Extended analytical study of the free-wing/free-trimmer concept

The free wing/free trimmer concept was analytically studied in order to: (1) compare the fore and aft trimmer configurations on the basis of equal lift capability, rather than equal area; (2) assess the influence of tip mounted aft trimmers, both free and fixed, on the lateral directional modes and turbulence responses; (3) examine the feasibility of using differential tip mounted trimmer deflection for lateral control; (4) determine the effects of independent fuselage attitude on the lateral directional behavior; and (5) estimate the influence of wing sweep on dynamic behavior and structural weight. Results indicate that the forward trimmer concept is feasible with the reduced size examined, but it remains inferior to the aft trimmer in every respect except structural weight. Differential motion of the aft trimmer is found to provide powerful lateral control; while the effect of fuselage deck angle is a reduction of the dutch roll damping ratio for nose-down attitudes

Model for Dissipative Highly Nonlinear Waves in Dry Granular Systems

A model is presented for the characterization of dissipative effects on highly nonlinear waves in one-dimensional dry granular media. The model includes three terms: Hertzian, viscoelastic, and a term proportional to the square of the relative velocity of particles. The model outcomes are confronted with different experiments where the granular system is subject to several constraints for different materials. Excellent qualitative and quantitative agreement between theory and experiments is found.Comment: Link to the Journal: http://prl.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v104/i11/e11800

Experiences in porting mini-applications to OpenACC and OpenMP on heterogeneous systems

This article studies mini-applications—Minisweep, GenASiS, GPP, and FF—that use computational methods commonly encountered in HPC. We have ported these applications to develop OpenACC and OpenMP versions, and evaluated their performance on Titan (Cray XK7 with K20x GPUs), Cori (Cray XC40 with Intel KNL), Summit (IBM AC922 with Volta GPUs), and Cori-GPU (Cray CS-Storm 500NX with Intel Skylake and Volta GPUs). Our goals are for these new ports to be useful to both application and compiler developers, to document and describe the lessons learned and the methodology to create optimized OpenMP and OpenACC versions, and to provide a description of possible migration paths between the two specifications. Cases where specific directives or code patterns result in improved performance for a given architecture are highlighted. We also include discussions of the functionality and maturity of the latest compilers available on the above platforms with respect to OpenACC or OpenMP implementations

Ultrasensitive Displacement Noise Measurement of Carbon Nanotube Mechanical Resonators

Mechanical resonators based on a single carbon nanotube are exceptional sensors of mass and force. The force sensitivity in these ultra-light resonators is often limited by the noise in the detection of the vibrations. Here, we report on an ultra-sensitive scheme based on a RLC resonator and a low-temperature amplifier to detect nanotube vibrations. We also show a new fabrication process of electromechanical nanotube resonators to reduce the separation between the suspended nanotube and the gate electrode down to $\sim 150$~nm. These advances in detection and fabrication allow us to reach $0.5~\mathrm{pm}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ displacement sensitivity. Thermal vibrations cooled cryogenically at 300~mK are detected with a signal-to-noise ratio as high as 17~dB. We demonstrate $4.3~\mathrm{zN}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ force sensitivity, which is the best force sensitivity achieved thus far with a mechanical resonator. Our work is an important step towards imaging individual nuclear spins and studying the coupling between mechanical vibrations and electrons in different quantum electron transport regimes.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

EXTENSION EDUCATORS' SUPPLY OF RISK MANAGEMENT TRAINING TO FARMERS

A univariate Tobit model of extension educators' provision of risk management educational training was conducted in Mississippi, Texas, Indiana, and Nebraska. A complementary relationship exists between percent of time devoted to agricultural responsibilities and the provision of risk management training courses. The results indicate that, as extension educators perceive farmers to be more knowledgeable of risk management tools, their provision of risk management education decreases. On the other hand, the provision of risk management courses increase as extension educators perceive themselves as being more knowledgeable on the use of risk management tools.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Vitamin D: Mechanism of action and biological effects in uterine fibroids

Uterine fibroids (UFs) are the most common benign gynecological tumors. It was esti-mated that fifty percent of women presenting with UFs has symptomatology that negatively in-fluences their quality of life. Pharmacological and/or surgical treatments are frequently required, depending on the woman’s desire to preserve fertility, with a high impact on healthcare costs. Generally, the use of currently available pharmacological treatments may lead to side effects. Therefore, there is a growing interest in a natural and safe approach for UFs. In recent years, epi-demiological studies reported a vitamin D deficiency in patients with UFs raised interest in the potential biological effects of vitamin D supplementation. In vitro studies proved vitamin D efficacy in inhibiting UFs growth by targeting pathways involved in the regulation of various biological processes, including proliferation, extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling, DNA repair, signaling and apoptosis. However, clinical studies supported only in part the beneficial effects of vitamin D supplementation in reducing UFs growth and tumor volume. Randomized controlled trials and large population studies are mandatory as the potential clinical benefits are likely to be substantial

Control of contacts evaluation and the chemoprophylaxis in the prevention of Tuberculosis, according to the Technical Norm of Health, in the Health Center "El Bosque", La Victoria, Chiclayo - Peru, August - October, 2007

El seguimiento de los contactos y la aplicación de la quimioprofilaxis en la prevención de Tuberculosis según la Norma Técnica para el Control de la Tuberculosis no se sabe si se efectúa adecuadamente en el área de influencia de un Centro de Salud. Con este propósito se realizó el estudio a fin de evaluar el control de contactos y la aplicación de la quimioprofilaxis, según la Norma Técnica de Salud. El estudio es del tipo descriptivo transversal, y los datos se obtuvieron de entrevistas estructuradas a las familias registradas en el Centro de Salud, las cuales poseen una o varias personas con TBC. Se emplearon las fichas familiares para conocer si éstas se encontraban correctamente llenadas, así como un interrogatorio a la jefa del personal de Enfermería encargada del área de salud para saber de qué modo se ha estado llevando la aplicación de la quimioprofilaxis y el control de contactos en la prevención de TBC. Los datos se procesaron en Microsoft Office Excel y se aplicó la prueba estadística de Chi cuadrado independencia de criterios. Se concluye que ninguno de los aspectos en estudio es realizado de acuerdo a lo estipulado en la Norma Técnica para el Control de la Tuberculosis, debido a factores como la falta de información brindada, la ausencia de visitas domiciliarias, la deficiente supervisión; los que serán tratados en el presente documento.Abstract : The follow-up of the contacts and the application of the chemoprophylaxis in the prevention of Tuberculosis according to the Technical Norm for the Control of the Tuberculosis is not known if it is carried out adequately in the area of influence of a Health Center. With this intention the study was realized in order to evaluate the control of contacts and the application of the chemoprophylaxis, according to the Technical Norm of Health. The study is descriptive transverse type, and the information was obtained of interviews constructed to the families registered in the Center of Health, which one or several persons possess with TBC. Familiar cards were used to know if these were filled correctly, as well as an interrogation to the chief of the personnel of nursing in charge of the area of health to know of what way one has been taking the application of the chemoprophylaxis and the control of contacts in TBC's prevention. The information was tried in Microsoft Scullery Excel and there applied to itself the statistical test of square Chi independence of criteria. It concludes that none of the aspects in study is realized in agreement to the stipulated in the Technical Norm for the Control of the Tuberculosis; due to factors as the lack of offered information, the absence of domiciliary visits, the deficient supervision

Extension Educators\u27 Perceptions of Risk Management Training Needs

This article reports selected summary statistics from a survey of county/area Extension educators from Indiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, and Texas. Major subject categories reported include: characteristics of Extension training, Extension educators\u27 risk knowledge and evaluation of producers\u27 risk management knowledge, Extension educators\u27 interest in risk management education, and evaluation of producers\u27 interest in risk management education. Findings suggest that Extension educators consider themselves deficient in terms of preparation in agricultural risk management. Ultimately, if Extension educators receive better training in risk management techniques, they will be able to better serve their clientele

StAR: a simple tool for the statistical comparison of ROC curves

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>As in many different areas of science and technology, most important problems in bioinformatics rely on the proper development and assessment of binary classifiers. A generalized assessment of the performance of binary classifiers is typically carried out through the analysis of their receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) constitutes a popular indicator of the performance of a binary classifier. However, the assessment of the statistical significance of the difference between any two classifiers based on this measure is not a straightforward task, since not many freely available tools exist. Most existing software is either not free, difficult to use or not easy to automate when a comparative assessment of the performance of many binary classifiers is intended. This constitutes the typical scenario for the optimization of parameters when developing new classifiers and also for their performance validation through the comparison to previous art.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this work we describe and release new software to assess the statistical significance of the observed difference between the AUCs of any two classifiers for a common task estimated from paired data or unpaired balanced data. The software is able to perform a pairwise comparison of many classifiers in a single run, without requiring any expert or advanced knowledge to use it. The software relies on a non-parametric test for the difference of the AUCs that accounts for the correlation of the ROC curves. The results are displayed graphically and can be easily customized by the user. A human-readable report is generated and the complete data resulting from the analysis are also available for download, which can be used for further analysis with other software. The software is released as a web server that can be used in any client platform and also as a standalone application for the Linux operating system.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>A new software for the statistical comparison of ROC curves is released here as a web server and also as standalone software for the LINUX operating system.</p