Estudio de losas de hormigón de la Ruta Provincial Nº 1, Provincia de Córdoba

La problemática de la durabilidad de los pavimentos de hormigón involucra diferentes factores que abarcan desde las características químicas de los cementos, la mineralogía, textura y propiedades físico-mecánicas de los agregados, la dosificación, los aspectos constructivos, las condiciones ambientales reinantes durante la vida en servicio de la obra y las solicitaciones a las cuales fue sometida la estructura. Las numerosas variables implicadas dificultan la detección de la causalidad del deterioro, aunque distintas metodologías de estudio contribuyen al conocimiento del mecanismo de degradación, ponderando cada variable para establecer el origen y la secuencia de eventos que culminan con el de la estructura. El pavimento de hormigón de la Ruta Provincial Nº 1, que une las localidades de San Francisco y Morteros (Provincia de Córdoba), presenta un marcado deterioro evidenciado por el complejo patrón de fisuración, escalonamiento y ruptura de las losas. Aquellos sectores con una intensa densificación del mapeo de discontinuidades están actualmente siendo reemplazados, la obra tiene entre 26 y 30 años en servicio. En el material removido se observa una reacción entre el agregado y el mortero, restringida frecuentemente al tercio inferior pero que en algunos sectores afecta al espesor total de losa (~20 cm). Para la identificación de las reacciones y los procesos involucrados se extrajeron muestras de las losas removidas y en aquellas con una fisuración que podría vincularse a la RAS, las muestras se analizaron mediante el examen petrográfico, difracción de rayos X, ensayos de resistencia y análisis químicos. Los agregados gruesos en general son de tipo metamórfico y corresponden a gneises biotíticos-granatíferos, afectados por procesos de deformación, los agregados finos en su mayoría corresponden a clastos poligranulares de cuarzo o granos monominerales de cuarzo, feldespato potásico y plagioclasa. La pasta de hormigón se encuentra en buen estado aunque se observan microfisuras de escala micrométrica a milimétrica, algunas con relleno parcial. Los poros frecuentemente se presentan parcial y/o totalmente tapizados por un mineral secundario identificado como ettringita, que incluso puede colmatar las cavidades. En la superficie del mortero y en las zonas de interfase agregado grueso – mortero son abundantes los productos de neoformación, determinados por DRX como calcita, portlandita y ettringita, estas últimas como fases subordinadas. La aplicación conjunta de distintas metodologías de estudio resulta una estrategia fundamental a la hora de evaluar cuáles fueron las causas del deterioro de una estructura. La utilización de herramientas aisladas puede llevarnos a detectar solo parte de la problemática y generar confusiones respecto de los factores y procesos que produjeron los efectos nocivos. El motivo del deterioro parece estar vinculado a diversos factores principalmente constructivos y de mantenimiento

New Approaches for Power Binning of High Performance Microprocessors

The significant process parameter variations occurring during fabrication of high performance sequential circuits, such as microprocessors, are posing relevant uncertainties on the power that such circuits will consume in the field, while executing workloads typical for the diverse products they are oriented to (e.g., cellular phones, notebooks, servers, etc). On the other hand, different kinds of products have different constraints on the maximal power that could be consumed during the execution of typical workloads, due to diverse needs in terms of charge autonomy, heat dissipation, etc. Consequently, the power that will be consumed by microprocessors during the execution of typical workloads in the field needs to be accurately characterized at the end of fabrication. Such a power consumption characterization (hereinafter referred to as \u201cpower binning\u201d), will enable to classify microprocessors in \u201cpower bins\u201d, each one containing microprocessors suitable for different kinds of products, thus enabling to introduce them all into the market for different kinds of products. Based on these considerations, in this paper we propose an approach to characterize accurately at the end of fabrication, and at low-cost (in terms of characterization time), the power that microprocessors will consume in the in-field during the execution of workloads typical for different kinds of products. Our approach exploits scan-based Logic Built-In Self-Test (LBIST) to apply to microprocessors' sequential blocks test vectors that induce on their internal nodes an activity factor (AF) similar to that experienced during the in-field execution of workloads typical for different kinds of products, thus enabling to perform power binning by simply measuring their consumed power. Our approach enables to scale the AF from 0 percent up to 97.6 percent (on average for the considered benchmark circuits) compared to conventional LBIST, with a granularity of the 2 percent, thus enabling to emulate accurately the AF induced by workloads typical of a wide range of products. We propose a hardware implementation for our approach requiring a limited area overhead (lower than 3 percent) over conventional LBIST

Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage for Late Talkers: The Feasibility of a Caregiver-Implemented Telehealth Model

Purpose: This feasibility study examined a caregiver-implemented telehealth model of the Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage for Late Talkers (VAULT) proto-col. We asked whether caregivers could reach fidelity on VAULT, if the protocol was socially and ecologically valid, and if late-talking toddlers could learn new words with this model. Method: Five late-talking monolingual and bilingual toddlers and four caregivers participated. The caregiver-related research questions involved measurements taken at multiple time points and replication across subjects but did not follow a specific research design. The toddler-related research questions included ele-ments of a single-case design. Caregivers completed self-paced online training modules and then provided 8 weeks of VAULT to their children with remote coaching. Fidelity data were collected during coached sessions and through rating scales. Social and ecological validity data were collected via surveys and interviews. Children’s word learning was measured before, during, and after treatment via production of targets and controls and via standardized vocabulary inventories. Results: Caregivers demonstrated high fidelity to VAULT throughout treatment. They reported being comfortable with many aspects of VAULT. Feedback was mixed regarding the time required. Many reported their child was talking more as a result of the program. Visual analysis revealed that toddlers learned more target than control words, which was corroborated by Tau-U and d effect size analyses. Conclusion: A caregiver-implemented telehealth model of VAULT was feasible, was socially and ecologically valid, and benefited toddlers, making this a worth-while model for future studies to examine.Immediate accessThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

VAULT caregiver telehealth (Mettler et al., 2022)

Purpose: This feasibility study examined a caregiver-implemented telehealth model of the Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage for Late Talkers (VAULT) protocol. We asked whether caregivers could reach fidelity on VAULT, if the protocol was socially and ecologically valid, and if late-talking toddlers could learn new words with this model. Method: Five late-talking monolingual and bilingual toddlers and four caregivers participated. The caregiver-related research questions involved measurements taken at multiple time points and replication across subjects but did not follow a specific research design. The toddler-related research questions included elements of a single-case design. Caregivers completed self-paced online training modules and then provided 8 weeks of VAULT to their children with remote coaching. Fidelity data were collected during coached sessions and through rating scales. Social and ecological validity data were collected via surveys and interviews. Children’s word learning was measured before, during, and after treatment via production of targets and controls and via standardized vocabulary inventories. Results: Caregivers demonstrated high fidelity to VAULT throughout treatment. They reported being comfortable with many aspects of VAULT. Feedback was mixed regarding the time required. Many reported their child was talking more as a result of the program. Visual analysis revealed that toddlers learned more target than control words, which was corroborated by Tau-U and d effect size analyses. Conclusion: A caregiver-implemented telehealth model of VAULT was feasible, was socially and ecologically valid, and benefited toddlers, making this a worthwhile model for future studies to examine. Supplemental Material S1. Additional tables, figures, and results that were ancillary to the main research questions to increase transparency and replicability of this research. Supplemental Material S2. VAULT training materials that clinicians can readily use to reduce the research-to-practice gap. Supplemental Material S3. Researcher-created survey and interview questions to increase transparency and replicability of this research. Mettler, H. M., Neiling, S. L., Figueroa, C. R., Evan-Reitz, N., & Alt, M. (2022). Vocabulary Acquisition and Usage for Late Talkers: The feasibility of a caregiver-implemented telehealth model. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00285</p

FIND Stroke Recovery Study (FIND): rationale and protocol for a longitudinal observational cohort study of trajectories of recovery and biomarkers poststroke

Introduction Comprehensive studies mapping domain-specific trajectories of recovery after stroke and biomarkers reflecting these processes are scarce. We, therefore, initiated an exploratory prospective observational study of stroke cases with repeated evaluation, the FIND Stroke Recovery Study. We aim to capture trajectories of recovery from different impairments, including cognition, in combination with broad profiling of blood and imaging biomarkers of the recovery.Methods and analysis We recruit individuals with first-ever stroke at the stroke unit at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden, to FIND. The inclusion started early 2018 and we aim to enrol minimum 500 patients. Neurological and cognitive impairments across multiple domains are assessed using validated clinical assessment methods, advanced neuroimaging is performed and blood samples for biomarker measuring (protein, RNA and DNA) at inclusion and follow-up visits at 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years and 5 years poststroke. At baseline and at each follow-up visit, we also register clinical variables known to influence outcomes such as prestroke functioning, stroke severity, acute interventions, rehabilitation, other treatments, socioeconomic status, infections (including COVID-19) and other comorbidities. Recurrent stroke and other major vascular events are identified continuously in national registers.Ethics and dissemination FIND composes a unique stroke cohort with detailed phenotyping, repetitive assessments of outcomes across multiple neurological and cognitive domains and patient-reported outcomes as well as blood and imaging biomarker profiling. Ethical approval for the FIND study has been obtained from the Regional Ethics Review Board in Gothenburg and the Swedish Ethics Review Board. The results of this exploratory study will provide novel data on the time course of recovery and biomarkers after stroke. The description of this protocol will inform the stroke research community of our ongoing study and facilitate comparisons with other data sets.Trial registration number The protocol is registered at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, Study ID: NCT05708807