Road Network Simulation Using FLAME GPU

Demand for high performance road network simulation is increasing due to the need for improved traffic management to cope with the globally increasing number of road vehicles and the poor capacity utilisation of existing infrastructure. This paper demonstrates FLAME GPU as a suitable Agent Based Simulation environment for road network simulations, capable of coping with the increasing demands on road network simulation. Gipps’ car following model is implemented and used to demonstrate the performance of simulation as the problem size is scaled. The performance of message communication techniques has been evaluated to give insight into the impact of runtime generated data structures to improve agent communication performance. A custom visualisation is demonstrated for FLAME GPU simulations and the techniques used are described

Marked long-term decline in ambient CO mixing ratio in SE England, 1997–2014:Evidence of policy success in improving air quality

Atmospheric CO at Egham in SE England has shown a marked and progressive decline since 1997, following adoption of strict controls on emissions. The Egham site is uniquely positioned to allow both assessment and comparison of ‘clean Atlantic background’ air and CO-enriched air downwind from the London conurbation. The decline is strongest (approximately 50ppb per year) in the 1997–2003 period but continues post 2003. A ‘local CO increment’ can be identified as the residual after subtraction of contemporary background Atlantic CO mixing ratios from measured values at Egham. This increment, which is primarily from regional sources (during anticyclonic or northerly winds) or from the European continent (with easterly air mass origins), has significant seasonality, but overall has declined steadily since 1997. On many days of the year CO measured at Egham is now not far above Atlantic background levels measured at Mace Head (Ireland). The results are consistent with MOPITT satellite observations and ‘bottom-up’ inventory results. Comparison with urban and regional background CO mixing ratios in Hong Kong demonstrates the importance of regional, as opposed to local reduction of CO emission. The Egham record implies that controls on emissions subsequent to legislation have been extremely successful in the UK

Probing the close environment of young stellar objects with interferometry

The study of Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) is one of the most exciting topics that can be undertaken by long baseline optical interferometry. The magnitudes of these objects are at the edge of capabilities of current optical interferometers, limiting the studies to a few dozen, but are well within the capability of coming large aperture interferometers like the VLT Interferometer, the Keck Interferometer, the Large Binocular Telescope or 'OHANA. The milli-arcsecond spatial resolution reached by interferometry probes the very close environment of young stars, down to a tenth of an astronomical unit. In this paper, I review the different aspects of star formation that can be tackled by interferometry: circumstellar disks, multiplicity, jets. I present recent observations performed with operational infrared interferometers, IOTA, PTI and ISI, and I show why in the next future one will extend these studies with large aperture interferometers.Comment: Review to be published in JENAM'2002 proceedings "The Very Large Telescope Interferometer Challenges for the future

Are Interaction-free Measurements Interaction Free?

In 1993 Elitzur and Vaidman introduced the concept of interaction-free measurements which allowed finding objects without ``touching'' them. In the proposed method, since the objects were not touched even by photons, thus, the interaction-free measurements can be called as ``seeing in the dark''. Since then several experiments have been successfully performed and various modifications were suggested. Recently, however, the validity of the term ``interaction-free'' has been questioned. The criticism of the name is briefly reviewed and the meaning of the interaction-free measurements is clarified.Comment: 11 pages, 3 eps figures. Contribution to the ICQO 2000, Raubichi, Belaru

The social construction of leadership studies: Representations of rigour and relevance in textbooks

Considerations of rigour and relevance rarely acknowledge students, learning or the textbooks many of the academic community use to frame education. Here we explore the construction of meaning around rigour and relevance in four leadership studies textbooks – the two most globally popular leadership textbooks and two recent additions to the field – to explore how these ideas are represented. We read the four texts narratively for structure, purpose, style and application. We further embed the analysis by considering the cultural positioning of the textbook-as-genre within leadership studies as a field more generally. This exploration of the textbook raises critical questions about rigour, relevance and the relationship constructed between them. From this, we argue for a re-commitment to the genuine ‘text-book’ written to engage students in understanding leadership as a continuing conversation between practices, theories and contexts, rather than as a repository of rigorous and/or relevant content that lays claim to represent an objective science of leadership studies

Hygge, Hope and Higher Education: A Case Study of Denmark

Higher education institutions have been profoundly reshaped by processes associated with neoliberalism. In this chapter, Larsen outlines the ways in which Denmark has ushered in marketdriven reforms to the Danish higher education system to enhance their institutional competitiveness over the past 30 years. Research on the impacts of neoliberal higher education reforms on faculty is reviewed and the author discusses her experiences (at a Canadian university) with market-driven, accountability reforms. The chapter shifts direction and provides the reader with an overview of the concept of hygge, an idealized Danish term that has connotations of coziness, safety, friendliness, and intimacy. Larsen recounts her experiences as a Canadian academic on sabbatical at a Danish university in 2017, illustrating the ways in which she experienced hygge in the Danish university setting. In the final section of the chapter, Larsen argues that hygge can be viewed as a retreat from the individualism, competition, market stratification and other challenges associated with neoliberalism. Hygge marks out the boundaries between the cold and heartless market-place and the warm and cozy home, and despite critiques that is instantiates exclusions, hygge offers hope to resist the alienation associated with neoliberalism and provide an alternative ethos for close and safe social relations within academia

Effect of bilberry juice on indices of muscle damage and inflammation in runners completing a half-marathon: a randomised, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Emerging evidence indicates that fruits rich in polyphenols may attenuate exercise-induced muscle damage and associated markers of inflammation and soreness. This study was conducted to determine whether bilberry juice (BJ), which is particularly rich in polyphenols, reduces markers of muscle damage in runners completing a half marathon. Methods: A total of 21 recreationally trained runners (age 30.9 ± 10.4 y; mass 71.6 ± 11.0 kg; M=16; F=5) were recruited to a single blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, parallel study. Participants were block randomised to consume 2 x 200 ml of BJ or energy-matched control drink (PLA) for 5 d before the Sheffield Half Marathon, on race day, and for 2 days post-race. Measurements of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), muscle damage (creatine kinase; CK) and inflammation (c-reactive protein ; CRP) were taken at baseline, pre-race, post-race, 24 h post-race and 48 h post-race. The effect of treatment on outcome measures was analysed using magnitude-based inferences based on data from 19 participants; 2 participants were excluded from the analyses because they did not provide samples for all time points. Results: The half marathon caused elevations in DOMS, CRP and CK. BJ had a possibly harmful effect on DOMS from pre-race to immediately post-race (11.6%, 90% CI ± 14.7%), a likely harmful effect on CRP from pre-race to 24 h post-race (mean difference ES 0.56, 90% CI ± 0.72) and a possibly harmful effect on CRP from pre-race to 48 h post-race (ES 0.12, 90% CI ± 0.69). At other time points, the differences between the BJ and PLA groups in DOMS and CRP were unclear, possibly trivial or likely trivial. Differences in the changes in CK between BJ and PLA were unclear at every time point other than from baseline to pre-race, where BJ had a possibly harmful effect on reducing muscle damage (ES 0.23, 90% CI ± 0.57). Conclusion: Despite being a rich source of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory phytochemicals, BJ evoked small to moderate increases in exercise-induced DOMS and CRP. Further larger studies are required to confirm these unexpected preliminary results

A dusty torus around the luminous young star LkHa 101

A star forms when a cloud of dust and gas collapses. It is generally believed that this collapse first produces a flattened rotating disk, through which matter is fed onto the embryonic star at the center of the disk. When the temperature and density at the center of the star pass a critical threshold, thermonuclear fusion begins. The remaining disk, which can still contain up to 0.3 times the mass of the star, is then sculpted and eventually dissipated by the radiation and wind from the newborn star. Unfortunately this picture of the structure and evolution of the disk remains speculative because of the lack of morphological data of sufficient resolution and uncertainties regarding the underlying physical processes. Here we present resolved images of a young star, LkHa 101 in which the structure of the inner accretion disk is resolved. We find that the disk is almost face-on, with a central gap (or cavity) and a hot inner edge. The cavity is bigger than previous theoretical predictions, and we infer that the position of the inner edge is probably determined by sublimation of dust grains by direct stellar radiation, rather than by disk reprocessing or the viscous heating processes as usually assumed.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure. Appears in Nature, 22 Feb, 2001 (Vol 409

Wanted dead or alive : high diversity of macroinvertebrates associated with living and ’dead’ Posidonia oceanica matte

The Mediterranean endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica forms beds characterised by a dense leaf canopy and a thick root-rhizome ‘matte’. Death of P. oceanica shoots leads to exposure of the underlying matte, which can persist for many years, and is termed ‘dead’ matte. Traditionally, dead matte has been regarded as a degraded habitat. To test whether this assumption was true, the motile macroinvertebrates of adjacent living (with shoots) and dead (without shoots) matte of P. oceanica were sampled in four different plots located at the same depth (5–6 m) in Mellieha Bay, Malta (central Mediterranean). The total number of species and abundance were significantly higher (ANOVA; P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively) in the dead matte than in living P. oceanica matte, despite the presence of the foliar canopy in the latter. Multivariate analysis (MDS) clearly showed two main groups of assemblages, corresponding to the two matte types. The amphipods Leptocheirus guttatus and Maera grossimana, and the polychaete Nereis rava contributed most to the dissimilarity between the two different matte types. Several unique properties of the dead matte contributing to the unexpected higher number of species and abundance of motile macroinvertebrates associated with this habitat are discussed. The findings have important implications for the conservation of bare P. oceanica matte, which has been generally viewed as a habitat of low ecological value.peer-reviewe