Haydn’s “bloody harmonious war”: A pictorial souvenir of battles with publishers, “professionals,” and Pleyel in London, 1788–1792

Haydn’s “bloody harmonious war” is the composer’s punning description of the rivalry in London between the concert organization for which he worked, headed by the violinist Salomon, and the ‘Professional Concert’, whose star attraction in 1792 was Haydn’s former pupil, the composer Pleyel. Haydn’s vocabulary, mixing metaphors musical and combative, reflects how newspapers projected this phony war. Pleyel was linked to Wilson Braddyll, England’s leading advocate for pugilism. One report even suggested that only by resorting to the law might the conflict be resolved. Haydn and Pleyel really did find themselves in court, called as deponents in a lawsuit between their publishers begun in 1788. Although interpretation of this case has hitherto focussed on Haydn’s supposed misappropriation of compositions by Pleyel, evidence presented here for the first time shows that the latter was equally culpable, having made unauthorized use of several compositions by his erstwhile teacher. The root of the case, however, lay in establishing ownership of publication and other rights, which Haydn effectively always turned to his personal advantage to the perceived detriment of others. As a souvenir marking the end of the whole episode, the triumphant reception of his compositions in the 1792 season, Haydn acquired a print for his collection, its subject referencing the “war’s” principal themes and personalities

The Feasibility of Process Intensification of the Water-Gas Shift Reaction using Differential Temperature Microreactors

Hydrogen is an increasingly attractive low-carbon energy carrier for a variety of stationary and mobile applications. Currently, the vast majority of hydrogen in the United States is produced via the energy intensive steam reforming of natural gas. The cost and carbon emissions associated with hydrogen production can be reduced by improving the efficiency of this process. Thus, this thesis investigates the potential of differential temperature water-gas shift (WGS) microreactors to intensify the steam reforming process. First, a COMSOL Multiphysics model of the WGS reaction is developed and compared against experimental values from the literature to validate its performance. The model is then used to evaluate improvements in the performance of the WGS reaction when operating under an optimal temperature profile when compared to the performance of a baseline model of the standard high temperature shift and low temperature shift (HTS/LTS) reactor configuration most frequently deployed in industry over a range of operating conditions. The results of this modeling effort are used to inform the design of a microreactor prototype that can be additively manufactured using a selective laser melting (SLM) process. The thermal-hydraulic performance of this prototype is experimentally verified to further validate the modeling results. Finally, a simplified version of the developed differential temperature WGS microreactor model is implemented into a flow sheet of the overall steam reforming process and its economic benefits are evaluated through a rigorous optimization process. The study results suggest that the implementation of a differential temperature WGS reactor operating under optimal temperature conditions significantly reduces both the required reactor volume to achieve a specific CO conversion level and the hydrogen production cost associated with the overall steam reforming process. The results also suggest that the developed prototype's performance is accurately predicted (within a maximum error of 20%) by the modeling results and that SLM processes can potentially be leveraged for the design and manufacture of WGS microreactors, though there are still a number of obstacles with these processes that must be overcome first

Quantum Radio Astronomy: Data Encodings and Quantum Image Processing

We explore applications of quantum computing for radio interferometry and astronomy using recent developments in quantum image processing. We evaluate the suitability of different quantum image representations using a toy quantum computing image reconstruction pipeline, and compare its performance to the classical computing counterpart. For identifying and locating bright radio sources, quantum computing can offer an exponential speedup over classical algorithms, even when accounting for data encoding cost and repeated circuit evaluations. We also propose a novel variational quantum computing algorithm for self-calibration of interferometer visibilities, and discuss future developments and research that would be necessary to make quantum computing for radio astronomy a reality.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

An interdisciplinary framework for measuring and supporting adherence in HIV prevention trials of ARV‐based vaginal rings

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138229/1/jia29158.pd

Activated platelets mediate inflammatory signaling by regulated interleukin 1β synthesis

Platelets release preformed mediators and generate eicosanoids that regulate acute hemostasis and inflammation, but these anucleate cytoplasts are not thought to synthesize proteins or cytokines, or to influence inflammatory responses over time. Interrogation of an arrayed cDNA library demonstrated that quiescent platelets contain many messenger RNAs, one of which codes for interleukin 1β precursor (pro–IL-1β). Unexpectedly, the mRNA for IL-1β and many other transcripts are constitutively present in polysomes, providing a mechanism for rapid synthesis. Platelet activation induces rapid and sustained synthesis of pro–IL-1β protein, a response that is abolished by translational inhibitors. A portion of the IL-1β is shed in its mature form in membrane microvesicles, and induces adhesiveness of human endothelial cells for neutrophils. Signal-dependent synthesis of an active cytokine over several hours indicates that platelets may have previously unrecognized roles in inflammation and vascular injury. Inhibition of β3 integrin engagement markedly attenuated the synthesis of IL-1β, identifying a new link between the coagulation and inflammatory cascades, and suggesting that antithrombotic therapies may also have novel antiinflammatory effects

A global map to aid the identification and screening of critical habitat for marine industries

Marine industries face a number of risks that necessitate careful analysis prior to making decisions on the siting of operations and facilities. An important emerging regulatory framework on environmental sustainability for business operations is the International Finance Corporation’s Performance Standard 6 (IFC PS6). Within PS6, identification of biodiversity significance is articulated through the concept of “Critical Habitat”, a definition developed by the IFC and detailed through criteria aligned with those that support internationally accepted biodiversity designations. No publicly available tools have been developed in either the marine or terrestrial realm to assess the likelihood of sites or operations being located within PS6-defined Critical Habitat. This paper presents a starting point towards filling this gap in the form of a preliminary global map that classifies more than 13 million km2 of marine and coastal areas of importance for biodiversity (protected areas, Key Biodiversity Areas [KBA], sea turtle nesting sites, cold- and warm-water corals, seamounts, seagrass beds, mangroves, saltmarshes, hydrothermal vents and cold seeps) based on their overlap with Critical Habitat criteria, as defined by IFC. In total, 5798×103 km2 (1.6%) of the analysis area (global ocean plus coastal land strip) were classed as Likely Critical Habitat, and 7526×103 km2 (2.1%) as Potential Critical Habitat; the remainder (96.3%) were Unclassified. The latter was primarily due to the paucity of biodiversity data in marine areas beyond national jurisdiction and/or in deep waters, and the comparatively fewer protected areas and KBAs in these regions. Globally, protected areas constituted 65.9% of the combined Likely and Potential Critical Habitat extent, and KBAs 29.3%, not accounting for the overlap between these two features. Relative Critical Habitat extent in Exclusive Economic Zones varied dramatically between countries. This work is likely to be of particular use for industries operating in the marine and coastal realms as an early screening aid prior to in situ Critical Habitat assessment; to financial institutions making investment decisions; and to those wishing to implement good practice policies relevant to biodiversity management. Supplementary material (available online) includes other global datasets considered, documentation and justification of biodiversity feature classification, detail of IFC PS6 criteria/scenarios, and coverage calculations

Scaling Cosmologies of N=8 Gauged Supergravity

We construct exact cosmological scaling solutions in N=8 gauged supergravity. We restrict to solutions for which the scalar fields trace out geodesic curves on the scalar manifold. Under these restrictions it is shown that the axionic scalars are necessarily constant. The potential is then a sum of exponentials and has a very specific form that allows for scaling solutions. The scaling solutions describe eternal accelerating and decelerating power-law universes, which are all unstable. An uplift of the solutions to 11-dimensional supergravity is carried out and the resulting timedependent geometries are discussed. In the discussion we briefly comment on the fact that N=2 gauged supergravity allows stable scaling solutions.Comment: 17 pages; referenced added, reportnr changed and some corrections in section

Fake supersymmetry versus Hamilton-Jacobi

We explain when the first-order Hamilton-Jacobi equations for black holes (and domain walls) in (gauged) supergravity, reduce to the usual first-order equations derived from a fake superpotential. This turns out to be equivalent to the vanishing of a newly found constant of motion and we illustrate this with various examples. We show that fake supersymmetry is a necessary condition for having physically sensible extremal black hole solutions. We furthermore observe that small black holes become scaling solutions near the horizon. When combined with fake supersymmetry, this leads to a precise extension of the attractor mechanism to small black holes: The attractor solution is such that the scalars move on specific curves, determined by the black hole charges, that are purely geodesic, although there is a non-zero potential.Comment: 20 pages, v2: Typos corrected, references adde