Evaluating the effectiveness and hydrological performance of green infrastructure stormwater control measures.

The Louisville and Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) has developed a Long-Term Control Plan (LTCP) to address the combined sewer overflow (CSO) issue through a combination of gray and green infrastructure (GI) stormwater management practices in the city of Louisville. In support of this effort, the MSD installed a series of GI stormwater control measures (SCMs) to abate the CSO volumes in an urban sewershed basin. This research is focused on monitoring and evaluating the individual hydrological performance, which included infiltration and exfiltration processes, of two permeable pavement systems over a two year study period. It also assess the combined effectiveness of the suite of GI SCMs in achieving the CSO mitigation. Assessing the hydrological performance of the permeable pavement systems was completed through collected data from embedded electronic sensors and field measurements. Modeling techniques were employed to predict the changes of water level within the storage layer under pavement sections. The developed model was used as an assessment tool to monitor the hydrological performance of the two GI controls. Ultimately the results from the developed model and other data analysis techniques were used to track changes in infiltration and exfiltration performances of both permeable pavement systems. The infiltration performance was observed to be a key component affecting the hydrological performance of a permeable pavement system. The infiltration capacity is limited by clogging formed on the surface of the permeable pavement section but can be restored after applying a suitable maintenance treatment. The modeling effort also provided understanding of the exfiltration processes as the GI controls transferred the captured stormwater runoff to underlying and surrounding soil layers. Seasonal changes in system performance were observed and attributed to changes in dynamic viscosity of water caused by variation of temperature. It was also observed that exfiltration performance is affected by infiltration capacity of the system. To assess the effectiveness of the GI controls in achieving the CSO mitigation, a regression analysis modelling effort was conducted to compare the pre and post-construction conditions. The results showed that almost 2.6 million gallons of overflow volumes were eliminated from the combined sewer system during the second half of 2013 and following the construction of all GI stormwater controls

Illusion Mechanisms with Cylindrical Metasurfaces: A General Synthesis Approach

We explore the use of cylindrical metasurfaces in providing several illusion mechanisms including scattering cancellation and creating fictitious line sources. We present the general synthesis approach that leads to such phenomena by modeling the metasurface with effective polarizability tensors and by applying boundary conditions to connect the tangential components of the desired fields to the required surface polarization current densities that generate such fields. We then use these required surface polarizations to obtain the effective polarizabilities for the synthesis of the metasurface. We demonstrate the use of this general method for the synthesis of metasurfaces that lead to scattering cancellation and illusion effects, and discuss practical scenarios by using loaded dipole antennas to realize the discretized polarization current densities. This study is the first fundamental step that may lead to interesting electromagnetic applications, like stealth technology, antenna synthesis, wireless power transfer, sensors, cylindrical absorbers, etc.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

Multiple myeloma in the mandible of a 30-year old female: A Case Report

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a relatively rare malignant hematological disease, which is characterized by multicentric proliferation of plasma cells in the bone marrow. It is typically a disease of adults, with men being affected slightly more often than women. The median age at diagnosis is between 60 and 70 years, and it is rarely diagnosed before the age of 40. Although any bone may be affected, the jaws have been reported to be involved in about 30% of cases while its occurrence in the maxilla is very common. We present a case of MM in the mandible of a 30- year-old female patient

Un modelo de banca universal basado en el empoderamiento y el desarrollo de habilidades

The present paper aims to propose a universal banking system focusing on the empowerment and skill development of bank employees. This study used the Delphi fuzzy method to select experts and classify and analyze their responses. Further, the DEMATEL method was used to identify and investigate the criteria correlations and map the network relationships. A robust statistical method was used to solve optimization problems based on data uncertainty. The results drawn from the model indicated that factors such as employee decision-making ability, responsibility towards executing a decision, access to decision tools, and employee self-efficacy sources influence the empowerment of employees and correct implementation of private, corporate, business, and investment banking. Further, they showed that sense of competence, motivation, participation, sense of effectiveness, and information technology influence universal banking. In addition, training and reward influence all types of universal banking.El presente documento tiene como objetivo proponer un sistema bancario universal centrado en el empoderamiento y el desarrollo de habilidades de los empleados bancarios. Este estudio utilizó el método difuso Delphi para seleccionar expertos y clasificar y analizar sus respuestas. Además, el método DEMATEL se utilizó para identificar e investigar las correlaciones de criterios y mapear las relaciones de red. Se utilizó un método estadístico robusto para resolver problemas de optimización basados ​​en la incertidumbre de los datos. Los resultados extraídos del modelo indicaron que factores tales como la capacidad de toma de decisiones de los empleados, la responsabilidad de ejecutar una decisión, el acceso a las herramientas de decisión y las fuentes de autoeficacia de los empleados influyen en el empoderamiento de los empleados y la correcta implementación de empresas privadas, corporativas y comerciales. banca de inversión. Además, mostraron que el sentido de competencia, motivación, participación, sentido de efectividad y tecnología de la información influyen en la banca universal. Además, la capacitación y la recompensa influyen en todos los tipos de banca universal

Exceptional Points of Degeneracy Directly Induced by Space-Time Modulation of a Single Transmission Line

We demonstrate how exceptional points of degeneracy (EPDs) are induced in a single transmission line (TL) directly by applying periodic space-time modulation to the per-unit-length distributed capacitance. In such space-time modulated (STM)-TL, two eigenmodes coalesce into a single degenerate one, in their eigenvalues (wavenumbers) and eigenvectors (voltage-current states) when the system approaches the EPD condition. The EPD condition is achieved by tuning a parameter in the space-time modulation, such as spatial or temporal modulation frequency, or the modulation depth. We unequivocally demonstrate the occurrence of the EPD by showing that the bifurcation of the wavenumber around the EPD is described by the Puiseux fractional power series expansion. We show that the first order expansion is sufficient to approximate well the dispersion diagram, and how this "exceptional" sensitivity of an STM-TL to tiny changes of any TL or modulation parameter enables a possible application as a highly sensitive TL sensor when operating at an EPD

The Probable Effect of Irrigation Solution and Time on Bond Strength to Coronal Dentin: An In Vitro Evaluation

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of root canal irrigants on the microtensile bond strength of 2-step self-etch adhesive to dentin. Methods and Materials: In this study 36 sound extracted human third molars were used. After grinding 3 mm of occlusal surface, teeth were randomly divided into 6 groups based on irrigation material naming normal saline, 5.25% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) and 2% chlorhexidine (CHX) and also irrigation time (5 or 30 min). Next, teeth were restored with Clearfil SE bond adhesive resin system and Z250 composite. The teeth were then thermo cycled by thermo cycling machine, for 500 cycles between 5º and 55ºC with 60 sec dwell time and 12 sec transfer time. All samples were sectioned into bucco-lingual slabs. The sections were submitted to the micro tensile testing machine at a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min until fracture. Data was analyzed using the one-way ANOVA test with the level of significance set at 0.05. Results: Irrigation with normal saline, 5.25% NaOCl and 2% CHX for 5 or 30 min did not significantly change the microtensile bond strength of adhesive to dentin (P=0.729 for time and P=0.153 for material). However the maximum and minimum microtensile bond strength was attributed to normal saline (44.13 N) and NaOCl (31.29 N) groups, respectively. Conclusion: Iirrigation solution and time have no influence on microtensile bond strength of two-step self-etch adhesive to coronal dentin.Keywords: Bond Strength, Dentin, Irrigation Solution

Growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and ruminal fermentation of dairy calves fed starter diets with alfalfa hay versus corn silage as forage and soybean oil versus palm fatty acids as fat source

The present study was intended to evaluate the effect of forage source (alfalfa hay; ALF vs. corn silage; CS) along with a supplemental fat source (soybean oil; SO vs. rumen-inert palm fatty acids; PF) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and ruminal fermentation in dairy calves. Forty-eight new-born Holstein female calves (3 d old) were assigned to one of 4 treatments: (1) alfalfa hay with soybean oil (ALF–SO); (2) alfalfa hay with palm fatty acids (ALF–PF); (3) corn silage with soybean oil (CS–SO); (4) corn silage with palm fatty acids (CS–PF). Starter diets had equal amounts of forage (100 g/kg dry matter; DM) and fat source (30 g/kg DM). Calves were fed a constant amount of milk (d 1 to 63) and had ad libitum access to water and starters (d 1 to 83). The lowest and greatest starter intakes during the preweaning period occurred in ALF–SO and CS–PF, respectively. This coincided with forage × fat source interaction for average daily gain (ADG) during preweaning. The forage source affected total DM intake and ADG over the entire period, body weight (BW) at weaning, and final BW with greater values in calves that received CS compared with ALF. The concentrations of total short-chain fatty acids and butyrate were increased, whereas concentration of acetate and acetate:propionate ratio were decreased in the rumen of calves fed CS compared with ALF. Feeding CS increased urinary excretion of allantoin and, as a trend, total purine derivatives (PD) and estimated microbial protein synthesis in comparison with ALF. The fat source affected starter intake, ADG, and BW postweaning with the highest values in PF. The digestibility of neutral detergent fiber, crude protein and, as a trend, organic matter were higher in calves fed PF compared with SO. Calves fed PF had lower ruminal ammonia-N concentration and urinary N excretion and greater urinary excretion of allantoin and total PD. Calves receiving SO had a lower ruminal protozoa population. In conclusion, supplementing starter diets with CS and PF is superior to ALF and SO. Interaction of the positive effects of CS and PF on performance underlines that concurrent supplementation of CS with PF is especially recommendable in young calves before weaning

GeomVerse: A Systematic Evaluation of Large Models for Geometric Reasoning

Large language models have shown impressive results for multi-hop mathematical reasoning when the input question is only textual. Many mathematical reasoning problems, however, contain both text and image. With the ever-increasing adoption of vision language models (VLMs), understanding their reasoning abilities for such problems is crucial. In this paper, we evaluate the reasoning capabilities of VLMs along various axes through the lens of geometry problems. We procedurally create a synthetic dataset of geometry questions with controllable difficulty levels along multiple axes, thus enabling a systematic evaluation. The empirical results obtained using our benchmark for state-of-the-art VLMs indicate that these models are not as capable in subjects like geometry (and, by generalization, other topics requiring similar reasoning) as suggested by previous benchmarks. This is made especially clear by the construction of our benchmark at various depth levels, since solving higher-depth problems requires long chains of reasoning rather than additional memorized knowledge. We release the dataset for further research in this area

Exceptional Points of Degeneracy Induced by Linear Time-Periodic Variation Hamidreza

We present a general theory of exceptional points of degeneracy (EPD) in periodically time-variant systems that do not necessarily require the presence of loss or gain, and we show that even a single resonator with a time-periodic component may develop EPDs. An EPD is a special point in a system parameter space at which two or more eigenmodes coalesce in both their eigenvalues and eigenvectors into a single degenerate eigenmode. We demonstrate the conditions for EPDs to exist in time-periodic systems that are either lossless/gainless or with loss and/or gain and we show that a system with zero time-average loss/gain exhibits EPDs with purely real resonance frequencies, yet the resonator energy grows algebraically in time. We show the occurrence of EPDs in a single LC resonator while the introduced concept is general for any time-periodic system. These findings have significant importance in various electromagnetic/photonic systems and pave the way of applications in areas of sensors, amplifiers and modulators. A potential application of this time varying EPD is highlighted as a highly-sensitive sensor.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure