The investigation of fibre reinforcement effects in thermoplastic materials: interfacial bond strength and fibre end parameter

Glass fibres used in the manufacture of fibre reinforced thermoplastic composites (FRTP) are normally sized with a film former which includes a silane coupling agent to improve the interfacial bond strength between glass fibre and matrix . However, during composite failure even an optimized interface cannot stop the initia tion of cracks at the fibre ends, which can lead to large transverse cracks in the matrix or failure by fibre pull-out. In order to help better understand the failure mechanisms of FRTP, thermoplastic microbond tests and photoelasticity experiments have been used to study the interface in model single fibre composites

The effect of leaf spots on yield and quality of wheat in southern Saskatchewan

Non-Peer ReviewedAlthough leaf spots have been reported to have a negative effect on yield and quality, the magnitude of the effect of leaf spots on grain yield and quality of wheat cultivars grown on dryland in southern Saskatchewan is not known. Experiments were conducted at Swift Current (Brown soil) and Indian Head (Black soil) for three years to determine effects of leaf spots on grain yield, kernel weight, test weight and protein concentration of wheat. Two fungicides, Folicur 3.6F and Bravo 500 were applied at different growth stages in order to diversify the severity of leaf spots. Three common wheat (T. aestivum L.) cultivars - AC Domain, Laura and AC Elsa and three durum wheat (T. turgidum L. var durum) cultivars with different levels of leaf spot susceptibility were used in this study. The control of leaf spots by fungicides often did not cause an increase of yield, kernel weight, test weight or grain protein concentration in the drier Prairies where yield potential is relatively low. Fungicide treatments significantly increased yield in only two of six location-years (Folicur applied at head emergence in 1997 (0.07-0.13 t ha-1) (P < 0.05) and Folicur applied at flag emergence and/or head emergence in 1998 (0.41-0.47 t ha-1) (P < 0.001) at Indian Head. Fungicide applications significantly increased kernel weight in only three of six location-years (applications at flag leaf emergence at Swift Current (0.8-1.1 mg) (P < 0.05) and Indian Head (1.8-2.0 mg) (P < 0.001) in 1998 and at Indian Head in 1999 (10-1.1 mg) (P < 0.01). An increase of grain protein concentration was only found in treatments of Bravo applications at Indian Head in 1998 (0.3-0.7%) (P < 0.001). It seems that the control of leaf spots tended to have higher effect on yield and quality at Indian Head than Swift Current, it could be attributed to better controls of leaf spots at early milk stage (P < 0.001) and/or higher yield potential at Indian Head (P < 0.001). Although the cultivars used in this study have different leaf spot susceptibility (P < 0.001), there were no consistent cultivar differences in the effectiveness of the fungicides on control of leaf spots and on the yield, kernel weight and other quality characteristics. Leaf spots are a common and potentially severe foliar disease of wheat. Many studies have reported that leaf spots have a negative effect on grain yield (Eyal and Ziv, 1974; King, et al., 1983; McKendry and Henke, 1994), test weight (Milus, 1994) and milling quality (Mckendry et al., 1995), especially under environments favorable for the development of leaf spots or under intensive management such as irrigation (Duczek and Jones-Flory, 1994) and high N fertilizer rates (Howard, et al., 1994). In the past decade there has been an increase in the incidence of leaf spotting diseases of wheat in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. These are attributed mainly to Pyrenophora tritici-repentis (tan spot), Septoria nodorum and S. tritici (septoria leaf blotch complex) and all current spring wheat cultivars are susceptible to this disease complex - 333 - (Fernandez, et al., 1996; Fernandez, et al., 1998). Consequently there is increased pressure on producers to chemically control diseases that might affect yield and quality. The magnitude of the impact of leaf spots on grain yield and quality of wheat cultivars grown on dryland in this area, however, is not known. Research on these issues is therefore necessary to provide informed guidelines for use by producers. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of leaf spots on grain yield, kernel weight, test weight and protein concentration of spring common (T. aestivum L.) and durum (T. turgidum L. var durum) wheat in southern Saskatchewan

The effect of leaf spots on yield and quality of wheat in southern Saskatchewan

Non-Peer ReviewedAlthough leaf spots have been reported to have a negative effect on yield and quality, the magnitude of the effect of leaf spots on grain yield and quality of wheat cultivars grown on dryland in southern Saskatchewan is not known. Experiments were conducted at Swift Current (Brown soil) and Indian Head (Black soil) for three years to determine effects of leaf spots on grain yield, kernel weight, test weight and protein concentration of wheat. Two fungicides, Folicur 3.6F and Bravo 500 were applied at different growth stages in order to diversify the severity of leaf spots. Three common wheat (T. aestivum L.) cultivars - AC Domain, Laura and AC Elsa and three durum wheat (T. turgidum L. var durum) cultivars with different levels of leaf spot susceptibility were used in this study. The control of leaf spots by fungicides often did not cause an increase of yield, kernel weight, test weight or grain protein concentration in the drier Prairies where yield potential is relatively low. Fungicide treatments significantly increased yield in only two of six location-years (Folicur applied at head emergence in 1997 (0.07-0.13 t ha-1) (P < 0.05) and Folicur applied at flag emergence and/or head emergence in 1998 (0.41-0.47 t ha-1) (P < 0.001) at Indian Head. Fungicide applications significantly increased kernel weight in only three of six location-years (applications at flag leaf emergence at Swift Current (0.8-1.1 mg) (P < 0.05) and Indian Head (1.8-2.0 mg) (P < 0.001) in 1998 and at Indian Head in 1999 (10-1.1 mg) (P < 0.01). An increase of grain protein concentration was only found in treatments of Bravo applications at Indian Head in 1998 (0.3-0.7%) (P < 0.001). It seems that the control of leaf spots tended to have higher effect on yield and quality at Indian Head than Swift Current, it could be attributed to better controls of leaf spots at early milk stage (P < 0.001) and/or higher yield potential at Indian Head (P < 0.001). Although the cultivars used in this study have different leaf spot susceptibility (P < 0.001), there were no consistent cultivar differences in the effectiveness of the fungicides on control of leaf spots and on the yield, kernel weight and other quality characteristics. Leaf spots are a common and potentially severe foliar disease of wheat. Many studies have reported that leaf spots have a negative effect on grain yield (Eyal and Ziv, 1974; King, et al., 1983; McKendry and Henke, 1994), test weight (Milus, 1994) and milling quality (Mckendry et al., 1995), especially under environments favorable for the development of leaf spots or under intensive management such as irrigation (Duczek and Jones-Flory, 1994) and high N fertilizer rates (Howard, et al., 1994). In the past decade there has been an increase in the incidence of leaf spotting diseases of wheat in southern Saskatchewan, Canada. These are attributed mainly to Pyrenophora tritici-repentis (tan spot), Septoria nodorum and S. tritici (septoria leaf blotch complex) and all current spring wheat cultivars are susceptible to this disease complex - 333 - (Fernandez, et al., 1996; Fernandez, et al., 1998). Consequently there is increased pressure on producers to chemically control diseases that might affect yield and quality. The magnitude of the impact of leaf spots on grain yield and quality of wheat cultivars grown on dryland in this area, however, is not known. Research on these issues is therefore necessary to provide informed guidelines for use by producers. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of leaf spots on grain yield, kernel weight, test weight and protein concentration of spring common (T. aestivum L.) and durum (T. turgidum L. var durum) wheat in southern Saskatchewan

Advanced Luminescence Imaging of CIGS Solar Cells

The importance of CIGS based solar cells for terrestrial application increases steadily. A key issue for a high production yield are efficient inspection tools at the early stage of the production process. The present contribution focuses on imaging characterization of CIGS solar cells including photo and electroluminescence. PL imaging does not need electrical contacts and can be applied after the absorber deposition prior to the TCO deposition and the completion of the module. The effect of heat treatment on thermally evaporated In2S3 buffer layer with respect to the device performance is studied on the absorber amp;buffer stack by PL imaging. The correlation between PL intensity with achieved open circuit voltages of the completed devices has been established. It will be concluded that the quality of the buffer layer and the interface is well detectable at this early stage by PL imaging. The other issue addressed in this contribution is a characterization of graded gap absorbers by EL imaging. It will be demonstrated that luminescence imaging using optical bandpass filters can be used for the evaluation of the bandgap grading of CIGS absorbers fabricated by sequential processes. Furthermore, lateral inhomogeneities with respect to the In Ga intermixing can be detected already after the absorber deposition by the proposed PL imaging metho

Reproducing FSL's fMRI data analysis via Nipype:Relevance, challenges, and solutions

The "replication crisis" in neuroscientific research has led to calls for improving reproducibility. In traditional neuroscience analyses, irreproducibility may occur as a result of issues across various stages of the methodological process. For example, different operating systems, different software packages, and even different versions of the same package can lead to variable results. Nipype, an open-source Python project, integrates different neuroimaging software packages uniformly to improve the reproducibility of neuroimaging analyses. Nipype has the advantage over traditional software packages (e.g., FSL, ANFI, SPM, etc.) by (1) providing comprehensive software development frameworks and usage information, (2) improving computational efficiency, (3) facilitating reproducibility through sufficient details, and (4) easing the steep learning curve. Despite the rich tutorials it has provided, the Nipype community lacks a standard three-level GLM tutorial for FSL. Using the classical Flanker task dataset, we first precisely reproduce a three-level GLM analysis with FSL via Nipype. Next, we point out some undocumented discrepancies between Nipype and FSL functions that led to substantial differences in results. Finally, we provide revised Nipype code in re-executable notebooks that assure result invariability between FSL and Nipype. Our analyses, notebooks, and operating software specifications (e.g., docker build files) are available on the Open Science Framework platform

Interacting Ghost Dark Energy in Non-Flat Universe

A new dark energy model called "ghost dark energy" was recently suggested to explain the observed accelerating expansion of the universe. This model originates from the Veneziano ghost of QCD. The dark energy density is proportional to Hubble parameter, $\rho_D=\alpha H$, where $\alpha$ is a constant of order $\Lambda_{\rm QCD}^3$ and $\Lambda_{\rm QCD}\sim 100 MeV$ is QCD mass scale. In this paper, we extend the ghost dark energy model to the universe with spatial curvature in the presence of interaction between dark matter and dark energy. We study cosmological implications of this model in detail. In the absence of interaction the equation of state parameter of ghost dark energy is always $w_D > -1$ and mimics a cosmological constant in the late time, while it is possible to have $w_D < -1$ provided the interaction is taken into account. When $k = 0$, all previous results of ghost dark energy in flat universe are recovered. To check the observational consistency, we use Supernova type Ia (SNIa) Gold sample, shift parameter of Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB) and the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation peak from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The best fit values of free parameter at $1\sigma$ confidence interval are: $\Omega_m^0= 0.35^{+0.02}_{-0.03}$, $\Omega_D^0=0.75_{-0.04}^{+0.01}$ and $b^2=0.08^{+0.03}_{-0.03}$. Consequently the total energy density of universe at present time in this model at 68% level equates to $\Omega_{\rm tot}^0=1.10^{+0.02}_{-0.05}$.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures. V2: Added comments, observational consequences, references, figures and major corrections. Accepted for publication in General Relativity and Gravitatio

A cognitive control approach to interference mitigation in communications-based train control (CBTC) co-existing with passenger information systems (PISs)

As a key component of urban rail transit systems, communications-based train control (CBTC) is an automated train control system using train-ground communications to ensure efficient operation of rail vehicles. In addition to CBTC systems, passenger information systems (PISs) are adopted in urban rail transit systems to improve quality of service (QoS) offered to customers. The interference between CBTC systems and PISs is an important factor impacting QoS of both CBTC systems and PISs. With recent advances in cognitive dynamic systems, in this paper, we take a cognitive control approach to interference mitigation considering the co-existence of CBTC systems and PISs. In our cognitive control approach, the notion of information gap is adopted to quantitatively describe effects of interference on CBTC. The wireless channel is modeled as a finite-state Markov chain with multiple state transition probability matrices, which are derived from real field measurements. Simulation results show that the proposed cognitive control approach can significantly improve performance of CBTC train-ground communications under interference from

How to Stop (Worrying and Love) the Bubble: Boundary Changing Solutions

We discover that a class of bubbles of nothing are embedded as time dependent scaling limits of previous spacelike-brane solutions. With the right initial conditions, a near-bubble solution can relax its expansion and open the compact circle. Thermodynamics of the new class of solutions is discussed and the relationships between brane/flux transitions, tachyon condensation and imaginary D-branes are outlined. Finally, a related class of simultaneous connected S-branes are also examined.Comment: 47 pages; v2 introduction to Weyl cards added, comments added, references added, typos corrected, matches JHEP versio

Association between cardiovascular risk factors and venous thromboembolism in the elderly

Background: The preponderance of the evidence supports no association between traditional cardiovascular risk factors and venous thromboembolism (VTE), other than obesity. There are limited data in older people.Objectives: To investigate whether cardiovascular risk factors (body mass index, smoking, alcohol intake, hypertension, and diabetes) are associated with the risk of VTE in elderly and to assess the combined effect between cardiovascular risk factors and genetic risk factors for VTE (factor V Leiden/prothrombin 20210A, positive family history of VTE, and non-O blood group).Methods: The Age and Thrombosis, Acquired and Genetic risk factors in the Elderly study is a multicenter case-control study performed in Vermont, USA and Leiden, the Netherlands, comprising 401 cases with first VTE and 431 control subjects, all aged >= 70 years. To assess the risk of VTE, odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (Cis) were calculated, adjusting for potential confounders.Results: Both height and weight were positively associated with VTE risk: the ORs were 2.2 (95% CI, 1.2-3.9) and 1.5 (95% CI, 1.0-2.4) in the top quartile for height and weight separately. This risk was more pronounced for unprovoked VTE. Smoking, alcohol intake, and diabetes were not associated with VTE. Higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure and hypertension were associated with a decreased risk of VTE. In the presence of a genetic predisposition, height and weight further increased the risk of VIE.Conclusions: In the elderly, height and weight are positively associated with the risk of VTE. With genetic predisposition, higher levels of height and weight further increase the risk of VTE.Clinical epidemiolog