-one-dimensional modulation of local density of states in YBa2_2Cu3_3O7−δ_{7-\delta}

Motivated by recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) measurement that superconducting YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-\delta}$ (YBCO) exhibits a $d_{x^2-y^2} + s$-symmetry gap, we show possible quasi-one-dimensional modulations of local density of states in YBCO. These aniostropic gap and defect induced stripe structures are most conspicuous at higher biases and arise due to the nesting effect associated with a Fermi liquid. Observation of these spectra by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) would unify the picture among STM, ARPES, and inelastic neutron scattering for YBCO.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Surveillance of emerging drugs of abuse in Hong Kong: Validation of an analytical tool

© 2015, Hong Kong Academy of Medicine Press. All rights reserved. Objective: To validate a locally developed chromatography-based method to monitor emerging drugs of abuse whilst performing regular drug testing in abusers. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Eleven regional hospitals, seven social service units, and a tertiary level clinical toxicology laboratory in Hong Kong. Participants: A total of 972 drug abusers and high-risk individuals were recruited from acute, rehabilitation, and high-risk settings between 1 November 2011 and 31 July 2013. A subset of the participants was of South Asian ethnicity. In total, 2000 urine or hair specimens were collected. Main outcome measures: Proof of concept that surveillance of emerging drugs of abuse can be performed whilst conducting routine drug of abuse testing in patients. Results: The method was successfully applied to 2000 samples with three emerging drugs of abuse detected in five samples: PMMA (paramethoxymethamphetamine), TFMPP [1-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)piperazine], and methcathinone. The method also detected conventional drugs of abuse, with codeine, methadone, heroin, methamphetamine, and ketamine being the most frequently detected drugs. Other findings included the observation that South Asians had significantly higher rates of using opiates such as heroin, methadone, and codeine; and that ketamine and cocaine had significantly higher detection rates in acute subjects compared with the rehabilitation population. Conclusions: This locally developed analytical method is a valid tool for simultaneous surveillance of emerging drugs of abuse and routine drug monitoring of patients at minimal additional cost and effort. Continued, proactive surveillance and early identification of emerging drugs will facilitate prompt clinical, social, and legislative management.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Processing of aluminum-graphite particulate metal matrix composites by advanced shear technology

Copyright @ 2009 ASM International. This paper was published in Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance 18(9) and is made available as an electronic reprint with the permission of ASM International. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic or multiple reproduction, distribution to multiple locations via electronic or other means, duplications of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of this paper are prohibited.To extend the possibilities of using aluminum/graphite composites as structural materials, a novel process is developed. The conventional methods often produce agglomerated structures exhibiting lower strength and ductility. To overcome the cohesive force of the agglomerates, a melt conditioned high-pressure die casting (MC-HPDC) process innovatively adapts the well-established, high-shear dispersive mixing action of a twin screw mechanism. The distribution of particles and properties of composites are quantitatively evaluated. The adopted rheo process significantly improved the distribution of the reinforcement in the matrix with a strong interfacial bond between the two. A good combination of improved ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and tensile elongation (e) is obtained compared with composites produced by conventional processes.EPSR

Break-taking behaviour pattern of long-distance freight vehicles based on GPS trajectory data

This paper focuses on the break-taking behaviour pattern of long-distance freight vehicles, providing a new perspective on the study of behaviour patterns and simultaneously providing a reference for transport management departments and related enterprises. Based on Global Positioning System (GPS) trajectory data, we select stopping points as break-taking sites of long-distance freight vehicles and then classify the stopping points into three different classes based on the break-taking duration. We then explore the relationship of the distribution of the break-taking frequency between the three single classifications and their combinations, on the basis of the break-taking duration distribution. We find that the combination is a Gaussian distribution when each of the three individual classes is a Gaussian distribution, contrasting with the power-law distribution of the break-taking duration. Then we experimental analysis the distribution of the break-taking durations and frequencies, and find that, for the durations, the three single classifications can be fitted individually by an Exponential distribution and together by a Power-law distribution, for the frequencies, both the three single classifications and together can be fitted by a Gaussian distribution,so that can validate the above theoretical analysis. Key words: break-taking behaviour, long-distance freight vehicle, statistical analysi

Pulsar-wind nebulae and magnetar outflows: observations at radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths

We review observations of several classes of neutron-star-powered outflows: pulsar-wind nebulae (PWNe) inside shell supernova remnants (SNRs), PWNe interacting directly with interstellar medium (ISM), and magnetar-powered outflows. We describe radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray observations of PWNe, focusing first on integrated spectral-energy distributions (SEDs) and global spectral properties. High-resolution X-ray imaging of PWNe shows a bewildering array of morphologies, with jets, trails, and other structures. Several of the 23 so far identified magnetars show evidence for continuous or sporadic emission of material, sometimes associated with giant flares, and a few possible "magnetar-wind nebulae" have been recently identified.Comment: 61 pages, 44 figures (reduced in quality for size reasons). Published in Space Science Reviews, "Jets and Winds in Pulsar Wind Nebulae, Gamma-ray Bursts and Blazars: Physics of Extreme Energy Release

Quantum Rotation of HCN and DCN in Helium-4

We present calculations of rotational absorption spectra of the molecules HCN and DCN in superfluid helium-4, using a combination of the Diffusion Monte Carlo method for ground state properties and an analytic many-body method (Correlated Basis Function theory) for the excited states. Our results agree with the experimentally determined effective moment of inertia which has been obtained from the $J=0\to 1$ spectral transition. The correlated basis function analysis shows that, unlike heavy rotors such as OCS, the J=2 and higher rotational excitations of HCN and DCN have high enough energy to strongly couple to rotons, leading to large shifts of the lines and accordingly to anomalous large spectroscopic distortion constants, to the emergence of roton-maxon bands, and to secondary peaks in the absorption spectra for J=2 and J=3.Comment: accepted by Phys. Rev. B; changes: included referee suggestions, removed typos, added 10 ref

Shrinking a large dataset to identify variables associated with increased risk of Plasmodium falciparum infection in Western Kenya

Large datasets are often not amenable to analysis using traditional single-step approaches. Here, our general objective was to apply imputation techniques, principal component analysis (PCA), elastic net and generalized linear models to a large dataset in a systematic approach to extract the most meaningful predictors for a health outcome. We extracted predictors for Plasmodium falciparum infection, from a large covariate dataset while facing limited numbers of observations, using data from the People, Animals, and their Zoonoses (PAZ) project to demonstrate these techniques: data collected from 415 homesteads in western Kenya, contained over 1500 variables that describe the health, environment, and social factors of the humans, livestock, and the homesteads in which they reside. The wide, sparse dataset was simplified to 42 predictors of P. falciparum malaria infection and wealth rankings were produced for all homesteads. The 42 predictors make biological sense and are supported by previous studies. This systematic data-mining approach we used would make many large datasets more manageable and informative for decision-making processes and health policy prioritization

Measurement of the Bottom-Strange Meson Mixing Phase in the Full CDF Data Set

We report a measurement of the bottom-strange meson mixing phase \beta_s using the time evolution of B0_s -> J/\psi (->\mu+\mu-) \phi (-> K+ K-) decays in which the quark-flavor content of the bottom-strange meson is identified at production. This measurement uses the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt(s)= 1.96 TeV collected by the Collider Detector experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron, corresponding to 9.6 fb-1 of integrated luminosity. We report confidence regions in the two-dimensional space of \beta_s and the B0_s decay-width difference \Delta\Gamma_s, and measure \beta_s in [-\pi/2, -1.51] U [-0.06, 0.30] U [1.26, \pi/2] at the 68% confidence level, in agreement with the standard model expectation. Assuming the standard model value of \beta_s, we also determine \Delta\Gamma_s = 0.068 +- 0.026 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps-1 and the mean B0_s lifetime, \tau_s = 1.528 +- 0.019 (stat) +- 0.009 (syst) ps, which are consistent and competitive with determinations by other experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett 109, 171802 (2012