Thermocapillary migration of a droplet with a thermal source at large Reynolds and Marangoni numbers

The {\it unsteady} process for thermocapillary droplet migration at large Reynolds and Marangoni numbers has been previously reported by identifying a nonconservative integral thermal flux across the surface in the {\it steady} thermocapillary droplet migration, [Wu and Hu, J. Math. Phys. {\bf 54} 023102, (2013)]. Here we add a thermal source in the droplet to preserve the integral thermal flux across the surface as conservative, so that thermocapillary droplet migration at large Reynolds and Marangoni numbers can reach a {\it quasi-steady} process. Under assumptions of {\it quasi-steady} state and non-deformation of the droplet, we make an analytical result for the {\it steady} thermocapillary migration of droplet with the thermal source at large Reynolds and Marangoni numbers. The result shows that the thermocapillary droplet migration speed slowly increases with the increase of Marangoni number.Comment: 3 figure

ARE YOU GONNA EAT THAT?Arsenic and Mercury Levels in Allegheny River Catfish and Implications for Human Consumption

This study examined arsenic and mercury concentrations in channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) caught for human consumption in the Allegheny River. Arsenic is a known human carcinogen and mercury is known to cause neurological disorders, particularly in fetuses and children. Subsistence and semi-subsistence anglers and their families are at risk of exposure.Catfish were caught at 4 distinct sites - Pittsburgh, Cheswick, Freeport and Ford City. They were measured for general characteristics such as weight, length, and sex, and tissue samples were taken and analyzed for heavy metal content. The study addressed main questions: Do levels of mercury and arsenic vary among the 4 sites and, if so, how? Do the levels of mercury and arsenic in these fish pose a threat to people who eat them regularly?Analysis of variance was used to determine group differences by location. Contrasts were performed to test for specific differences: Pittsburgh from the other three sites, and Cheswick, Freeport and Ford City from each other. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine if any of the other factors, weight, length or sex, had an impact on metals levels in addition to location. Assessments of risk to human consumers of these fish were conducted using US EPA guidelines and formulae.The Pittsburgh fish were found to have significantly different concentrations of both arsenic and mercury than the fish from the other sites. Mean levels of arsenic and mercury were observed to be lower in the Pittsburgh fish. No significant differences in contaminant levels were found between the Cheswick, Freeport and Ford City fish. Subsequent analyses were conducted combining these three locations into the Allegheny River group. Regression analyses showed minimal impact of weight and no impact of any other factor when controlling for location. Public Health Implications: Risk assessments found hazard quotients above 1 for all populations (children 3-8, children 9-15, women of childbearing age, other adults) based on 95% confidence intervals for mean concentrations of mercury. Arsenic levels also showed excess cancer risk for all populations. Current fish consumption advisories are inadequate to protect the health of regular consumers of these fish

Analysis of East Asia’ crisis: preconditions and results

The article analyses the causes of the crisis in Eastern Asia, among them: liberalization of foreign exchange accounts, reduced possibilities of financial flows regulation, government intervention, growth of corruption, production and democratization. The article shows how the liberazation of foreign currency accounts and the low level of foreign currency reserves have created the conditions for the emergence of the crisis of a new type.У статті проаналізовані причини кризи у Східній Азії, серед яких: лібералізація валютних рахунків, зменшення можливості управління фінансовими потоками, урядові втручання, ріст корупції, виробництва та демократії. Показано як лібералізація валютних рахунків та низький рівень резервів в іноземній валюті створили достатні умови виникнення кризи нового типу

Progress in pulsed laser deposited two-dimensional layered materials for device applications

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SHEAR PARAMETERS OF VARVED CLAY

Investigations on changes of shear parameters of varved clay with different approaches in triaxial test and direct shear are subject of the following paper. Also statistical estimation of physical parameters of clay in soil massif has been presented and the usefulness of normal distribution in selecting adequate probablistic model of variability distribution of shear resistance coefficient in direct shear test has been evaluated

Do fertility tracking applications offer women useful information about their fertile window?

RESEARCH QUESTION: To characterize mobile fertility tracking applications (apps) to determine the use of such apps for women trying to conceive by identifying the fertile window. DESIGN: An exploratory cross-sectional audit study was conducted of fertility tracking applications. Ninety out of a possible total 200 apps were included for full review. The main outcome measures were the underlying app method for predicting ovulation, the fertile window, or both, price to download and use the app, disclaimers and cautions, information and features provided and tracked, and app marketing strategies. RESULTS: All the apps except one monitored the women’s menstrual cycle dates. Most apps only tracked menstrual cycle dates (n = 49 [54.4%]). The remainder tracked at least one fertility-based awareness method (basal body temperature, cervical mucus, LH) (n = 41 [45.6%]). Twenty-five apps measured dates, basal body temperature, LH and cervical mucus (27.8%). Seventy-six per cent of apps were free to download with free apps having more desirable features, tracking more measures and having more and better quality educational insights than paid apps. Seventy per cent of apps were classified as feminine apps, 41% of which were pink in colour. CONCLUSIONS: Mobile fertility tracking apps are heterogenous in their underlying methods of predicting fertile days, the price to obtain full app functionality, and in content and design. Unreliable calendar apps remain the most commonly available fertility apps on the market. The unregulated nature of fertility apps is a concern that could be addressed by app regulating bodies. The possible benefit of using fertility apps to reduce time to pregnancy needs to be evaluated

Investigating the Production of Biodiesel from Alphonso Mango Seed Oil

Alphonso Mango seed oil was investigated as a feedstock to determine some of the suitable parameters such as reaction temperature, time of reaction and oil to methanol ratio, that are suitable for biodiesel production. The preliminary investigation of the oil was carried out to determine the acid value from which the percentage free fatty acid (%FFA) was calculated. The acid value and %FFA were 35.90 and 17.95mg KOH/g respectively. This necessitated a three steps esterification of the oil sample for reduction of the %FFA to 0.547mgKOH/g and later transesterification of the oil. The effect of reaction temperature, reaction time and oil to methanol ratio on production of biodiesel from the oil was then investigated. Optimum yield of biodiesel from this oil were obtained at 600C, 60mins (1 hour) and at 1:4 of oil to methanol ratio. The important properties of the biodiesel like the flashpoint, cetane number, kinematic viscosity, Iodine value, density and saponification value were determined and they were found to be 146OC, 76, 3.6mm2/s, 29.46mEq/g, 0.87g/cm3and145.15mgKOH/g respectively. The various values obtained were compared with specifications of ASTM D6751 standard and established that the Alphonso mango seed oil methyl ester could be used as an alternative to/or blended with petrodiesel.http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/njt.v33i4.1

Streamline topology and dilute particle dynamics in a Karman vortex street flow

Three types of streamline topology in a Karman vortex street flow are shown under the variation of spatial parameters. For the motion of dilute particles in the K\'arm\'an vortex street flow, there exist a route of bifurcation to a chaotic orbit and more attractors in a bifurcation diagram for the proportion of particle density to fluid density. Along with the increase of spatial parameters in the flow filed, the bifurcation process is suspended, as well as more and more attractors emerge. In the motion of dilute particles, a drag term and gravity term dominate and result in the bifurcation phenomenon.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure

The Agent-construction System for procuring mega projects in China

Topics: - Innovation in construction: theories and best practices (General Themes)While heated discussions have been directed towards various innovative procurement systems such as PPP, PFI, and BOT that carry the great expectation to help materialise the projects and deliver value to the society, a procurement system named agent-construction system (ACS or in Chinese Dai Jian Zhi) is being prevailing in China’s public procurement. This research aims to examine ACS by relating them to China’s particular Political, Economics, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal (PESTEL) background. It is found that the ACS is promising in procuring public projects owing to two merits: (a) clearly defined right and responsibilities; and (b) appropriate allocation of resources and risks amongst parties involved. The research is particularly useful when governments worldwide are searching for innovative procurement approaches to help deliver public projects and services. It also sheds light on how to devise an innovative procurement system. A word of caution, nevertheless, is that readers should not follow this “good practice” slavishly. One ought to truly understand the essence of procurement innovation and devise suitable innovative procurement systems in a given PESTEL setting.postprin

Request-peer selection for load-balancing in P2P live streaming systems

Theme: Services, Applications and BusinessUnlike peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, P2P live streaming systems have to meet real-time playback constraints, which makes it very challenging yet crucial to maximize the peer uplink bandwidth utilization so as to deliver content pieces in time. In general, this is achieved by adopting tailor-made piece selection and request-peer selection algorithms. The design philosophy is to regulate the network traffic and to balance the load among peers. In this paper, we propose a new request-peer selection algorithm. In particular, a peer in the network estimates the service response time (SRT) between itself and each neighboring peer. An SRT is measured from when a data piece request is sent until the requested piece arrives. When a peer makes a piece request, the neighbor with smaller SRT and fewer data pieces would be favored among potential providers. This is because smaller SRT implies excess serving capacity and fewer data pieces suggests less piece requests received. We evaluate the performance of our request-peer selection algorithm through extensive packet level simulations. Our simulation results show that the traffic load in the network is better balanced in the sense that the difference of the normalized number of data packets uploaded by each peer is getting smaller and the number of repeated piece requests generated by each peer (due to request failure) is significantly reduced. We also found that the load of streaming server is reduced, and the overall quality of service, measured by playback continuity, startup delay etc, is improved as well. © 2012 IEEE.published_or_final_versio