2,163 research outputs found

    Decentralized Congestion Control Algorithm for Vehicle to Vehicle Networks Using Oscillating Transmission Power

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    Wireless access in vehicular environments (WAVE) is a vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communications technology which could help prevent up to 82% of non-impaired accidents, according to the US DOT. A 2013 study by the World Health Organization estimated 2,227 road fatalities in 2009 alone. Currently the channel that is responsible for a vehicle’s awareness of others suffers from congestion at moderate loads. In this paper we propose a novel method for adjusting the transmission power in a pattern which alternates between high and low powered transmissions. We modify one commonly used decentralized congestion control (DCC) algorithm, LIMERIC, and compare the power adaptation model against two controls. WAVE supports a 300 meter transmission radius, however, less than 200 vehicles can communicate at the target rate of 10 transmissions per second. We demonstrate that our algorithm reduces the number of packets received by distant vehicles, while maintaining a higher packet rate to the closer vehicles, for which a higher rate is more important

    Energy Efficiency Incentives

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    Course Code: ENR/AEDE 4567A semester long research project centered around identifying best practices and barriers to implementing effective municipal energy efficiency incentives.Academic Major: Environment, Economy, Development, and Sustainabilit

    Social quality and Brexit in Stoke-on-Trent, England

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    In this article, we seek to provide a social quality–led analysis of some of the conditions that led to the UK population’s collective decision to leave the European Union in June 2016. We draw on interview data collected between 2010 and 2012 to argue that while not predictable, the seeds of the Brexit vote are well rooted in the conditions experienced by many of the working classes in Britain’s most deprived postindustrial communities. We argue that the ongoing decline in economic security, effective enfranchisement, social inclusion, and social empowerment have all had profound consequences for working-class communities and that the outcome of the Brexit vote was rooted, at least in part, in their subjective experiences and disenchantment forged in this ongoing decline

    Negotiating Closed Doors and Constraining Deadlines: The Potential of Visual Ethnography to Effectually Explore Private and Public Spaces of Motherhood and Parenting

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    Pregnancy and motherhood are increasingly subjected to surveillance, by medical professionals, the media and the general public; and discourses of ideal parenting are propagated alongside an admonishment of the perceived ‘failing’ maternal subject. However, despite this scrutiny, the mundane activities of parenting are often impervious to ethnographic forms of inquiry. Challenges for ethnographic researchers include the restrictions of becoming immersed in the private space of the home where parenting occurs, and an institutional structure that discourages exploratory and long-term fieldwork. This paper draws on four studies, involving 34 participants, which explored their journeys into the space of parenthood and their everyday experiences. The studies all employed forms of visual ethnography including artefacts, photo-elicitation, timelines, collage and sandboxing. The paper argues that visual methodologies can enable access to unseen aspects of parenting, and engender forms of temporal extension, which can help researchers to disrupt the restrictions of tightly time bounded projects

    Evaluation of Acute Supplementation With the Ketone Ester ( R )-3-Hydroxybutyl-(R)-3-Hydroxybutyrate (deltaG) in Healthy Volunteers by Cardiac and Skeletal Muscle 31 P Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

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    In this acute intervention study, we investigated the potential benefit of ketone supplementation in humans by studying cardiac phosphocreatine to adenosine-triphosphate ratios (PCr/ATP) and skeletal muscle PCr recovery using phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS) before and after ingestion of a ketone ester drink. We recruited 28 healthy individuals: 12 aged 23–70 years for cardiac 31P-MRS, and 16 aged 60–75 years for skeletal muscle 31P-MRS. Baseline and post-intervention resting cardiac and dynamic skeletal muscle 31P-MRS scans were performed in one visit, where 25 g of the ketone monoester, deltaG®, was administered after the baseline scan. Administration was timed so that post-intervention 31P-MRS would take place 30 min after deltaG® ingestion. The deltaG® ketone drink was well-tolerated by all participants. In participants who provided blood samples, post-intervention blood glucose, lactate and non-esterified fatty acid concentrations decreased significantly (−28.8%, p ≪ 0.001; −28.2%, p = 0.02; and −49.1%, p ≪ 0.001, respectively), while levels of the ketone body D-beta-hydroxybutyrate significantly increased from mean (standard deviation) 0.7 (0.3) to 4.0 (1.1) mmol/L after 30 min (p ≪ 0.001). There were no significant changes in cardiac PCr/ATP or skeletal muscle metabolic parameters between baseline and post-intervention. Acute ketone supplementation caused mild ketosis in blood, with drops in glucose, lactate, and free fatty acids; however, such changes were not associated with changes in 31P-MRS measures in the heart or in skeletal muscle. Future work may focus on the effect of longer-term ketone supplementation on tissue energetics in groups with compromised mitochondrial function

    The effect of cataract on early stage glaucoma detection using spatial and temporal contrast sensitivity tests

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    Background: To investigate the effect of cataract on the ability of spatial and temporal contrast sensitivity tests used to detect early glaucoma. Methods: Twenty-seven glaucoma subjects with early cataract (mean age 60 Âą10.2 years) which constituted the test group were recruited together with twenty-seven controls (cataract only) matched for age and cataract type from a primary eye care setting. Contrast sensitivity to flickering gratings at 20 Hz and stationary gratings with and without glare, were measured for 0.5, 1.5 and 3 cycles per degree (cpd) in central vision. Perimetry and structural measurements with the Heidelberg Retinal Tomograph (HRT) were also performed. Results: After considering the effect of cataract, contrast sensitivity to stationary gratings was reduced in the test group compared with controls with a statistically significant mean difference of 0.2 log units independent of spatial frequency. The flicker test showed a significant difference between test and control group at 1.5 and 3 cpd (p = 0.019 and p = 0.011 respectively). The percentage of glaucoma patients who could not see the temporal modulation was much higher compared with their cataract only counterparts. A significant correlation was found between the reduction of contrast sensitivity caused by glare and the Glaucoma Probability Score (GPS) as measured with the HRT (p<0.005). Conclusions: These findings indicate that both spatial and temporal contrast sensitivity tests are suitable for distinguishing between vision loss as a consequence of glaucoma and vision loss caused by cataract only. The correlation between glare factor and GPS suggests that there may be an increase in intraocular stray light in glaucoma
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