Parenting Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Couple's Relationship

Science.gov (United States)

Brobst, Jennifer B.; Clopton, James R.; Hendrick, Susan S.

2009-01-01

Balancing the roles of parent and partner is challenging for most people and may be especially challenging when extra time and effort are required in the parenting role. The current research compared 25 couples whose children have autism spectrum disorders (ASD) with 20 couples whose children do not have developmental disorders. Comparisons were…

Effortful semantic decision-making boosts memory performance in older adults

OpenAIRE

Fu, L.; Maes, J.H.R.; Varma, S.; Kessels, R.P.C.; Daselaar, S.M.

2017-01-01

A major concern in age-related cognitive decline is episodic memory (EM). Previous studies indicate that both resource and binding deficits contribute to EM decline. Environmental support by task manipulations encouraging stronger cognitive effort and deeper levels of processing may facilitate compensation for these two deficits. To clarify factors that can counteract age-related EM decline, we assessed effects of cognitive effort (four levels) and level of processing (LoP, shallow/deep) duri...

Motivation and effort in individuals with social anhedonia.

Science.gov (United States)

McCarthy, Julie M; Treadway, Michael T; Blanchard, Jack J

2015-06-01

It has been proposed that anhedonia may, in part, reflect difficulties in reward processing and effortful decision making. The current study aimed to replicate previous findings of effortful decision making deficits associated with elevated anhedonia and expand upon these findings by investigating whether these decision making deficits are specific to elevated social anhedonia or are also associated with elevated positive schizotypy characteristics. The current study compared controls (n=40) to individuals elevated on social anhedonia (n=30), and individuals elevated on perceptual aberration/magical ideation (n=30) on the Effort Expenditure for Rewards Task (EEfRT). Across groups, participants chose a higher proportion of hard tasks with increasing probability of reward and reward magnitude, demonstrating sensitivity to probability and reward values. Contrary to our expectations, when the probability of reward was most uncertain (50% probability), at low and medium reward values, the social anhedonia group demonstrated more effortful decision making than either individuals high in positive schizotypy or controls. The positive schizotypy group only differed from controls (making less effortful choices than controls) when reward probability was lowest (12%) and the magnitude of reward was the smallest. Our results suggest that social anhedonia is related to intact motivation and effort for monetary rewards, but that individuals with this characteristic display a unique and perhaps inefficient pattern of effort allocation when the probability of reward is most uncertain. Future research is needed to better understand effortful decision making and the processing of reward across a range of individual difference characteristics. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dissociating variability and effort as determinants of coordination.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ian O'Sullivan

2009-04-01

Full Text Available When coordinating movements, the nervous system often has to decide how to distribute work across a number of redundant effectors. Here, we show that humans solve this problem by trying to minimize both the variability of motor output and the effort involved. In previous studies that investigated the temporal shape of movements, these two selective pressures, despite having very different theoretical implications, could not be distinguished; because noise in the motor system increases with the motor commands, minimization of effort or variability leads to very similar predictions. When multiple effectors with different noise and effort characteristics have to be combined, however, these two cost terms can be dissociated. Here, we measure the importance of variability and effort in coordination by studying how humans share force production between two fingers. To capture variability, we identified the coefficient of variation of the index and little fingers. For effort, we used the sum of squared forces and the sum of squared forces normalized by the maximum strength of each effector. These terms were then used to predict the optimal force distribution for a task in which participants had to produce a target total force of 4-16 N, by pressing onto two isometric transducers using different combinations of fingers. By comparing the predicted distribution across fingers to the actual distribution chosen by participants, we were able to estimate the relative importance of variability and effort of 1:7, with the unnormalized effort being most important. Our results indicate that the nervous system uses multi-effector redundancy to minimize both the variability of the produced output and effort, although effort costs clearly outweighed variability costs.

Understanding the Association Between Negative Symptoms and Performance on Effort-Based Decision-Making Tasks: The Importance of Defeatist Performance Beliefs.

Science.gov (United States)

Reddy, L Felice; Horan, William P; Barch, Deanna M; Buchanan, Robert W; Gold, James M; Marder, Stephen R; Wynn, Jonathan K; Young, Jared; Green, Michael F

2017-11-13

Effort-based decision-making paradigms are increasingly utilized to gain insight into the nature of motivation deficits. Research has shown associations between effort-based decision making and experiential negative symptoms; however, the associations are not consistent. The current study had two primary goals. First, we aimed to replicate previous findings of a deficit in effort-based decision making among individuals with schizophrenia on a test of cognitive effort. Second, in a large sample combined from the current and a previous study, we sought to examine the association between negative symptoms and effort by including the related construct of defeatist beliefs. The results replicated previous findings of impaired cognitive effort-based decision making in schizophrenia. Defeatist beliefs significantly moderated the association between negative symptoms and effort-based decision making such that there was a strong association between high negative symptoms and deficits in effort-based decision making, but only among participants with high levels of defeatist beliefs. Thus, our findings suggest the relationship between negative symptoms and effort performance may be understood by taking into account the role of defeatist beliefs, and finding that might explain discrepancies in previous studies. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center 2017.

Effort to improve coupled in situ chemical oxidation with bioremediation: a review of optimization strategies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sutton, N.B.; Grotenhuis, J.T.C.; Langenhoff, A.A.M.; Rijnaarts, H.H.M.

2011-01-01

Purpose - In order to provide highly effective yet relatively inexpensive strategies for the remediation of recalcitrant organic contaminants, research has focused on in situ treatment technologies. Recent investigation has shown that coupling two common treatments-in situ chemical oxidation (ISCO)

Couple-level Minority Stress: An Examination of Same-sex Couples' Unique Experiences.

Science.gov (United States)

Frost, David M; LeBlanc, Allen J; de Vries, Brian; Alston-Stepnitz, Eli; Stephenson, Rob; Woodyatt, Cory

2017-12-01

Social stress resulting from stigma, prejudice, and discrimination-"minority stress"-negatively impacts sexual minority individuals' health and relational well-being. The present study examined how being in a same-sex couple can result in exposure to unique minority stressors not accounted for at the individual level. Relationship timeline interviews were conducted with 120 same-sex couples equally distributed across two study sites (Atlanta and San Francisco), gender (male and female), and relationship duration (at least six months but less than three years, at least three years but less than seven years, and seven or more years). Directed content analyses identified 17 unique couple-level minority stressors experienced within nine distinct social contexts. Analyses also revealed experiences of dyadic minority stress processes (stress discrepancies and stress contagion). These findings can be useful in future efforts to better understand and address the cumulative impact of minority stress on relational well-being and individual health.

Effortful semantic decision-making boosts memory performance in older adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Fu, Li; Maes, Joseph H R; Varma, Samarth; Kessels, Roy P C; Daselaar, Sander M

2017-04-01

A major concern in age-related cognitive decline is episodic memory (EM). Previous studies indicate that both resource and binding deficits contribute to EM decline. Environmental support by task manipulations encouraging stronger cognitive effort and deeper levels of processing may facilitate compensation for these two deficits. To clarify factors that can counteract age-related EM decline, we assessed effects of cognitive effort (four levels) and level of processing (LoP, shallow/deep) during encoding on subsequent retrieval. Young (YAs, N = 23) and older (OAs, N = 23) adults performed two incidental encoding tasks, deep/semantic and shallow/perceptual. Cognitive effort was manipulated by varying decision-making demands. EM performance, indexed by d-prime, was later tested using a recognition task. Results showed that regardless of LoP, increased cognitive effort caused higher d-primes in both age groups. Compared to YAs, OAs showed a lower d-prime after shallow encoding across all cognitive effort levels, and after deep encoding with low cognitive effort. Deep encoding with higher levels of cognitive effort completely eliminated these age differences. Our findings support an environmental-compensatory account of cognitive ageing and can have important therapeutic implications.

Achieving Synchronization in Arrays of Coupled Differential Systems with Time-Varying Couplings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xinlei Yi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available We study complete synchronization of the complex dynamical networks described by linearly coupled ordinary differential equation systems (LCODEs. Here, the coupling is timevarying in both network structure and reaction dynamics. Inspired by our previous paper (Lu et al. (2007-2008, the extended Hajnal diameter is introduced and used to measure the synchronization in a general differential system. Then we find that the Hajnal diameter of the linear system induced by the time-varying coupling matrix and the largest Lyapunov exponent of the synchronized system play the key roles in synchronization analysis of LCODEs with identity inner coupling matrix. As an application, we obtain a general sufficient condition guaranteeing directed time-varying graph to reach consensus. Example with numerical simulation is provided to show the effectiveness of the theoretical results.

Typology of Couples Entering Alcohol Behavioral Couple Therapy: An Empirical Approach and Test of Predictive Validity on Treatment Response.

Science.gov (United States)

Ladd, Benjamin O; McCrady, Barbara S

2016-01-01

This study aimed to examine whether classification of couples in which one partner has an alcohol problem is similar to that reported in the general couples literature. Typologies of couples seeking alcohol behavioral couple therapy (ABCT) were developed via hierarchical cluster analysis using behavioral codes of couple interactions during their first ABCT session. Four couples types based on in-session behavior were established reliably, labeled avoider, validator, hostile, and ambivalent-detached. These couple types resembled couples types found in previous research. Couple type was associated with baseline relationship satisfaction, but not alcohol use. Results suggest heterogeneity in couples with alcohol problems presenting to treatment; further study is needed to investigate the function of alcohol within these different types. © 2015 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

A previously unidentified deletion in G protein-coupled receptor 143 causing X-linked congenital nystagmus in a Chinese family

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing Liu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Congenital nystagmus (CN is characterized by conjugated, spontaneous, and involuntary ocular oscillations. It is an inherited disease and the most common inheritance pattern is X-linked CN. In this study, our aim is to identify the disease-causing mutation in a large sixth-generation Chinese family with X-linked CN. Methods: It has been reported that mutations in four-point-one, ezrin, radixin, moesin domain-containing 7 gene (FRMD7 and G protein-coupled receptor 143 gene (GPR143 account for the majority patients of X-linked nystagmus. We collected 8 ml blood samples from members of a large sixth-generation pedigree with X-linked CN and 100 normal controls. FRMD7 and GPR143 were scanned by polymerase chain reaction (PCR-based DNA sequencing assays, and multiplex PCR assays were applied to detect deletions. Results: We identified a previously unreported deletion covering 7 exons in GPR143 in a Chinese family. The heterozygous deletion from exon 3 to exon 9 of GPR143 was detected in all affected males in the family, while it was not detected in other unaffected relatives or 100 normal controls. Conclusions: This is the first report of molecular characterization in GPR143 gene in the CN family. Our results expand the spectrum of GPR143 mutations causing CN and further confirm the role of GPR143 in the pathogenesis of CN.

Effortful semantic decision-making boosts memory performance in older adults

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Fu, L.; Maes, J.H.R.; Varma, S.; Kessels, R.P.C.; Daselaar, S.M.

2017-01-01

A major concern in age-related cognitive decline is episodic memory (EM). Previous studies indicate that both resource and binding deficits contribute to EM decline. Environmental support by task manipulations encouraging stronger cognitive effort and deeper levels of processing may facilitate

Effects of fishing effort allocation scenarios on energy efficiency and profitability: an individual-based model applied to Danish fisheries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bastardie, Francois; Nielsen, J. Rasmus; Andersen, Bo Sølgaard

2010-01-01

to the harbour, and (C) allocating effort towards optimising the expected area-specific profit per trip. The model is informed by data from each Danish fishing vessel >15 m after coupling its high resolution spatial and temporal effort data (VMS) with data from logbook landing declarations, sales slips, vessel...... effort allocation has actually been sub-optimal because increased profits from decreased fuel consumption and larger landings could have been obtained by applying a different spatial effort allocation. Based on recent advances in VMS and logbooks data analyses, this paper contributes to improve...

Dark forces coupled to nonconserved currents

Science.gov (United States)

Dror, Jeff A.; Lasenby, Robert; Pospelov, Maxim

2017-10-01

New light vectors with dimension-4 couplings to Standard Model states have (energy/vectormass)2-enhanced production rates unless the current they couple to is conserved. These processes allow us to derive new constraints on the couplings of such vectors, that are significantly stronger than the previous literature for a wide variety of models. Examples include vectors with axial couplings to quarks and vectors coupled to currents (such as baryon number) that are only broken by the chiral anomaly. Our new limits arise from a range of processes, including rare Z decays and flavor-changing meson decays, and rule out a number of phenomenologically motivated proposals.

Predictive coupled-cluster isomer orderings for some SinCm (m, n ≤ 12) clusters: A pragmatic comparison between DFT and complete basis limit coupled-cluster benchmarks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Byrd, Jason N.; Lutz, Jesse J.; Jin, Yifan; Ranasinghe, Duminda S.; Perera, Ajith; Bartlett, Rodney J.; Montgomery, John A.; Duan, Xiaofeng F.; Burggraf, Larry W.; Sanders, Beverly A.

2016-01-01

The accurate determination of the preferred Si 12 C 12 isomer is important to guide experimental efforts directed towards synthesizing SiC nano-wires and related polymer structures which are anticipated to be highly efficient exciton materials for the opto-electronic devices. In order to definitively identify preferred isomeric structures for silicon carbon nano-clusters, highly accurate geometries, energies, and harmonic zero point energies have been computed using coupled-cluster theory with systematic extrapolation to the complete basis limit for set of silicon carbon clusters ranging in size from SiC 3 to Si 12 C 12 . It is found that post-MBPT(2) correlation energy plays a significant role in obtaining converged relative isomer energies, suggesting that predictions using low rung density functional methods will not have adequate accuracy. Utilizing the best composite coupled-cluster energy that is still computationally feasible, entailing a 3-4 SCF and coupled-cluster theory with singles and doubles extrapolation with triple-ζ (T) correlation, the closo Si 12 C 12 isomer is identified to be the preferred isomer in the support of previous calculations [X. F. Duan and L. W. Burggraf, J. Chem. Phys. 142, 034303 (2015)]. Additionally we have investigated more pragmatic approaches to obtaining accurate silicon carbide isomer energies, including the use of frozen natural orbital coupled-cluster theory and several rungs of standard and double-hybrid density functional theory. Frozen natural orbitals as a way to compute post-MBPT(2) correlation energy are found to be an excellent balance between efficiency and accuracy.

Renormalization group coupling flow of SU(3) gauge theory

OpenAIRE

QCDTARO Collaboration

1998-01-01

We present our new results on the renormalization group coupling flow obtained i n 3 dimensional coupling space $(\\beta_{11},\\beta_{12},\\beta_{twist})$. The value of $\\beta_{twist}$ turns out to be small and the coupling flow projected on $(\\beta_{11},\\beta_{12})$ plane is very similar with the previous result obtained in the 2 dimensional coupling space.

Left ventricular asynergy score as an indicator of previous myocardial infarction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Backman, C.; Jacobsson, K.A.; Linderholm, H.; Osterman, G.

1986-01-01

Sixty-eight patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) i.e. a hisotry of angina of effort and/or previous 'possible infarction' were examined inter alia with ECG and cinecardioangiography. A system of scoring was designed which allowed a semiquantitative estimate of the left ventricular asynergy from cinecardioangiography - the left ventricular motion score (LVMS). The LVMS was associated with the presence of a previous myocardial infarction (MI), as indicated by the history and ECG findings. The ECG changes specific for a previous MI were associated with high LVMS values and unspecific or absent ECG changes with low LVMS values. Decision thresholds for ECG changes and asynergy in diagnosing a previous MI were evaluated by means of a ROC analysis. The accuracy of ECG in detecting a previous MI was slightly higher when asynergy indicated a 'true MI' than when autopsy result did so in a comparable group. Therefore the accuracy of asynergy (LVMS ≥ 1) in detecting a previous MI or myocardial fibrosis in patients with CHD should be at least comparable with that of autopsy (scar > 1 cm). (orig.)

GLOBAL AND LOCAL COUPLING COMPENSATION EXPERIMENTS IN RHIC USING AC DIPOLES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

CALAGA, R.; FRANCHI, A., TOMAS, R.; CERN)

2006-01-01

Compensation of transverse coupling during the RHIC energy ramp has been proven to be non-trivial and tedious. The lack of accurate knowledge of the coupling sources has initiated several efforts to develop fast techniques using turn-by-turn BPM data to identify and compensate these sources. This paper aims to summarize the beam experiments performed to measure the coupling, matrix and resonance driving terms with the aid of RHIC ac dipoles at injection energy

Stochastic coupled cluster theory: Efficient sampling of the coupled cluster expansion

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Charles J. C.; Thom, Alex J. W.

2017-09-01

We consider the sampling of the coupled cluster expansion within stochastic coupled cluster theory. Observing the limitations of previous approaches due to the inherently non-linear behavior of a coupled cluster wavefunction representation, we propose new approaches based on an intuitive, well-defined condition for sampling weights and on sampling the expansion in cluster operators of different excitation levels. We term these modifications even and truncated selections, respectively. Utilising both approaches demonstrates dramatically improved calculation stability as well as reduced computational and memory costs. These modifications are particularly effective at higher truncation levels owing to the large number of terms within the cluster expansion that can be neglected, as demonstrated by the reduction of the number of terms to be sampled when truncating at triple excitations by 77% and hextuple excitations by 98%.

V and V Efforts of Auroral Precipitation Models: Preliminary Results

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Yihua; Kuznetsova, Masha; Rastaetter, Lutz; Hesse, Michael

2011-01-01

Auroral precipitation models have been valuable both in terms of space weather applications and space science research. Yet very limited testing has been performed regarding model performance. A variety of auroral models are available, including empirical models that are parameterized by geomagnetic indices or upstream solar wind conditions, now casting models that are based on satellite observations, or those derived from physics-based, coupled global models. In this presentation, we will show our preliminary results regarding V&V efforts of some of the models.

A tilted fiber-optic plate coupled CCD detector for high resolution neutron imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jongyul; Cho, Gyuseong [Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Jongyul; Hwy, Limchang; Kim, Taejoo; Lee, Kyehong [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Seungwook [Pusan National Univ., Pusan (Korea, Republic of)

2013-05-15

One of these efforts is that a tilted scintillator geometry and lens coupled CCD detector for neutron imaging system were used to improve spatial resolution in one dimension. The increased spatial resolution in one dimension was applied to fuel cell study. However, a lens coupled CCD detector has lower sensitivity than a fiber-optic plate coupled CCD detector due to light loss. In this research, a tilted detector using fiber-optic plate coupled CCD detector was developed to improve resolution and sensitivity. In addition, a tilted detector can prevent an image sensor from direct radiation damage. Neutron imaging has been used for fuel cell study, lithium ion battery study, and many scientific applications. High quality neutron imaging is demanded for more detailed studies of applications, and spatial resolution should be considered to get high quality neutron imaging. Therefore, there were many efforts to improve spatial resolution.

Strong coupling of collection of emitters on hyperbolic meta-material

Science.gov (United States)

Biehs, Svend-Age; Xu, Chenran; Agarwal, Girish S.

2018-04-01

Recently, considerable effort has been devoted to the realization of a strong coupling regime of the radiation matter interaction in the context of an emitter at a meta surface. The strong interaction is well realized in cavity quantum electrodynamics, which also show that strong coupling is much easier to realize using a collection of emitters. Keeping this in mind, we study if emitters on a hyperbolic meta materials can yield a strong coupling regime. We show that strong coupling can be realized for densities of emitters exceeding a critical value. A way to detect strong coupling between emitters and hyperbolic metamaterials is to use the Kretschman-Raether configuration. The strong coupling appears as the splitting of the reflectivity dip. In the weak coupling regime, the dip position shifts. The shift and splitting can be used to sense active molecules at surfaces.

Investigation of coupling scheme for neutronic and thermal-hydraulic codes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Guoli; Yu Jianfeng; Pen Muzhang; Zhang Yuman.

1988-01-01

Recently, a number of coupled neutronics/thermal-hydraulics codes have been used in reaction design and safty analysis, which have been obtained by coupling previous neutronic and thermal-hydraulic codes. The different coupling schemes affect computer time and accuracy of calculation results. Numberical experiments of several different coupling schemes and some heuristic results are described

Reduced Delay of Gratification and Effortful Control among Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Science.gov (United States)

Faja, Susan; Dawson, Geraldine

2015-01-01

We explored internal control of behavior using direct observation and parent report. Previous research has found that both the delay of gratification task and parent-reported effortful control predict later social ability and more positive outcomes in typically developing children. Children with autism spectrum disorder have previously been…

Solar constraints on new couplings between electromagnetism and gravity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Solanki, S.K.; Preuss, O.; Haugan, M.P.; Gandorfer, A.; Povel, H.P.; Steiner, P.; Stucki, K.; Bernasconi, P.N.; Soltau, D.

2004-01-01

The unification of quantum field theory and general relativity is a fundamental goal of modern physics. In many cases, theoretical efforts to achieve this goal introduce auxiliary gravitational fields, ones in addition to the familiar symmetric second-rank tensor potential of general relativity, and lead to nonmetric theories because of direct couplings between these auxiliary fields and matter. Here, we consider an example of a metric-affine gauge theory of gravity in which torsion couples nonminimally to the electromagnetic field. This coupling causes a phase difference to accumulate between different polarization states of light as they propagate through the metric-affine gravitational field. Solar spectropolarimetric observations are reported and used to set strong constraints on the relevant coupling constant k: k 2 2

Spin Pumping in Electrodynamically Coupled Magnon-Photon Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Bai, Lihui; Harder, M; Chen, Y P; Fan, X; Xiao, J Q; Hu, C-M

2015-06-05

We use electrical detection, in combination with microwave transmission, to investigate both resonant and nonresonant magnon-photon coupling at room temperature. Spin pumping in a dynamically coupled magnon-photon system is found to be distinctly different from previous experiments. Characteristic coupling features such as modes anticrossing, linewidth evolution, peculiar line shape, and resonance broadening are systematically measured and consistently analyzed by a theoretical model set on the foundation of classical electrodynamic coupling. Our experimental and theoretical approach paves the way for pursuing microwave coherent manipulation of pure spin current via the combination of spin pumping and magnon-photon coupling.

Subsequent childbirth after a previous traumatic birth.

Science.gov (United States)

Beck, Cheryl Tatano; Watson, Sue

2010-01-01

Nine percent of new mothers in the United States who participated in the Listening to Mothers II Postpartum Survey screened positive for meeting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder after childbirth. Women who have had a traumatic birth experience report fewer subsequent children and a longer length of time before their second baby. Childbirth-related posttraumatic stress disorder impacts couples' physical relationship, communication, conflict, emotions, and bonding with their children. The purpose of this study was to describe the meaning of women's experiences of a subsequent childbirth after a previous traumatic birth. Phenomenology was the research design used. An international sample of 35 women participated in this Internet study. Women were asked, "Please describe in as much detail as you can remember your subsequent pregnancy, labor, and delivery following your previous traumatic birth." Colaizzi's phenomenological data analysis approach was used to analyze the stories of the 35 women. Data analysis yielded four themes: (a) riding the turbulent wave of panic during pregnancy; (b) strategizing: attempts to reclaim their body and complete the journey to motherhood; (c) bringing reverence to the birthing process and empowering women; and (d) still elusive: the longed-for healing birth experience. Subsequent childbirth after a previous birth trauma has the potential to either heal or retraumatize women. During pregnancy, women need permission and encouragement to grieve their prior traumatic births to help remove the burden of their invisible pain.

Seeking Ligand Bias: Assessing GPCR Coupling to Beta-Arrestins for Drug Discovery

OpenAIRE

Bohn, Laura M.; McDonald, Patricia H.

2010-01-01

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) are the major site of action for endogenous hormones and neurotransmitters. Early drug discovery efforts focused on determining whether ligands could engage G protein coupling and subsequently activate or inhibit cognate “second messengers.” Gone are those simple days as we now realize that receptors can also couple βarrestins. As we delve into the complexity of ligand-directed signaling and receptosome scaffolds, we are faced with what may seem like endless...

A weighted coupling metric for business process models

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vanderfeesten, I.T.P.; Cardoso, J.; Reijers, H.A.; Eder, J.; Tomassen, S.L.; Opdahl, A.; Sindre, G.

2007-01-01

Various efforts recently aimed at the development of quality metrics for process models. In this paper, we propose a new notion of coupling, which has been used successfully in software engineering for many years. It extends other work by specifically incorporating the effects of different types of

Predictive coupled-cluster isomer orderings for some Si{sub n}C{sub m} (m, n ≤ 12) clusters: A pragmatic comparison between DFT and complete basis limit coupled-cluster benchmarks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Byrd, Jason N., E-mail: byrd.jason@ensco.com [Quantum Theory Project, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (United States); ENSCO, Inc., 4849 North Wickham Road, Melbourne, Florida 32940 (United States); Lutz, Jesse J., E-mail: jesse.lutz.ctr@afit.edu; Jin, Yifan; Ranasinghe, Duminda S.; Perera, Ajith; Bartlett, Rodney J., E-mail: rodbartl@ufl.edu [Quantum Theory Project, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (United States); Montgomery, John A. [Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269 (United States); Duan, Xiaofeng F. [Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio 45433 (United States); Air Force Research Laboratory DoD Supercomputing Resource Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio 45433 (United States); Burggraf, Larry W. [Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio 45433 (United States); Sanders, Beverly A. [Quantum Theory Project, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (United States); Department of Computer and Information Science and Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (United States)

2016-07-14

The accurate determination of the preferred Si{sub 12}C{sub 12} isomer is important to guide experimental efforts directed towards synthesizing SiC nano-wires and related polymer structures which are anticipated to be highly efficient exciton materials for the opto-electronic devices. In order to definitively identify preferred isomeric structures for silicon carbon nano-clusters, highly accurate geometries, energies, and harmonic zero point energies have been computed using coupled-cluster theory with systematic extrapolation to the complete basis limit for set of silicon carbon clusters ranging in size from SiC{sub 3} to Si{sub 12}C{sub 12}. It is found that post-MBPT(2) correlation energy plays a significant role in obtaining converged relative isomer energies, suggesting that predictions using low rung density functional methods will not have adequate accuracy. Utilizing the best composite coupled-cluster energy that is still computationally feasible, entailing a 3-4 SCF and coupled-cluster theory with singles and doubles extrapolation with triple-ζ (T) correlation, the closo Si{sub 12}C{sub 12} isomer is identified to be the preferred isomer in the support of previous calculations [X. F. Duan and L. W. Burggraf, J. Chem. Phys. 142, 034303 (2015)]. Additionally we have investigated more pragmatic approaches to obtaining accurate silicon carbide isomer energies, including the use of frozen natural orbital coupled-cluster theory and several rungs of standard and double-hybrid density functional theory. Frozen natural orbitals as a way to compute post-MBPT(2) correlation energy are found to be an excellent balance between efficiency and accuracy.

Magnetosphere - Ionosphere - Thermosphere (MIT) Coupling at Jupiter

Science.gov (United States)

Yates, J. N.; Ray, L. C.; Achilleos, N.

2017-12-01

Jupiter's upper atmospheric temperature is considerably higher than that predicted by Solar Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) heating alone. Simulations incorporating magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling effects into general circulation models have, to date, struggled to reproduce the observed atmospheric temperatures under simplifying assumptions such as azimuthal symmetry and a spin-aligned dipole magnetic field. Here we present the development of a full three-dimensional thermosphere model coupled in both hemispheres to an axisymmetric magnetosphere model. This new coupled model is based on the two-dimensional MIT model presented in Yates et al., 2014. This coupled model is a critical step towards to the development of a fully coupled 3D MIT model. We discuss and compare the resulting thermospheric flows, energy balance and MI coupling currents to those presented in previous 2D MIT models.

Regression of non-linear coupling of noise in LIGO detectors

Science.gov (United States)

Da Silva Costa, C. F.; Billman, C.; Effler, A.; Klimenko, S.; Cheng, H.-P.

2018-03-01

In 2015, after their upgrade, the advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors started acquiring data. The effort to improve their sensitivity has never stopped since then. The goal to achieve design sensitivity is challenging. Environmental and instrumental noise couple to the detector output with different, linear and non-linear, coupling mechanisms. The noise regression method we use is based on the Wiener–Kolmogorov filter, which uses witness channels to make noise predictions. We present here how this method helped to determine complex non-linear noise couplings in the output mode cleaner and in the mirror suspension system of the LIGO detector.

Diagrammatic Monte Carlo simulations of staggered fermions at finite coupling

CERN Document Server

Vairinhos, Helvio

2016-01-01

Diagrammatic Monte Carlo has been a very fruitful tool for taming, and in some cases even solving, the sign problem in several lattice models. We have recently proposed a diagrammatic model for simulating lattice gauge theories with staggered fermions at arbitrary coupling, which extends earlier successful efforts to simulate lattice QCD at finite baryon density in the strong-coupling regime. Here we present the first numerical simulations of our model, using worm algorithms.

Modelling of complex heat transfer systems by the coupling method

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bacot, P.; Bonfils, R.; Neveu, A.; Ribuot, J. (Centre d' Energetique de l' Ecole des Mines de Paris, 75 (France))

1985-04-01

The coupling method proposed here is designed to reduce the size of matrices which appear in the modelling of heat transfer systems. It consists in isolating the elements that can be modelled separately, and among the input variables of a component, identifying those which will couple it to another component. By grouping these types of variable, one can thus identify a so-called coupling matrix of reduced size, and relate it to the overall system. This matrix allows the calculation of the coupling temperatures as a function of external stresses, and of the state of the overall system at the previous instant. The internal temperatures of the components are determined from for previous ones. Two examples of applications are presented, one concerning a dwelling unit, and the second a solar water heater.

Transverse multibunch modes for non-rigid bunches, including mode coupling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Berg, J S; Ruth, R D [Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Menlo Park, CA (United States)

1996-08-01

A method for computing transverse multibunch growth rates and frequency shifts in rings, which has been described previously, is applied to the PEP-II B factory. The method allows multibunch modes with different internal-bunch oscillation modes to couple to one another, similar to single-bunch mode coupling. Including coupling between the multibunch modes gives effects similar to those seen in single-bunch mode coupling. These effects occur at currents that are lower than the single-bunch mode coupling threshold. (author)

Comparison of cardiovascular response to combined static-dynamic effort, postprandial dynamic effort and dynamic effort alone in patients with chronic ischemic heart disease

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hung, J.; McKillip, J.; Savin, W.; Magder, S.; Kraus, R.; Houston, N.; Goris, M.; Haskell, W.; DeBusk, R.

1982-01-01

The cardiovascular responses to combined static-dynamic effort, postprandial dynamic effort and dynamic effort alone were evaluated by upright bicycle ergometry during equilibrium-gated blood pool scintigraphy in 24 men, mean age 59 +/- 8 years, with chronic ischemic heart disease. Combined static-dynamic effort and the postprandial state elicited a peak cardiovascular response similar to that of dynamic effort alone. Heart rate, intraarterial systolic and diastolic pressures, rate-pressure product and ejection fraction were similar for the three test conditions at the onset of ischemia and at peak effort. The prevalence and extent of exercise-induced ischemic left ventricular dysfunction, ST-segment depression, angina pectoris and ventricular ectopic activity were also similar during the three test conditions. Direct and indirect measurements of systolic and diastolic blood pressure were highly correlated. The onset of ischemic ST-segment depression and angina pectoris correlated as strongly with heart rate alone as with the rate-pressure product during all three test conditions. The cardiovascular response to combined static-dynamic effort and to postprandial dynamic effort becomes more similar to that of dynamic effort alone as dynamic effort reaches a symptom limit. If significant ischemic and arrhythmic abnormalities are absent during symptom-limited dynamic exercise testing, they are unlikely to appear during combined static-dynamic or postprandial dynamic effort

Warthog: Progress on Coupling BISON and PROTEUS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hart, Shane W.D.

2016-01-01

The Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program from the Office of Nuclear Energy at the Department of Energy (DOE) provides a robust toolkit for modeling and simulation of current and future advanced nuclear reactor designs. This toolkit provides these technologies organized across product lines, with two divisions targeted at fuels and end-to-end reactor modeling, and a third for integration, coupling, and high-level workflow management. The Fuels Product Line (FPL) and the Reactor Product Line (RPL) provide advanced computational technologies that serve each respective field effectively. There is currently a lack of integration between the product lines, impeding future improvements of simulation solution fidelity. In order to mix and match tools across the product lines, a new application called Warthog was produced. Warthog is built on the Multi-physics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) framework developed at Idaho National Laboratory (INL). This report details the continuing efforts to provide the Integration Product Line (IPL) with interoperability using the Warthog code. Currently, this application strives to couple the BISON fuel performance application from the FPL using the PROTEUS Core Neutronics application from the RPL. Warthog leverages as much prior work from the NEAMS program as possible, enabling interoperability between the independently developed MOOSE and SHARP frameworks, and the libMesh and MOAB mesh data formats. Previous work performed on Warthog allowed it to couple a pin cell between the two codes. However, as the temperature changed due to the BISON calculation, the cross sections were not recalculated, leading to errors as the temperature got further away from the initial conditions. XSProc from the SCALE code suite was used to calculate the cross sections as needed. The remainder of this report discusses the changes to Warthog to allow for the implementation of XSProc as an external code. It also

Quantifying pelagic-benthic coupling in the North Sea: Are we asking the right question?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Richardson, K.; Cedhagen, T.

2002-01-01

is devoted to obtaining more and better data describing this exchange. Efforts to quantify exchange between the water column and the sediment must continue. However, such studies will not, in themselves, lead to a quantification of pelagic-benthic coupling in the North Sea. We identify here other areas......The coupling between pelagic and benthic processes occurs through the signals sent between the water column and the seabed. Huge methodological challenges are associated with the quantification of the signals being sent between these two domains - especially in a relatively shallow and heavily...... fished region such as the North Sea where deployment of sediment traps or bottom mounted cameras or samplers is difficult. Thus, there are relatively few sites in the North Sea for which good data are available for describing pelagic-benthic (or near shore-offsbore) coupling and considerable effort...

Estimation of inspection effort

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mullen, M.F.; Wincek, M.A.

1979-06-01

An overview of IAEA inspection activities is presented, and the problem of evaluating the effectiveness of an inspection is discussed. Two models are described - an effort model and an effectiveness model. The effort model breaks the IAEA's inspection effort into components; the amount of effort required for each component is estimated; and the total effort is determined by summing the effort for each component. The effectiveness model quantifies the effectiveness of inspections in terms of probabilities of detection and quantities of material to be detected, if diverted over a specific period. The method is applied to a 200 metric ton per year low-enriched uranium fuel fabrication facility. A description of the model plant is presented, a safeguards approach is outlined, and sampling plans are calculated. The required inspection effort is estimated and the results are compared to IAEA estimates. Some other applications of the method are discussed briefly. Examples are presented which demonstrate how the method might be useful in formulating guidelines for inspection planning and in establishing technical criteria for safeguards implementation

Finer Distinctions: Variability in Satisfied Older Couples' Problem-Solving Behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Rauer, Amy; Williams, Leah; Jensen, Jakob

2017-06-01

This study utilized observational and self-report data from 64 maritally satisfied and stable older couples to explore if there were meaningful differences in how couples approached marital disagreements. Using a typology approach to classify couples based on their behaviors in a 15-minute problem-solving interaction, findings revealed four types of couples: (1) problem solvers (characterized by both spouses' higher problem-solving skills and warmth), (2) supporters (characterized by both spouses' notable warmth), (3) even couples (characterized by both spouses' moderate problem-solving skills and warmth), and (4) cool couples (characterized by both spouses' greater negativity and lower problem-solving skills and warmth). Despite the differences in these behaviors, all couples had relatively high marital satisfaction and functioning. However, across nearly all indices, spouses in the cool couple cluster reported poorer marital functioning, particularly when compared to the problem solvers and supporters. These findings suggest that even modest doses of negativity (e.g., eye roll) may be problematic for some satisfied couples later in life. The implications of these typologies are discussed as they pertain to practitioners' efforts to tailor their approaches to a wider swath of the population. © 2015 Family Process Institute.

Nicotine increases impulsivity and decreases willingness to exert cognitive effort despite improving attention in "slacker" rats: insights into cholinergic regulation of cost/benefit decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosking, Jay G; Lam, Fred C W; Winstanley, Catharine A

2014-01-01

Successful decision making in our daily lives requires weighing an option's costs against its associated benefits. The neuromodulator acetylcholine underlies both the etiology and treatment of a number of illnesses in which decision making is perturbed, including Alzheimer's disease, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and schizophrenia. Nicotine acts on the cholinergic system and has been touted as a cognitive enhancer by both smokers and some researchers for its attention-boosting effects; however, it is unclear whether treatments that have a beneficial effect on attention would also have a beneficial effect on decision making. Here we utilize the rodent Cognitive Effort Task (rCET), wherein animals can choose to allocate greater visuospatial attention for a greater reward, to examine cholinergic contributions to both attentional performance and choice based on attentional demand. Following the establishment of baseline behavior, four drug challenges were administered: nicotine, mecamylamine, scopolamine, and oxotremorine (saline plus three doses for each). As per previous rCET studies, animals were divided by their baseline preferences, with "worker" rats choosing high-effort/high-reward options more than their "slacker" counterparts. Nicotine caused slackers to choose even fewer high-effort trials than at baseline, but had no effect on workers' choice. Despite slackers' decreased willingness to expend effort, nicotine improved their attentional performance on the task. Nicotine also increased measures of motor impulsivity in all animals. In contrast, scopolamine decreased animals' choice of high-effort trials, especially for workers, while oxotremorine decreased motor impulsivity for all animals. In sum, the cholinergic system appears to contribute to decision making, and in part these contributions can be understood as a function of individual differences. While nicotine has been considered as a cognitive enhancer, these data suggest that its modest

The couple's odyssey: Hollywood's take on love relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

Alexander, Matthew

2009-06-01

Psychiatrists need to be aware of how their individual clients are impacted by issues they may be having in their intimate relationships and how couples issues, in turn, impact and are impacted by emotional and mental disorders. In addition, psychiatrists need to be able to offer sound advice to individuals in troubled relationships, know how to make referrals to trained marriage therapists and know how medications they prescribe may impact couples. Over the past twenty years, there have been significant advances in couple research to assist health professionals in offering insight to couples struggling with communication, conflict resolution, affairs, addictions and many other aspects of the couple's odyssey. Movie clips offer an effective way of teaching psychiatrists about common issues in coupling and couple therapy. The use of movies for teaching health professionals is well documented in previous articles and books on cinemeducation. This paper highlights movies and movie clips which are useful for educating psychiatrists about common clinical issues in couple therapy.

Solar Flare Prediction Science-to-Operations: the ESA/SSA SWE A-EFFort Service

Science.gov (United States)

Georgoulis, Manolis K.; Tziotziou, Konstantinos; Themelis, Konstantinos; Magiati, Margarita; Angelopoulou, Georgia

2016-07-01

We attempt a synoptical overview of the scientific origins of the Athens Effective Solar Flare Forecasting (A-EFFort) utility and the actions taken toward transitioning it into a pre-operational service of ESA's Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Programme. The preferred method for solar flare prediction, as well as key efforts to make it function in a fully automated environment by coupling calculations with near-realtime data-downloading protocols (from the Solar Dynamics Observatory [SDO] mission), pattern recognition (solar active-region identification) and optimization (magnetic connectivity by simulated annealing) will be highlighted. In addition, the entire validation process of the service will be described, with its results presented. We will conclude by stressing the need for across-the-board efforts and synergistic work in order to bring science of potentially limited/restricted interest into realizing a much broader impact and serving the best public interests. The above presentation was partially supported by the ESA/SSA SWE A-EFFort project, ESA Contract No. 4000111994/14/D/MRP. Special thanks go to the ESA Project Officers R. Keil, A. Glover, and J.-P. Luntama (ESOC), M. Bobra and C. Balmer of the SDO/HMI team at Stanford University, and M. Zoulias at the RCAAM of the Academy of Athens for valuable technical help.

Effortful echolalia.

Science.gov (United States)

Hadano, K; Nakamura, H; Hamanaka, T

1998-02-01

We report three cases of effortful echolalia in patients with cerebral infarction. The clinical picture of speech disturbance is associated with Type 1 Transcortical Motor Aphasia (TCMA, Goldstein, 1915). The patients always spoke nonfluently with loss of speech initiative, dysarthria, dysprosody, agrammatism, and increased effort and were unable to repeat sentences longer than those containing four or six words. In conversation, they first repeated a few words spoken to them, and then produced self initiated speech. The initial repetition as well as the subsequent self initiated speech, which were realized equally laboriously, can be regarded as mitigated echolalia (Pick, 1924). They were always aware of their own echolalia and tried to control it without effect. These cases demonstrate that neither the ability to repeat nor fluent speech are always necessary for echolalia. The possibility that a lesion in the left medial frontal lobe, including the supplementary motor area, plays an important role in effortful echolalia is discussed.

Status report on SHARP coupling framework.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Caceres, A.; Tautges, T. J.; Lottes, J.; Fischer, P.; Rabiti, C.; Smith, M. A.; Siegel, A.; Yang, W. S.; Palmiotti, G.

2008-05-30

This report presents the software engineering effort under way at ANL towards a comprehensive integrated computational framework (SHARP) for high fidelity simulations of sodium cooled fast reactors. The primary objective of this framework is to provide accurate and flexible analysis tools to nuclear reactor designers by simulating multiphysics phenomena happening in complex reactor geometries. Ideally, the coupling among different physics modules (such as neutronics, thermal-hydraulics, and structural mechanics) needs to be tight to preserve the accuracy achieved in each module. However, fast reactor cores in steady state mode represent a special case where weak coupling between neutronics and thermal-hydraulics is usually adequate. Our framework design allows for both options. Another requirement for SHARP framework has been to implement various coupling algorithms that are parallel and scalable to large scale since nuclear reactor core simulations are among the most memory and computationally intensive, requiring the use of leadership-class petascale platforms. This report details our progress toward achieving these goals. Specifically, we demonstrate coupling independently developed parallel codes in a manner that does not compromise performance or portability, while minimizing the impact on individual developers. This year, our focus has been on developing a lightweight and loosely coupled framework targeted at UNIC (our neutronics code) and Nek (our thermal hydraulics code). However, the framework design is not limited to just using these two codes.

Including Performance Assessments in Accountability Systems: A Review of Scale-Up Efforts

Science.gov (United States)

Tung, Rosann

2010-01-01

The purpose of this literature and field review is to understand previous efforts at scaling up performance assessments for use across districts and states. Performance assessments benefit students and teachers by providing more opportunities for students to demonstrate their knowledge and complex skills, by providing teachers with better…

Promotion of couples' voluntary HIV counseling and testing: a comparison of influence networks in Rwanda and Zambia.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelley, April L; Hagaman, Ashley K; Wall, Kristin M; Karita, Etienne; Kilembe, William; Bayingana, Roger; Tichacek, Amanda; Kautzman, Michele; Allen, Susan A

2016-08-08

Many African adults do not know that partners in steady or cohabiting relationships can have different HIV test results. Despite WHO recommendations for couples' voluntary counseling and testing (CVCT), fewer than 10 % of couples have been jointly tested and counseled. We examine the roles and interactions of influential network leaders (INLs) and influential network agents (INAs) in promoting CVCT in Kigali, Rwanda and Lusaka, Zambia. INLs were identified in the faith-based, non-governmental, private, and health sectors. Each INL recruited and mentored several INAs who promoted CVCT. INLs and INAs were interviewed about demographic characteristics, promotional efforts, and working relationships. We also surveyed CVCT clients about sources of CVCT information. In Zambia, 53 INAs and 31 INLs were surveyed. In Rwanda, 33 INAs and 27 INLs were surveyed. Most (75 %-90 %) INAs believed that INL support was necessary for their promotional work. Zambian INLs reported being more engaged with their INAs than Rwandan INLs, with 58 % of Zambian INLs reporting that they gave a lot of support to their INAs versus 39 % in Rwanda. INAs in both Rwanda and Zambia reported promoting CVCT via group forums (77 %-97 %) and speaking to a community leader about CVCT (79 %-88 %) in the past month. More Rwandan INAs and INLs reported previous joint or individual HIV testing compared with their Zambian counterparts, of which more than half had not been tested. In Zambia and Rwanda, 1271 and 3895 CVCT clients were surveyed, respectively. Hearing about CVCT from INAs during one-on-one promotions was the most frequent source of information reported by clients in Zambia (71 %). In contrast, Rwandan couples who tested were more likely to have heard about CVCT from a previously tested couple (59 %). CVCT has long been endorsed for HIV prevention but few couples have been reached. Influential social networks can successfully promote evidence-based HIV prevention in Africa. Support from

Why do couples seek relationship help online? Description and comparison to in-person interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Roddy, McKenzie K; Rothman, Karen; Cicila, Larisa N; Doss, Brian D

2018-04-02

Couples are increasingly utilizing newly developed online adaptations of couple therapy; however, different presenting problems could drive couples to seek either online or in-person services. This study compared the presenting problems of 151 couples seeking an online couple intervention for relationship distress (OurRelationship) with responses from 147 couples seeking in-person couple therapy. Presenting problems were generally consistent across gender and whether or not the respondent was the initial help-seeker. Online and in-person samples frequently endorsed difficulties with communication and emotional intimacy; however, they differentially endorsed trust, time together, and child/parenting difficulties. Therefore, while basing online interventions on existing couple therapies is generally supported, efforts should be made to tailor online services to meet the unique needs of this population. © 2018 American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Sensitivity to cognitive effort mediates psychostimulant effects on a novel rodent cost/benefit decision-making task.

Science.gov (United States)

Cocker, Paul J; Hosking, Jay G; Benoit, James; Winstanley, Catharine A

2012-07-01

Amotivational states and insufficient recruitment of mental effort have been observed in a variety of clinical populations, including depression, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Previous rodent models of effort-based decision making have utilized physical costs whereas human studies of effort are primarily cognitive in nature, and it is unclear whether the two types of effortful decision making are underpinned by the same neurobiological processes. We therefore designed a novel rat cognitive effort task (rCET) based on the 5-choice serial reaction time task, a well-validated measure of attention and impulsivity. Within each trial of the rCET, rats are given the choice between an easy or hard visuospatial discrimination, and successful hard trials are rewarded with double the number of sugar pellets. Similar to previous human studies, stable individual variation in choice behavior was observed, with 'workers' choosing hard trials significantly more than their 'slacker' counterparts. Whereas workers 'slacked off' in response to administration of amphetamine and caffeine, slackers 'worked harder' under amphetamine, but not caffeine. Conversely, these stimulants increased motor impulsivity in all animals. Ethanol did not affect animals' choice but invigorated behavior. In sum, we have shown for the first time that rats are differentially sensitive to cognitive effort when making decisions, independent of other processes such as impulsivity, and these baseline differences can influence the cognitive response to psychostimulants. Such findings could inform our understanding of impairments in effort-based decision making and contribute to treatment development.

Validation of a strand-level CICC-joint coupling loss model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Lanen, E.P.A.; van Nugteren, J.; Nijhuis, Arend

2012-01-01

Calculating the coupling losses in cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC) joints requires a large amount of numerical effort, which is why the numerical system is often reduced by grouping strands together. However, to better understand the loss behaviour, and eventually the stability mechanism in such

Molecular-state close-coupling theory including continuum states. I. Derivation of close-coupled equations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thorson, W.R.; Bandarage, G.

1988-01-01

We formulate a close-coupling theory of slow ion-atom collisions based on molecular (adiabatic) electronic states, and including the electronic continuum. The continuum is represented by packet states spanning it locally and constructed explicitly from exact continuum states. Particular attention is given to two fundamental questions: (1) Unbound electrons can escape from the local region spanned by the packet states. We derive close-coupled integral equations correctly including the escape effects; the ''propagator'' generated by these integral equations does not conserve probability within the close-coupled basis. Previous molecular-state formulations including the continuum give no account of escape effects. (2) Nonadiabatic couplings of adiabatic continuum states with the same energy are singular, reflecting the fact that an adiabatic description of continuum behavior is not valid outside a local region. We treat these singularities explicitly and show that an accurate representation of nonadiabatic couplings within the local region spanned by a set of packet states is well behaved. Hence an adiabatic basis-set description can be used to describe close coupling to the continuum in a local ''interaction region,'' provided the effects of escape are included. In principle, the formulation developed here can be extended to a large class of model problems involving many-electron systems and including models for Penning ionization and collisional detachment processes

Progress toward coupled flux qubits with high connectivity and long coherence times

Science.gov (United States)

Weber, Steven; Hover, David; Rosenberg, Danna; Samach, Gabriel; Yoder, Jonilyn; Kerman, Andrew; Oliver, William

The ability to engineer interactions between qubits is essential to all areas of quantum information science. The capability to tune qubit-qubit couplings in situ is desirable for gate-based quantum computing and analog quantum simulation and necessary for quantum annealing. Consequently, tunable coupling has been the subject of several experimental efforts using both transmon qubits and flux qubits. Recently, our group has demonstrated robust and long-lived capacitively shunted (C-shunt) flux qubits. Here, we discuss our efforts to develop architectures for tunably coupling these qubits. In particular, we focus on optimizing the RF SQUID coupler to achieve high connectivity. This research was funded by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) and by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering under Air Force Contract No. FA8721-05-C-0002. The views and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of ODNI, IARPA, or the US Government.

Maximum effort in the minimum-effort game

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Engelmann, Dirk; Normann, H.-T.

2010-01-01

Roč. 13, č. 3 (2010), s. 249-259 ISSN 1386-4157 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z70850503 Keywords : minimum-effort game * coordination game * experiments * social capital Subject RIV: AH - Economics Impact factor: 1.868, year: 2010

Vinyldisiloxanes: their synthesis, cross coupling and applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Sore, Hannah F; Boehner, Christine M; Laraia, Luca; Logoteta, Patrizia; Prestinari, Cora; Scott, Matthew; Williams, Katharine; Galloway, Warren R J D; Spring, David R

2011-01-21

During the studies towards the development of pentafluorophenyldimethylsilanes as a novel organosilicon cross coupling reagent it was revealed that the active silanolate and the corresponding disiloxane formed rapidly under basic conditions. The discovery that disiloxanes are in equilibrium with the silanolate led to the use of disiloxanes as cross coupling partners under fluoride free conditions. Our previous report focused on the synthesis and base induced cross coupling of aryl substituted vinyldisiloxanes with aryl halides; good yields and selectivities were achieved. As a continuation of our research, studies into the factors which influence the successful outcome of the cross coupling reaction with both alkyl and aryl substituted vinyldisiloxanes were examined and a proposed mechanism discussed. Further investigation into expanding the breadth and diversity of substituted vinyldisiloxanes in cross coupling was explored and applied to the synthesis of unsymmetrical trans-stilbenes and cyclic structures containing the trans-alkene architecture.

Regional-scale geomechanical impact assessment of underground coal gasification by coupled 3D thermo-mechanical modeling

Science.gov (United States)

Otto, Christopher; Kempka, Thomas; Kapusta, Krzysztof; Stańczyk, Krzysztof

2016-04-01

Underground coal gasification (UCG) has the potential to increase the world-wide coal reserves by utilization of coal deposits not mineable by conventional methods. The UCG process involves combusting coal in situ to produce a high-calorific synthesis gas, which can be applied for electricity generation or chemical feedstock production. Apart from its high economic potentials, UCG may induce site-specific environmental impacts such as fault reactivation, induced seismicity and ground subsidence, potentially inducing groundwater pollution. Changes overburden hydraulic conductivity resulting from thermo-mechanical effects may introduce migration pathways for UCG contaminants. Due to the financial efforts associated with UCG field trials, numerical modeling has been an important methodology to study coupled processes considering UCG performance. Almost all previous UCG studies applied 1D or 2D models for that purpose, that do not allow to predict the performance of a commercial-scale UCG operation. Considering our previous findings, demonstrating that far-field models can be run at a higher computational efficiency by using temperature-independent thermo-mechanical parameters, representative coupled simulations based on complex 3D regional-scale models were employed in the present study. For that purpose, a coupled thermo-mechanical 3D model has been developed to investigate the environmental impacts of UCG based on a regional-scale of the Polish Wieczorek mine located in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. The model size is 10 km × 10 km × 5 km with ten dipping lithological layers, a double fault and 25 UCG reactors. Six different numerical simulation scenarios were investigated, considering the transpressive stress regime present in that part of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. Our simulation results demonstrate that the minimum distance between the UCG reactors is about the six-fold of the coal seam thickness to avoid hydraulic communication between the single UCG

Pension plan participation among married couples.

Science.gov (United States)

Dushi, Irena; Iams, Howard M

2013-01-01

We present descriptive statistics on pension participation and types of pensions among married couples, using data from the 1996/2008 Panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation and Social Security administrative records. Previous research has focused on pension coverage by marital status, but has not examined couples as a unit. Because couples usually share income, viewing them as a unit provides a better picture of potential access to income from retirement plans. Our analysis compares 1998 and 2009 data because substantial changes occurred in the pension landscape over this decade that could have influenced the prevalence of different pension plans, although we observe modest changes in participation rates and types of plans over the period. We find that in 20 percent of couples, neither spouse participated in a pension plan; in 10 percent, the wife was the only participant; and in 37 percent, the husband was the only participant.

Optical Control of Mechanical Mode-Coupling within a MoS2 Resonator in the Strong-Coupling Regime.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Chang-Hua; Kim, In Soo; Lauhon, Lincoln J

2015-10-14

Two-dimensional (2-D) materials including graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are an exciting platform for ultrasensitive force and displacement detection in which the strong light-matter coupling is exploited in the optical control of nanomechanical motion. Here we report the optical excitation and displacement detection of a ∼ 3 nm thick MoS2 resonator in the strong-coupling regime, which has not previously been achieved in 2-D materials. Mechanical mode frequencies can be tuned by more than 12% by optical heating, and they exhibit avoided crossings indicative of strong intermode coupling. When the membrane is optically excited at the frequency difference between vibrational modes, normal mode splitting is observed, and the intermode energy exchange rate exceeds the mode decay rate by a factor of 15. Finite element and analytical modeling quantifies the extent of mode softening necessary to control intermode energy exchange in the strong coupling regime.

Persistent chimera states in nonlocally coupled phase oscillators

OpenAIRE

Suda, Yusuke; Okuda, Koji

2015-01-01

Chimera states in the systems of nonlocally coupled phase oscillators are considered stable in the continuous limit of spatially distributed oscillators. However, it is reported that in the numerical simulations without taking such limit, chimera states are chaotic transient and finally collapse into the completely synchronous solution. In this Rapid Communication, we numerically study chimera states by using the coupling function different from the previous studies and obtain the result that...

Electrochemical Single-Molecule Transistors with Optimized Gate Coupling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Osorio, Henrry M.; Catarelli, Samantha; Cea, Pilar

2015-01-01

Electrochemical gating at the single molecule level of viologen molecular bridges in ionic liquids is examined. Contrary to previous data recorded in aqueous electrolytes, a clear and sharp peak in the single molecule conductance versus electrochemical potential data is obtained in ionic liquids....... These data are rationalized in terms of a two-step electrochemical model for charge transport across the redox bridge. In this model the gate coupling in the ionic liquid is found to be fully effective with a modeled gate coupling parameter, ξ, of unity. This compares to a much lower gate coupling parameter...

Nuclear thermal rocket clustering: 1, A summary of previous work and relevant issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buksa, J.J.; Houts, M.G.

1991-01-01

A general review of the technical merits of nuclear thermal rocket clustering is presented. A summary of previous analyses performed during the Rover program is presented and used to assess clustering in the context of projected Space Exploration Initiative missions. A number of technical issues are discussed including cluster reliability, engine-out operation, neutronic coupling, shutdown core power generation, shutdown reactivity requirements, reactor kinetics, and radiation shielding. 7 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs

Respiratory effort from the photoplethysmogram.

Science.gov (United States)

Addison, Paul S

2017-03-01

The potential for a simple, non-invasive measure of respiratory effort based on the pulse oximeter signal - the photoplethysmogram or 'pleth' - was investigated in a pilot study. Several parameters were developed based on a variety of manifestations of respiratory effort in the signal, including modulation changes in amplitude, baseline, frequency and pulse transit times, as well as distinct baseline signal shifts. Thirteen candidate parameters were investigated using data from healthy volunteers. Each volunteer underwent a series of controlled respiratory effort maneuvers at various set flow resistances and respiratory rates. Six oximeter probes were tested at various body sites. In all, over three thousand pleth-based effort-airway pressure (EP) curves were generated across the various airway constrictions, respiratory efforts, respiratory rates, subjects, probe sites, and the candidate parameters considered. Regression analysis was performed to determine the existence of positive monotonic relationships between the respiratory effort parameters and resulting airway pressures. Six of the candidate parameters investigated exhibited a distinct positive relationship (poximeter probe and an ECG (P2E-Effort) and the other using two pulse oximeter probes placed at different peripheral body sites (P2-Effort); and baseline shifts in heart rate, (BL-HR-Effort). In conclusion, a clear monotonic relationship was found between several pleth-based parameters and imposed respiratory loadings at the mouth across a range of respiratory rates and flow constrictions. The results suggest that the pleth may provide a measure of changing upper airway dynamics indicative of the effort to breathe. Copyright © 2017 The Author. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Money and Marriage: Couple's Choices and their Predictors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lina Coelho

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The ways in which couples in South Europe manage their money has received little attention. This study uses regression analysis to evaluate the allocative systems of Portuguese couples and their predictors. To do this we use a sample of 3,331 households in Portugal with at least one heterosexual couple. Couples' allocative systems were classified based on Pahl's typology. The results confirm what has been found in previous studies regarding the prevalence of joint pooling management and the predictors of the different models for managing money. However, some particularities have been found: decisions taken in multi-generational familes favour partial joint pooling, as the distinctive characteristics of households in South Europe play a role in assigning intra-family resources.

Controlling spatiotemporal chaos in one- and two-dimensional coupled logistic map lattices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Astakhov, V.V.; Anishchenko, V.S.; Strelkova, G.I.; Shabunin, A.V.

1996-01-01

A method of control of spatiotemporal chaos in lattices of coupled maps is proposed in this work. Forms of spatiotemporal perturbations of a system parameter are analytically determined for one- and two-dimensional logistic map lattices with different kinds of coupling to stabilize chosen spatiotemporal states previously unstable. The results are illustrated by numerical simulation. Controlled transition from the regime of spatiotemporal chaos to the previously chosen regular spatiotemporal patterns is demonstrated. copyright 1996 American Institute of Physics

Deliberate practice theory: perceived relevance, effort, and inherent enjoyment of music practice: study II.

Science.gov (United States)

Hyllegard, Randy; Bories, Tamara L

2009-10-01

This study, based on the theory of deliberate practice, examined the practice relevance, effort, and inherent enjoyment aspects of the theory. 25 college undergraduates practiced playing a melody on an electronic keyboard for three 20-min. practice sessions. Following each session, the perceived relevance of the practice for improving performance of the melody, the effort needed to learn the melody, and the inherent enjoyment of the practice were each rated on 10-point scales. Findings were consistent with theory and similar to previous studies also involving music practice and other tasks.

APROS couplings from core to containment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Puska, E.K.; Ylijoki, J.

2005-01-01

APROS simulation environment is able to describe the 1-D and 3-D neutronics of the reactor core. It is also able to describe the thermal hydraulics of the core and circuits either with 5- equation or 6-equation thermal hydraulics. It can also describe the plant automation and electrical systems, as well as the behaviour of the containment. The peculiar feature of APROS in comparison to other coupled systems is that all parts in the coupled system are described with the same code instead of coupling two or three separate codes together with information exchange between the separate codes. The most recent possibility is the coupled calculation of the process and the containment. The more traditional coupling, the coupling of the process containing both the process description and the automation description with more or less detailed description of the 3-D core either for safety analysis or real-time simulation purposes has been discussed in previous work. The paper presents and discusses the capabilities of the code in coupling the plant process and automation description with the plant containment description with two example transient cases. An improved boron concentration solution with second order upwind discretization has been recently included in APROS. An example on the increased accuracy acquired in the 3-D core model has been included. (authors)

Strong coupling of a single electron in silicon to a microwave photon

Science.gov (United States)

Mi, X.; Cady, J. V.; Zajac, D. M.; Deelman, P. W.; Petta, J. R.

2017-01-01

Silicon is vital to the computing industry because of the high quality of its native oxide and well-established doping technologies. Isotopic purification has enabled quantum coherence times on the order of seconds, thereby placing silicon at the forefront of efforts to create a solid-state quantum processor. We demonstrate strong coupling of a single electron in a silicon double quantum dot to the photonic field of a microwave cavity, as shown by the observation of vacuum Rabi splitting. Strong coupling of a quantum dot electron to a cavity photon would allow for long-range qubit coupling and the long-range entanglement of electrons in semiconductor quantum dots.

Managerial effort under asymmetric information: The case of public schools in Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessio Tony C. Almeida

2017-09-01

Full Text Available This paper uses a principal-agent model to investigate how public school managers react to government incentives based on previous school performance. Using data from the Brazilian Student Evaluation Exam (Prova Brasil – PB and the School Census, we estimate a managerial effort function by quantile regression. The findings show a regular non-linear relationship between managerial effort and lagged school performance, indicating that marginal effort is decreasing when a previously ineffective school manager becomes effective on reaching a performance goal. This evidence is in line with the adopted theoretical approach and provides new parameters for educational policies designs. Resumo: Este artigo usa um modelo de principal-agente para investigar como os gestores de escolas públicas reagem à incentivos do governo baseados no desempenho escolar anterior. Utilizando dados da Prova Brasil (PB e do Censo Escolar, estimamos uma função de esforço gerencial por regressão quantílica. Os resultados mostram uma relação não-linear regular entre o esforço gerencial e o desempenho escolar desfasado, indicando que o esforço marginal decresce quando um diretor de escola anteriormente ineficaz se torna efetivo ao atingir uma meta de desempenho. Esta evidência está em linha com a abordagem teórica adotada e fornece novos parâmetros para o desenho de políticas educacionais. JEL classification: I21, H52, H40, Keywords: School management, Managerial effort, Educational goals, Asymmetric information, Palavras-chave: Gestão escolar, Esforço gerencial, Metas educacionais, Informação assimétrica

Flexible Working and Couples' Coordination of Time Schedules

OpenAIRE

Bryan, Mark L.; Sevilla Sanz, Almudena

2014-01-01

Using previously unexploited data on time scheduling in the employment and household contexts, we investigate the effect of flexible working on couples' coordination of their daily work time schedules in the UK. We consider three distinct dimensions of flexible working: flexibility of daily start and finish times (flexitime), flexibility of work times over the year (annualised hours), and generalised control of working hours. We find that in couples with flexitime there is greater spouse sync...

Cognitive effort: A neuroeconomic approach

Science.gov (United States)

Braver, Todd S.

2015-01-01

Cognitive effort has been implicated in numerous theories regarding normal and aberrant behavior and the physiological response to engagement with demanding tasks. Yet, despite broad interest, no unifying, operational definition of cognitive effort itself has been proposed. Here, we argue that the most intuitive and epistemologically valuable treatment is in terms of effort-based decision-making, and advocate a neuroeconomics-focused research strategy. We first outline psychological and neuroscientific theories of cognitive effort. Then we describe the benefits of a neuroeconomic research strategy, highlighting how it affords greater inferential traction than do traditional markers of cognitive effort, including self-reports and physiologic markers of autonomic arousal. Finally, we sketch a future series of studies that can leverage the full potential of the neuroeconomic approach toward understanding the cognitive and neural mechanisms that give rise to phenomenal, subjective cognitive effort. PMID:25673005

Attitudes of Iranian infertile couples toward surrogacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kian, Ensiyeh Mohebbi; Riazi, Hedieh; Bashirian, Saeid

2014-01-01

Surrogacy arrangements are multifaceted in nature, involving multiple controversial aspects and engaging ethical, moral, psychological and social issues. Successful treatment in reproductive medicine is strongly based on the mutual agreement of both partners, especially in Iran where men often make the final decision for health-related problems of this nature. The aim of the following study is to assess the attitudes of Iranian infertile couples toward surrogacy. This descriptive study was conducted at the infertility clinic of Hamadan university of medical sciences, Iran. The study sample consisted of 150 infertile couples selected using a systematic randomized method. Data collection was based on responses to a questionnaire consisting of 22 questions. P surrogacy, the overall attitudes toward surrogacy were positive (53.3% of women and 54.6% of men surveyed). Although, there was not a significant difference between the overall positive attitudes of infertile women and men toward surrogacy, the general attitude toward using this method is not strongly positive. Therefore, further efforts are required to increase the acceptability of surrogacy among infertile couples.

XGC developments for a more efficient XGC-GENE code coupling

Science.gov (United States)

Dominski, Julien; Hager, Robert; Ku, Seung-Hoe; Chang, Cs

2017-10-01

In the Exascale Computing Program, the High-Fidelity Whole Device Modeling project initially aims at delivering a tightly-coupled simulation of plasma neoclassical and turbulence dynamics from the core to the edge of the tokamak. To permit such simulations, the gyrokinetic codes GENE and XGC will be coupled together. Numerical efforts are made to improve the numerical schemes agreement in the coupling region. One of the difficulties of coupling those codes together is the incompatibility of their grids. GENE is a continuum grid-based code and XGC is a Particle-In-Cell code using unstructured triangular mesh. A field-aligned filter is thus implemented in XGC. Even if XGC originally had an approximately field-following mesh, this field-aligned filter permits to have a perturbation discretization closer to the one solved in the field-aligned code GENE. Additionally, new XGC gyro-averaging matrices are implemented on a velocity grid adapted to the plasma properties, thus ensuring same accuracy from the core to the edge regions.

Nicotine increases impulsivity and decreases willingness to exert cognitive effort despite improving attention in "slacker" rats: insights into cholinergic regulation of cost/benefit decision making.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jay G Hosking

Full Text Available Successful decision making in our daily lives requires weighing an option's costs against its associated benefits. The neuromodulator acetylcholine underlies both the etiology and treatment of a number of illnesses in which decision making is perturbed, including Alzheimer's disease, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and schizophrenia. Nicotine acts on the cholinergic system and has been touted as a cognitive enhancer by both smokers and some researchers for its attention-boosting effects; however, it is unclear whether treatments that have a beneficial effect on attention would also have a beneficial effect on decision making. Here we utilize the rodent Cognitive Effort Task (rCET, wherein animals can choose to allocate greater visuospatial attention for a greater reward, to examine cholinergic contributions to both attentional performance and choice based on attentional demand. Following the establishment of baseline behavior, four drug challenges were administered: nicotine, mecamylamine, scopolamine, and oxotremorine (saline plus three doses for each. As per previous rCET studies, animals were divided by their baseline preferences, with "worker" rats choosing high-effort/high-reward options more than their "slacker" counterparts. Nicotine caused slackers to choose even fewer high-effort trials than at baseline, but had no effect on workers' choice. Despite slackers' decreased willingness to expend effort, nicotine improved their attentional performance on the task. Nicotine also increased measures of motor impulsivity in all animals. In contrast, scopolamine decreased animals' choice of high-effort trials, especially for workers, while oxotremorine decreased motor impulsivity for all animals. In sum, the cholinergic system appears to contribute to decision making, and in part these contributions can be understood as a function of individual differences. While nicotine has been considered as a cognitive enhancer, these data suggest

On the Classical Coupling between Gravity and Electromagnetism

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Becker

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Coupling between electromagnetism and gravity, manifested as the distorted Coulomb field of a charge distribution in a gravitational field, has never been observed. A physical system consisting of an electron in a charged shell provides a coupling that is orders of magnitude stronger than for any previously-considered system. A shell voltage of one megavolt is required to establish a gravitationally-induced electromagnetic force equal in magnitude to the force of gravity on an electron. The experimental feasibility of detecting these forces on an electron is discussed. The effect establishes a relation between Einstein’s energy-mass equivalence and the coupling between electromagnetism and gravity.

Duality for heavy-quark systems. II. Coupled channels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Durand, B.; Durand, L.

1981-01-01

We derive the duality relation approx. = which relates a suitable energy average of the physical coupled-channel cross section sigma=sigma(e + e - →hadrons) to the same average of the cross section sigma/sub bound/ for the production of bound qq-bar states in a single-channel confining potential. The average is equated by our previous work to the average cross section for production of a qq-bar pair moving freely in the nonconfining color Coulomb potential. Thus, approx. = . The corrections to these duality relations are calculable. We give an exactly solvable coupled-two-channel model and use it to verify duality for both weak and strong coupling

Globally exponential synchronization in an array of asymmetric coupled neural networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu Jianquan; Ho, Daniel W.C.; Liu Ming

2007-01-01

In this Letter, we study the globally exponential synchronization in an array of linearly coupled neural networks with delayed coupling. The coupling configuration matrix is assumed to be asymmetric, which is more coincident with the real-world network. The difficulty arising from the asymmetry of the coupling matrix has been overcame in this work. Some synchronization criteria are given in terms of strict linear matrix inequalities (LMIs), which can be efficiently solved by using interior point algorithm. Some previous synchronization results are generalized. Numerical simulation is also given to verify our theoretical analysis

Effort rights-based management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Squires, Dale; Maunder, Mark; Allen, Robin

2017-01-01

Effort rights-based fisheries management (RBM) is less widely used than catch rights, whether for groups or individuals. Because RBM on catch or effort necessarily requires a total allowable catch (TAC) or total allowable effort (TAE), RBM is discussed in conjunction with issues in assessing fish...... populations and providing TACs or TAEs. Both approaches have advantages and disadvantages, and there are trade-offs between the two approaches. In a narrow economic sense, catch rights are superior because of the type of incentives created, but once the costs of research to improve stock assessments...

Visible high power fiber coupled diode lasers

Science.gov (United States)

Köhler, Bernd; Drovs, Simon; Stoiber, Michael; Dürsch, Sascha; Kissel, Heiko; Könning, Tobias; Biesenbach, Jens; König, Harald; Lell, Alfred; Stojetz, Bernhard; Löffler, Andreas; Strauß, Uwe

2018-02-01

In this paper we report on further development of fiber coupled high-power diode lasers in the visible spectral range. New visible laser modules presented in this paper include the use of multi single emitter arrays @ 450 nm leading to a 120 W fiber coupled unit with a beam quality of 44 mm x mrad, as well as very compact modules with multi-W output power from 405 nm to 640 nm. However, as these lasers are based on single emitters, power scaling quickly leads to bulky laser units with a lot of optical components to be aligned. We also report on a new approach based on 450 nm diode laser bars, which dramatically reduces size and alignment effort. These activities were performed within the German government-funded project "BlauLas": a maximum output power of 80 W per bar has been demonstrated @ 450 nm. We show results of a 200 μm NA0.22 fiber coupled 35 W source @ 450 nm, which has been reduced in size by a factor of 25 compared to standard single emitter approach. In addition, we will present a 200 μm NA0.22 fiber coupled laser unit with an output power of 135 W.

Calculations on seismic coupling of underground explosions in salt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heusinkveld, M.E.

1981-01-01

This report details the results of a theoretical study of seismic coupling and decoupling of underground explosions in a salt medium. A series of chemical and nuclear explosions was carried out years ago in salt domes for the Cowboy and the Dribble programs to provide experimental data on seismic coupling for both tamped explosions and explosions in cavities. The Cowboy program consisted of a series of chemical explosions, and the Dribble program consisted of the tamped nuclear Salmon event, the Sterling nuclear event in the Salmon cavity, and an associated site calibration effort. This report presents the results of extensive computer calculations, which are in satisfactory agreement with the experimental data. The calculations were extended to give general results on seismic coupling in salt. The measure of seismic coupling for most of this work was the residual reduced displacement potential (residual RDP). The decoupling associated with a shot in a cavity was expressed as the ratio of the resulting residual RDP to that of an equal-sized tamped shot

An fMRI study of neuronal activation in schizophrenia patients with and without previous cannabis use

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Else-Marie eLøberg

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Previous studies have mostly shown positive effects of cannabis use on cognition in patients with schizophrenia, which could reflect lower neurocognitive vulnerability. There are however no studies comparing whether such cognitive differences have neuronal correlates. Thus, the aim of the present study was to compare whether patients with previous cannabis use differ in brain activation from patients who has never used cannabis. The patients groups were compared on the ability to up-regulate an effort mode network during a cognitive task and down-regulate activation in the same network during a task-absent condition. Task-present and task-absent brain activation was measured by functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging (fMRI. Twenty-six patients with a DSM-IV and ICD-10 diagnosis of schizophrenia were grouped into a previous cannabis user group and a no-cannabis group. An auditory dichotic listening task with instructions of attention focus on either the right or left ear stimulus was used to tap verbal processing, attention and cognitive control, calculated as an aggregate score. When comparing the two groups, there were remaining activations in the task-present condition for the cannabis group, not seen in the no-cannabis group, while there was remaining activation in the task-absent condition for the no-cannabis group, not seen in the cannabis group. Thus, the patients with previous cannabis use showed increased activation in an effort mode network and decreased activation in the default mode network as compared to the no-cannabis group. It is concluded that the present study show some differences in brain activation to a cognitively challenging task between previous cannabis and no-cannabis schizophrenia patients.

A new elastic model for ground coupling of geophones with spikes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Drijkoningen, G.G.; Rademakers, F.; Slob, E.C.; Fokkema, J.T.

2006-01-01

Ground coupling are terms that describe the transfer from seismic ground motion to the motion of a geophone. In previous models, ground coupling was mainly considered as a disk lying on top of a half-space, not considering the fact that in current practice geophones are spiked and are buried for

Analysis of over 10,000 Cases finds no association between previously reported candidate polymorphisms and ovarian cancer outcome

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

White, Kristin L; Vierkant, Robert A; Fogarty, Zachary C

2013-01-01

Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death among women. In an effort to understand contributors to disease outcome, we evaluated single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) previously associated with ovarian cancer recurrence or survival, specifically in angiogenesis, inflammation, mitosis...

The power of competition: Effects of social motivation on attention, sustained physical effort, and learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brynne Catherine DiMenichi

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Competition has often been implicated as a means to improve effort-based learning and attention. Two experiments examined the effects of competition on effort and memory. In Experiment 1, participants completed a physical effort task in which they were rewarded for winning an overall percentage, or for winning a competition they believed was against another player. In Experiment 2, participants completed a memory task in which they were rewarded for remembering an overall percentage of shapes, or more shapes than a competitor. We found that, in the physical effort task, participants demonstrated faster reaction times—a previous indicator of increased attention— in the competitive environment. Moreover, individual differences predicted the salience of competition’s effect. Furthermore, male participants showed faster reaction times and greater sustained effort as a result of a competitive environment, suggesting that males may be more affected by competition in physical effort tasks. However, in Experiment 2, participants remembered fewer shapes when competing, and later recalled less of these shapes during a post-test, suggesting that competition was harmful in our memory task. The different results from these two experiments suggest that competition can improve attention in a physical effort task, yet caution the use of competition in memory tasks.

Phase-flip bifurcation in a coupled Josephson junction neuron system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Segall, Kenneth, E-mail: ksegall@colgate.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY 13346 (United States); Guo, Siyang; Crotty, Patrick [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY 13346 (United States); Schult, Dan [Department of Mathematics, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY 13346 (United States); Miller, Max [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY 13346 (United States)

2014-12-15

Aiming to understand group behaviors and dynamics of neural networks, we have previously proposed the Josephson junction neuron (JJ neuron) as a fast analog model that mimics a biological neuron using superconducting Josephson junctions. In this study, we further analyze the dynamics of the JJ neuron numerically by coupling one JJ neuron to another. In this coupled system we observe a phase-flip bifurcation, where the neurons synchronize out-of-phase at weak coupling and in-phase at strong coupling. We verify this by simulation of the circuit equations and construct a bifurcation diagram for varying coupling strength using the phase response curve and spike phase difference map. The phase-flip bifurcation could be observed experimentally using standard digital superconducting circuitry.

Phase-flip bifurcation in a coupled Josephson junction neuron system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Segall, Kenneth; Guo, Siyang; Crotty, Patrick; Schult, Dan; Miller, Max

2014-01-01

Aiming to understand group behaviors and dynamics of neural networks, we have previously proposed the Josephson junction neuron (JJ neuron) as a fast analog model that mimics a biological neuron using superconducting Josephson junctions. In this study, we further analyze the dynamics of the JJ neuron numerically by coupling one JJ neuron to another. In this coupled system we observe a phase-flip bifurcation, where the neurons synchronize out-of-phase at weak coupling and in-phase at strong coupling. We verify this by simulation of the circuit equations and construct a bifurcation diagram for varying coupling strength using the phase response curve and spike phase difference map. The phase-flip bifurcation could be observed experimentally using standard digital superconducting circuitry

A model to estimate cost-savings in diabetic foot ulcer prevention efforts.

Science.gov (United States)

Barshes, Neal R; Saedi, Samira; Wrobel, James; Kougias, Panos; Kundakcioglu, O Erhun; Armstrong, David G

2017-04-01

Sustained efforts at preventing diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) and subsequent leg amputations are sporadic in most health care systems despite the high costs associated with such complications. We sought to estimate effectiveness targets at which cost-savings (i.e. improved health outcomes at decreased total costs) might occur. A Markov model with probabilistic sensitivity analyses was used to simulate the five-year survival, incidence of foot complications, and total health care costs in a hypothetical population of 100,000 people with diabetes. Clinical event and cost estimates were obtained from previously-published trials and studies. A population without previous DFU but with 17% neuropathy and 11% peripheral artery disease (PAD) prevalence was assumed. Primary prevention (PP) was defined as reducing initial DFU incidence. PP was more than 90% likely to provide cost-savings when annual prevention costs are less than $50/person and/or annual DFU incidence is reduced by at least 25%. Efforts directed at patients with diabetes who were at moderate or high risk for DFUs were very likely to provide cost-savings if DFU incidence was decreased by at least 10% and/or the cost was less than $150 per person per year. Low-cost DFU primary prevention efforts producing even small decreases in DFU incidence may provide the best opportunity for cost-savings, especially if focused on patients with neuropathy and/or PAD. Mobile phone-based reminders, self-identification of risk factors (ex. Ipswich touch test), and written brochures may be among such low-cost interventions that should be investigated for cost-savings potential. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Minimal-effort planning of active alignment processes for beam-shaping optics

Science.gov (United States)

Haag, Sebastian; Schranner, Matthias; Müller, Tobias; Zontar, Daniel; Schlette, Christian; Losch, Daniel; Brecher, Christian; Roßmann, Jürgen

2015-03-01

In science and industry, the alignment of beam-shaping optics is usually a manual procedure. Many industrial applications utilizing beam-shaping optical systems require more scalable production solutions and therefore effort has been invested in research regarding the automation of optics assembly. In previous works, the authors and other researchers have proven the feasibility of automated alignment of beam-shaping optics such as collimation lenses or homogenization optics. Nevertheless, the planning efforts as well as additional knowledge from the fields of automation and control required for such alignment processes are immense. This paper presents a novel approach of planning active alignment processes of beam-shaping optics with the focus of minimizing the planning efforts for active alignment. The approach utilizes optical simulation and the genetic programming paradigm from computer science for automatically extracting features from a simulated data basis with a high correlation coefficient regarding the individual degrees of freedom of alignment. The strategy is capable of finding active alignment strategies that can be executed by an automated assembly system. The paper presents a tool making the algorithm available to end-users and it discusses the results of planning the active alignment of the well-known assembly of a fast-axis collimator. The paper concludes with an outlook on the transferability to other use cases such as application specific intensity distributions which will benefit from reduced planning efforts.

Sociodemographic, behavioral, and clinical correlates of inconsistent condom use in HIV-serodiscordant heterosexual couples.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchacz, K; van der Straten, A; Saul, J; Shiboski, S C; Gomez, C A; Padian, N

2001-11-01

We examined sociodemographic, behavioral, and clinical characteristics associated with inconsistent condom use in a cross-sectional analysis of 145 sexually active HIV-serodiscordant heterosexual couples who participated in the California Partners Study II. All couples were aware of their HIV-serodiscordant status. Forty-five percent of couples reported having had unprotected vaginal or anal sex in the previous 6 months. In the multivariate couple-level analyses, factors independently associated with inconsistent (i.e., <100%) condom use in the previous 6 months included lower educational level, unemployment, African-American ethnicity, and practice of anal sex by the couple. Injection drug use was associated with inconsistent condom use among couples with younger HIV-infected partners. In addition, couples with HIV-infected partners who had higher CD4 cell counts and couples in which the HIV-infected male partner ever had sex with a man were more likely to use condoms inconsistently. Consistency of condom use did not depend on the gender of the HIV-infected partner or duration of sexual relationship. The findings suggest that many HIV-serodiscordant heterosexual couples remain at high risk of HIV transmission and may benefit not only from behavioral interventions but also from structural interventions aimed at improving their social and economic conditions.

Glass formulation requirements for DWPF coupled operations using crystalline silicotitanates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harbour, J.R.; Andrews, M.K.

1997-01-01

The design basis DWPF flowsheet couples the vitrification of two waste streams: (1) a washed sludge and (2) a hydrolyzed sodium tetraphenylborate precipitate product, PHA. The PHA contains cesium-137 which had been precipitated from the tank supernate with sodium tetraphenylborate. Smaller amounts of strontium and plutonium adsorbed on sodium titanate are also present with the PHA feed. Currently, DWPF is running a sludge-only flowsheet while working towards solutions to the problems encountered with In Tank Precipitation (ITP). The sludge loading for the sludge-only flowsheet and for the anticipated coupled operations is 28 wt% on an oxide basis. For the coupled operation, it is essential to balance the treatment of the two waste streams such that no supernate remains after immobilization of all the sludge. An alternative to ITP and sodium titanate is the removal of Cs-137, Sr-90, and plutonium from the tank supernate by ion exchange using crystalline silicotitanate (CST). This material has been shown to effectively sorb these elements from the supernate. It is also known that CST sorbs plutonium. The loaded CST could then be immobilized with the sludge during vitrification. It has recently been demonstrated that CST loadings approaching 70 wt% for a CST-only glass can be achieved using a borosilicate glass formulation which can be processed by the DWPF melter. Initial efforts on coupled waste streams with simulated DWPF sludge show promise that a borosilicate glass formulation can incorporate both sludge and CST. This paper presents the bases for research efforts to develop a glass formulation which will incorporate sludge and CST at loadings appropriate for DWPF operation

A Miniature Coupled Bistable Vibration Energy Harvester

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu, D; Arthur, D C; Beeby, S P

2014-01-01

This paper reports the design and test of a miniature coupled bistable vibration energy harvester. Operation of a bistable structure largely depends on vibration amplitude rather than frequency, which makes it very promising for wideband vibration energy harvesting applications. A coupled bistable structure consists of a pair of mobile magnets that create two potential wells and thus the bistable phenomenon. It requires lower excitation to trigger bistable operation compared to conventional bistable structures. Based on previous research, this work focused on miniaturisation of the coupled bistable structure for energy harvesting application. The proposed bistable energy harvester is a combination of a Duffing's nonlinear structure and a linear assisting resonator. Experimental results show that the output spectrum of the miniature coupled bistable vibration energy harvester was the superposition of several spectra. It had a higher maximum output power and a much greater bandwidth compared to simply the Duffing's structure without the assisting resonator

Dyadic, Partner, and Social Network Influences on Intimate Partner Violence among Male-Male Couples

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rob Stephenson

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Despite a recent focus on intimate partner violence (IPV among men who have sex with men (MSM, the male-male couple is largely absent from the IPV literature. Specifically, research on dyadic factors shaping IPV in male-male couples is lacking.Methods: We took a subsample of 403 gay/bisexual men with main partners from a 2011 survey of approximately 1,000 gay and bisexual men from Atlanta. Logistic regression models of recent (,12 month experience and perpetration of physical and sexual IPV examined dyadic factors, including racial differences, age differences, and social network characteristics of couples as key covariates shaping the reporting of IPV.Results: Findings indicate that men were more likely to report perpetration of physical violence if they were a different race to their main partner, whereas main partner age was associated with decreased reporting of physical violence. Having social networks that contained more gay friends was associated with significant reductions in the reporting of IPV, whereas having social networks comprised of sex partners or closeted gay friends was associated with increased reporting of IPV victimization and perpetration.Conclusion: The results point to several unique factors shaping the reporting of IPV within male-male couples and highlight the need for intervention efforts and prevention programs that focus on male couples, a group largely absent from both research and prevention efforts. [West J Emerg Med. 2013;14(4:316–323.

Practical integrated simulation systems for coupled numerical simulations in parallel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Osamu, Hazama; Zhihong, Guo [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Centre for Promotion of Computational Science and Engineering, Tokyo (Japan)

2003-07-01

In order for the numerical simulations to reflect 'real-world' phenomena and occurrences, incorporation of multidisciplinary and multi-physics simulations considering various physical models and factors are becoming essential. However, there still exist many obstacles which inhibit such numerical simulations. For example, it is still difficult in many instances to develop satisfactory software packages which allow for such coupled simulations and such simulations will require more computational resources. A precise multi-physics simulation today will require parallel processing which again makes it a complicated process. Under the international cooperative efforts between CCSE/JAERI and Fraunhofer SCAI, a German institute, a library called the MpCCI, or Mesh-based Parallel Code Coupling Interface, has been implemented together with a library called STAMPI to couple two existing codes to develop an 'integrated numerical simulation system' intended for meta-computing environments. (authors)

Anatomical influences on internally coupled ears in reptiles.

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Bruce A

2016-10-01

Many reptiles, and other vertebrates, have internally coupled ears in which a patent anatomical connection allows pressure waves generated by the displacement of one tympanic membrane to propagate (internally) through the head and, ultimately, influence the displacement of the contralateral tympanic membrane. The pattern of tympanic displacement caused by this internal coupling can give rise to novel sensory cues. The auditory mechanics of reptiles exhibit more anatomical variation than in any other vertebrate group. This variation includes structural features such as diverticula and septa, as well as coverings of the tympanic membrane. Many of these anatomical features would likely influence the functional significance of the internal coupling between the tympanic membranes. Several of the anatomical components of the reptilian internally coupled ear are under active motor control, suggesting that in some reptiles the auditory system may be more dynamic than previously recognized.

Coupling the System Analysis Module with SAS4A/SASSYS-1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fanning, T. H. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Hu, R. [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

2016-09-30

SAS4A/SASSYS-1 is a simulation tool used to perform deterministic analysis of anticipated events as well as design basis and beyond design basis accidents for advanced reactors, with an emphasis on sodium fast reactors. SAS4A/SASSYS-1 has been under development and in active use for nearly forty-five years, and is currently maintained by the U.S. Department of Energy under the Office of Advanced Reactor Technology. Although SAS4A/SASSYS-1 contains a very capable primary and intermediate system modeling component, PRIMAR-4, it also has some shortcomings: outdated data management and code structure makes extension of the PRIMAR-4 module somewhat difficult. The user input format for PRIMAR-4 also limits the number of volumes and segments that can be used to describe a given system. The System Analysis Module (SAM) is a fairly new code development effort being carried out under the U.S. DOE Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program. SAM is being developed with advanced physical models, numerical methods, and software engineering practices; however, it is currently somewhat limited in the system components and phenomena that can be represented. For example, component models for electromagnetic pumps and multi-layer stratified volumes have not yet been developed. Nor is there support for a balance of plant model. Similarly, system-level phenomena such as control-rod driveline expansion and vessel elongation are not represented. This report documents fiscal year 2016 work that was carried out to couple the transient safety analysis capabilities of SAS4A/SASSYS-1 with the system modeling capabilities of SAM under the joint support of the ART and NEAMS programs. The coupling effort was successful and is demonstrated by evaluating an unprotected loss of flow transient for the Advanced Burner Test Reactor (ABTR) design. There are differences between the stand-alone SAS4A/SASSYS-1 simulations and the coupled SAS/SAM simulations, but these are mainly

Dopamine and Effort-Based Decision Making

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irma Triasih Kurniawan

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Motivational theories of choice focus on the influence of goal values and strength of reinforcement to explain behavior. By contrast relatively little is known concerning how the cost of an action, such as effort expended, contributes to a decision to act. Effort-based decision making addresses how we make an action choice based on an integration of action and goal values. Here we review behavioral and neurobiological data regarding the representation of effort as action cost, and how this impacts on decision making. Although organisms expend effort to obtain a desired reward there is a striking sensitivity to the amount of effort required, such that the net preference for an action decreases as effort cost increases. We discuss the contribution of the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA towards overcoming response costs and in enhancing an animal’s motivation towards effortful actions. We also consider the contribution of brain structures, including the basal ganglia (BG and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, in the internal generation of action involving a translation of reward expectation into effortful action.

Implicit activation of the aging stereotype influences effort-related cardiovascular response: The role of incentive.

Science.gov (United States)

Zafeiriou, Athina; Gendolla, Guido H E

2017-09-01

Based on previous research on implicit effects on effort-related cardiovascular response and evidence that aging is associated with cognitive difficulties, we tested whether the mere activation of the aging stereotype can systematically influence young individuals' effort-mobilization during cognitive performance. Young participants performed an objectively difficult short-term memory task during which they processed elderly vs. youth primes and expected low vs. high incentive for success. When participants processed elderly primes during the task, we expected cardiovascular response to be weak in the low-incentive condition and strong in the high-incentive condition. Unaffected by incentive, effort in the youth-prime condition should fall in between the two elderly-prime cells. Effects on cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP) and heart rate (HR) largely supported these predictions. The present findings show for the first time that the mere activation of the aging stereotype can systematically influence effort mobilization during cognitive performance-even in young adults. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Anomalous couplings in single top quark and searches for rare top quark couplings with the ATLAS detector

CERN Document Server

Cabrera Urban, Susana; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

Two recent analyses that have exhaustively explored potential anomalous couplings in the $Wtb$ vertex using $t$-channel single-top-quark events selected from collision data at $\\sqrt{s} = $ 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector are reviewed. The first one measures the top-quark polarisation and six W-boson spin opservables from angular asymmetries unfolded to parton level. The second one measures the normalised triple-differential angular decay rate of top quarks to simultaneously constrain all the anomalous couplings. The limits on the anomalous couplings improve the existing limits set by ATLAS at $\\sqrt{s} = $ 7 TeV. In addition, searches for flavour-changing neutral current top-quark interactions based on data collected by ATLAS and CMS, are reviewed. Finally, a recent search for $t \\rightarrow qH$, with $H \\rightarrow \\gamma\\gamma$, performed by ATLAS at $\\sqrt{s} = $ 13 TeV is also presented, where previous LHC limits are improved.

Activation of the cannabinoid system in the nucleus accumbens affects effort-based decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Fatahi, Zahra; Haghparast, Abbas

2018-02-01

Effort-based decision making addresses how we make an action choice based on an integration of action and goal values. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is implicated in allowing an animal to overcome effort constraints to obtain greater benefits, and it has been previously shown that cannabis derivatives may affect such processes. Therefore, in this study, we intend to evaluate the involvement of the cannabinoid system in the entire NAc on effort-based decision making. Rats were trained in a T-maze cost-benefit decision making the task in which they could choose either to climb a barrier to obtain a large reward in one arm or run into the other arm without a barrier to obtaining a small reward. Following training, the animals were bilaterally implanted with guide cannulae in the NAc. On test day, rats received cannabinoid agonist (Win 55,212-2; 2, 10 and 50μM) and/or antagonist (AM251; 45μM), afterward percentage of large reward choice and latency of reward attainment were investigated. Results revealed that the administration of cannabinoid agonist led to decrease of large reward choice percentage such that the animals preferred to receive a small reward with low effort instead of receiving a large reward with high effort. The administration of antagonist solely did not affect effort-based decision making, but did attenuate the Win 55,212-2-induced impairments in effort allocation. In agonist-treated animals, the latency of reward collection increased. Moreover, when the effort was equated on both arms, the animals returned to choosing large reward showing that obtained results were not caused by spatial memory impairment. Our finding suggested that activation of the cannabinoid system in the NAc impaired effort-based decision making and led to rats were less willing to invest the physical effort to gain large reward. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Couple-level Motivations to Test for HIV for Gay Men in Relationships

Science.gov (United States)

Beougher, Sean C.; Bircher, Anja E.; Chakravarty, Deepalika; Darbes, Lynae A.; Gómez Mandic, Carmen; Neilands, Torsten B.; Garcia, Carla C.; Hoff, Colleen C.

2015-01-01

Previous studies of HIV testing among gay men describe the motivations, facilitators and barriers, behaviors, and demographic characteristics of individuals who test. What little research focuses on HIV testing among gay men in relationships shows that they do not test regularly or, in some cases, at all – their motivations to test have not been investigated. With so little data on HIV testing for this population, and the continued privileging of individually-focused approaches, gay men in relationships fall into a blind spot of research and prevention efforts. This study examined motivations to test for HIV using qualitative data from both partners in 20 gay male couples. Analysis revealed that the partners’ motivations were either event-related (e.g., participants testing the beginning of their relationship or HIV-negative participants in an HIV-discordant relationship testing after risky episode with their discordant primary partner) or partner-related (e.g., participants testing in response to a request or suggestion to test from their primary partner or participants testing out of concern for their primary partner’s health and wellbeing). These data provide insight into relationship-oriented motivations to test for HIV for gay men in relationships and, in doing so, demonstrates their commitment to their primary partner and relationship. These motivations can be leveraged to increase HIV testing among gay men in relationships, a population that tests less often than single gay men, yet, until recently, has been underserved by prevention efforts. PMID:25550145

Extensions to the coupling coefficient calculations for muon telescopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baker, C.P.; Humble, J.E.; Duldig, M.L.

1989-01-01

The calculation of coupling coefficients for muon telescopes has previously used interpolation from a limited set of asymptotic directions of arrival of primary particles. Furthermore, these calculations have not incorporated curvature of the atmosphere and thus diverge from the true response at zenith angles greater than about 75 degrees. The necessary extensions to calculate coupling coefficients at arbitrary zenith angles are given, including an improved method of incorporating the asymptotic directions of the primary particles. It is shown, using this method, that certain coupling coefficients are highly sensitive to small changes in asymptotic directions for some telescope configurations. 10 refs., 1 fig., 3 tabs

Molecular states of HeH+. Energies and dynamical couplings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Macias, A.; Riera, A.; Yanez, M.

1983-01-01

We complete the molecular results reported in a previous paper by presenting additional energies (for /sup 1,3/μ states) and radial couplings (between 'μ states) of the HeH + system. These results are needed to treat elastic and inelastic charge-exchange processes when full account is taken of momentum-transfer problems. We also present a formalism to calculate radial couplings between wave functions computed with the use of different variational methods and basis sets. The detailed form of the radial couplings is discussed and related to the Barat-Lichten correlation diagram. The effect of using finite basis sets in calculatig degenerate molecular energies is also discussed

Extensions to the coupling coefficient calculations for muon telescopes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baker, C P; Humble, J E [Tasmania Univ., Sandy Bay (Australia). Dept. of Physics; Duldig, M L [Dept. of the Arts, Sport, the Environment, Tourism and Territories, Hobart (Australia). Antarctic Div.

1989-01-01

The calculation of coupling coefficients for muon telescopes has previously used interpolation from a limited set of asymptotic directions of arrival of primary particles. Furthermore, these calculations have not incorporated curvature of the atmosphere and thus diverge from the true response at zenith angles greater than about 75 degrees. The necessary extensions to calculate coupling coefficients at arbitrary zenith angles are given, including an improved method of incorporating the asymptotic directions of the primary particles. It is shown, using this method, that certain coupling coefficients are highly sensitive to small changes in asymptotic directions for some telescope configurations. 10 refs., 1 fig., 3 tabs.

Attitudes of Iranian infertile couples toward surrogacy

Science.gov (United States)

Kian, Ensiyeh Mohebbi; Riazi, Hedieh; Bashirian, Saeid

2014-01-01

BACKGROUND: Surrogacy arrangements are multifaceted in nature, involving multiple controversial aspects and engaging ethical, moral, psychological and social issues. Successful treatment in reproductive medicine is strongly based on the mutual agreement of both partners, especially in Iran where men often make the final decision for health-related problems of this nature. AIM: The aim of the following study is to assess the attitudes of Iranian infertile couples toward surrogacy. SETTING AND DESIGN: This descriptive study was conducted at the infertility clinic of Hamadan university of medical sciences, Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study sample consisted of 150 infertile couples selected using a systematic randomized method. Data collection was based on responses to a questionnaire consisting of 22 questions. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: P surrogacy, the overall attitudes toward surrogacy were positive (53.3% of women and 54.6% of men surveyed). CONCLUSION: Although, there was not a significant difference between the overall positive attitudes of infertile women and men toward surrogacy, the general attitude toward using this method is not strongly positive. Therefore, further efforts are required to increase the acceptability of surrogacy among infertile couples. PMID:24829531

Committee Opinion No. 574: Marriage equality for same-sex couples.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-01

Same-sex couples encounter barriers to health care that include concerns about confidentiality and disclosure, stigma and discriminatory attitudes and treatment, limited access to health care and health insurance, and often a limited understanding of their health risks. Same-sex couples and their families are adversely affected by the lack of legal recognition of their relationships, a problem with major implications for the health of same-sex couples and their families. Tangible harm has come from the lack of financial and health care protections granted to legal spouses, and children are harmed by the lack of protections afforded to families in which partners are married. However, the recent Supreme Court ruling, The United States v Windsor, which afforded equal treatment for legally married same-sex couples will provide many important health and financial benefits. Evidence suggests that marriage confers health benefits to individuals and families, yet a sizable proportion of individuals do not experience these health benefits because of their sexual orientation. Additional data suggest that same-sex couples who live in states with bans on same-sex unions experience adverse health outcomes. Civil marriage is currently available to same-sex couples in only thirteen states and the District of Columbia and honored by one state. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists endorses marriage equality for same-sex couples and equal treatment for these couples and their families and applauds the Supreme Court's decision as an important step in improving access to benefits received by legally married same-sex couples. However, additional efforts are necessary to ensure that same-sex couples in every state can receive these same benefits.

DUAL CAREER COUPLES IN KOLKATA AND THEIR STRESSFUL WORK LIFE BALANCE

OpenAIRE

Jhilam Rudra De

2017-01-01

Dual-career couples were exceptions to the norm in the 1960s, but on date it is difficult to assess the number of married career women in the work force. Previous researches suggest that, the problems of the working women, who are a significant part of a dual career couple, may include lack of flexibility in the workplace, male-trailing spouses, career versus relationship child bearing conflicts etc. The key for dual career couples is to establish a system to help them balance their career an...

The Role of Dyadic Coping on the Marital and Emotional Adjustment of Couples With Infertility.

Science.gov (United States)

Chaves, Catarina; Canavarro, Maria Cristina; Moura-Ramos, Mariana

2018-04-30

Infertility is a challenging experience, affecting individual and couples' adjustment. However, the way the members of the couple support each other may affect the experience of infertility and their adjustment. This study aimed to investigate the role of dyadic coping by oneself and by the partner in the association between the impact of infertility and dyadic and emotional adjustment (anxiety and depression) to infertility. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 134 participants (67 couples with infertility) completed self-report questionnaires assessing infertility-related stress, dyadic coping, dyadic adjustment, and depression and anxiety symptoms. A path analysis examined the direct and indirect effects between the impact of infertility in one's life and dyadic and emotional adjustment. There is an indirect effect of the impact of infertility in one's life on dyadic adjustment through men's perceived dyadic coping efforts employed by the self (dyadic coping by oneself) and women's perceived dyadic coping efforts of the partner (dyadic coping by the partner). Regarding the emotional adjustment of infertile couples, infertility stress impact had an indirect effect only on depressive symptoms through men's dyadic coping by oneself. The results highlight the importance of men's dyadic coping strategies for the marital adjustment of couples as well as for men's emotional adjustment. Findings emphasize the importance of involving men in the fertility treatment process, reinforcing the dyadic nature of infertility processes. © 2018 Family Process Institute.

Warthog: Coupling Status Update

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hart, Shane W. D. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Reardon, Bradley T. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

2017-06-30

stand-alone BISON run. Future work involves improving the user interface (UI), likely through integration with the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Workbench. Furthermore, automating the input creation would ease the user experience. The next priority is to continue coupling the work with other codes in the SHARP package. Efforts on other projects include work to couple the Nek5000 thermo-hydraulics code to MOOSE, but this is in the preliminary stages.

Equation-of-motion coupled cluster perturbation theory revisited

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eriksen, Janus Juul; Jørgensen, Poul; Olsen, Jeppe

2014-01-01

The equation-of-motion coupled cluster (EOM-CC) framework has been used for deriving a novel series of perturbative corrections to the coupled cluster singles and doubles energy that formally con- verges towards the full configuration interaction energy limit. The series is based on a Møller-Ples......-Plesset partitioning of the Hamiltonian and thus size extensive at any order in the perturbation, thereby rem- edying the major deficiency inherent to previous perturbation series based on the EOM-CC ansatz. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4873138]...

Superlinearly scalable noise robustness of redundant coupled dynamical systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Kohar, Vivek; Kia, Behnam; Lindner, John F; Ditto, William L

2016-03-01

We illustrate through theory and numerical simulations that redundant coupled dynamical systems can be extremely robust against local noise in comparison to uncoupled dynamical systems evolving in the same noisy environment. Previous studies have shown that the noise robustness of redundant coupled dynamical systems is linearly scalable and deviations due to noise can be minimized by increasing the number of coupled units. Here, we demonstrate that the noise robustness can actually be scaled superlinearly if some conditions are met and very high noise robustness can be realized with very few coupled units. We discuss these conditions and show that this superlinear scalability depends on the nonlinearity of the individual dynamical units. The phenomenon is demonstrated in discrete as well as continuous dynamical systems. This superlinear scalability not only provides us an opportunity to exploit the nonlinearity of physical systems without being bogged down by noise but may also help us in understanding the functional role of coupled redundancy found in many biological systems. Moreover, engineers can exploit superlinear noise suppression by starting a coupled system near (not necessarily at) the appropriate initial condition.

Hiding effort to gain a competitive advantage: Evidence from China.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Li; Heyman, Gail D

2018-06-01

Previous studies with Western populations have shown that adolescents' tendency to downplay their academic effort is affected by two kinds of motives: ability-related motives (e.g., to appear competent) and social approval motives (e.g., to be popular). In this research, we test for the presence of additional competition-related motives in China, a culture placing strong emphasis on academic competition. Study 1 (N = 150) showed that, in response to a scenario in which a hard-working high-school junior hid effort from classmates, the most highly endorsed explanation was "to influence others to work less hard to maintain a competitive advantage." Study 2 (N = 174) revealed that competition-related explanations were endorsed relatively more often when the speaker and audience had similar academic rankings. This tendency was most evident when both speaker and audience were top performers, and when this was the case, participants' desire to demonstrate superiority over others was a positive predictor of endorsement of competition-related motives. Study 3 (N = 137) verified that competition-related motives were more strongly endorsed among Chinese participants than U.S. These results suggest that at least in cultures that emphasize academic competition and in contexts where competition is salient, hiding effort is often about attempting to gain strategic advantage. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

Controllable coupling of distributed qubits within a microtoroidal cavity network

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, C.; Xia, Y.; Song, J.

2012-05-01

We propose a scheme to control the coupling between two arbitrary atoms scattered within a quantum network composed of microtoroidal cavities linked by a ring-fibre. The atom-atom effective couplings are induced by pairing of off-resonant Raman transitions. The couplings can be arbitrarily controlled by adjusting classical fields. Compared with the previous scheme [S.B. Zheng, C.P. Yang, F. Nori, Phys. Rev. A 82, 042327 (2010)], the present scheme uses microtoroidal cavities with higher coupling efficiency than Fabry-Perot cavities. Furthermore, the scheme is not only suitable for the short-fibre limit, but also for multiple fibre modes. The added fibre modes can play a positive role, especially when the coupling rate between cavity-mode and fibre-mode is not large. In addition, a wider frequency domain of fibre modes can be used in this scheme.

Chimera states in nonlocally coupled phase oscillators with biharmonic interaction

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Hongyan; Dai, Qionglin; Wu, Nianping; Feng, Yuee; Li, Haihong; Yang, Junzhong

2018-03-01

Chimera states, which consist of coexisting domains of coherent and incoherent parts, have been observed in a variety of systems. Most of previous works on chimera states have taken into account specific form of interaction between oscillators, for example, sinusoidal coupling or diffusive coupling. Here, we investigate chimera dynamics in nonlocally coupled phase oscillators with biharmonic interaction. We find novel chimera states with features such as that oscillators in the same coherent cluster may split into two groups with a phase difference around π/2 and that oscillators in adjacent coherent clusters may have a phase difference close to π/2. The different impacts of the coupling ranges in the first and the second harmonic interactions on chimera dynamics are investigated based on the synchronous dynamics in globally coupled phase oscillators. Our study suggests a new direction in the field of chimera dynamics.

Dyadic Coping in Couple Therapy Process: An Exploratory Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Margola, Davide; Donato, Silvia; Accordini, Monica; Emery, Robert E; Snyder, Douglas K

2017-07-10

This study aimed at moving beyond previous research on couple therapy efficacy by examining moment-by-moment proximal couple and therapist interactions as well as final treatment outcomes and their reciprocal association. Seven hundred four episodes of dyadic coping within 56 early therapy sessions, taken from 28 married couples in treatment, were intensively analyzed and processed using a mixed-methods software (T-LAB). Results showed that negative dyadic coping was self-perpetuating, and therapists tended to passively observe the negative couple interaction; on the contrary, positive dyadic coping appeared to require a therapist's intervention to be maintained, and successful interventions mainly included information gathering as well as interpreting. Couples who dropped out of treatment were not actively engaged from the outset of therapy, and they used more negative dyadic coping, whereas couples who successfully completed treatment showed more positive dyadic coping very early in therapy. Results highlight the role of therapist action and control as critical to establishing rapport and credibility in couple therapy and suggest that dyadic coping patterns early in therapy may contribute to variable treatment response. © 2017 Family Process Institute.

Challenges in coupled thermal-hydraulics and neutronics simulations for LWR safety analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivanov, Kostadin; Avramova, Maria

2007-01-01

The simulation of nuclear power plant accident conditions requires three-dimensional (3D) modeling of the reactor core to ensure a realistic description of physical phenomena. The operational flexibility of Light Water Reactor (LWR) plants can be improved by utilizing accurate 3D coupled neutronics/thermal-hydraulics calculations for safety margins evaluations. There are certain requirements to the coupling of thermal-hydraulic system codes and neutron-kinetics codes that ought to be considered. The objective of these requirements is to provide accurate solutions in a reasonable amount of CPU time in coupled simulations of detailed operational transient and accident scenarios. These requirements are met by the development and implementation of six basic components of the coupling methodologies: ways of coupling (internal or external coupling); coupling approach (integration algorithm or parallel processing); spatial mesh overlays; coupled time-step algorithms; coupling numerics (explicit, semi-implicit and implicit schemes); and coupled convergence schemes. These principles of the coupled simulations are discussed in details along with the scientific issues associated with the development of appropriate neutron cross-section libraries for coupled code transient modeling. The current trends in LWR nuclear power generation and regulation as well as the design of next generation LWR reactor concepts along with the continuing computer technology progress stimulate further development of these coupled code systems. These efforts have been focused towards extending the analysis capabilities as well as refining the scale and level of detail of the coupling. This article analyses the coupled phenomena and modeling challenges on both global (assembly-wise) and local (pin-wise) levels. The issues related to the consistent qualification of coupled code systems as well as their application to different types of LWR transients are presented. Finally, the advances in numerical

Coupled models in dam engineering

OpenAIRE

González Gutiérrez, María De Los Ángeles

2016-01-01

Rock ll dams are certainly one of the most important engineering structures due to their economic advantages and exible design. Unfortunately their vulnerability to overtopping still remains their weakest point. For that reason, several research groups are interested in both the numerical and experimental analysis of this phenomenon. In this work we focused on the numerical analysis. The previous work developed in CIMNE on a coupled PFEM-Eulerian free surface Compu- tational...

Coupling of system thermal–hydraulics and Monte-Carlo code: Convergence criteria and quantification of correlation between statistical uncertainty and coupled error

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Xu; Kozlowski, Tomasz

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Coupling of Monte Carlo code Serpent and thermal–hydraulics code RELAP5. • A convergence criterion is developed based on the statistical uncertainty of power. • Correlation between MC statistical uncertainty and coupled error is quantified. • Both UO 2 and MOX single assembly models are used in the coupled simulation. • Validation of coupling results with a multi-group transport code DeCART. - Abstract: Coupled multi-physics approach plays an important role in improving computational accuracy. Compared with deterministic neutronics codes, Monte Carlo codes have the advantage of a higher resolution level. In the present paper, a three-dimensional continuous-energy Monte Carlo reactor physics burnup calculation code, Serpent, is coupled with a thermal–hydraulics safety analysis code, RELAP5. The coupled Serpent/RELAP5 code capability is demonstrated by the improved axial power distribution of UO 2 and MOX single assembly models, based on the OECD-NEA/NRC PWR MOX/UO 2 Core Transient Benchmark. Comparisons of calculation results using the coupled code with those from the deterministic methods, specifically heterogeneous multi-group transport code DeCART, show that the coupling produces more precise results. A new convergence criterion for the coupled simulation is developed based on the statistical uncertainty in power distribution in the Monte Carlo code, rather than ad-hoc criteria used in previous research. The new convergence criterion is shown to be more rigorous, equally convenient to use but requiring a few more coupling steps to converge. Finally, the influence of Monte Carlo statistical uncertainty on the coupled error of power and thermal–hydraulics parameters is quantified. The results are presented such that they can be used to find the statistical uncertainty to use in Monte Carlo in order to achieve a desired precision in coupled simulation

Coupled generative adversarial stacked Auto-encoder: CoGASA.

Science.gov (United States)

Kiasari, Mohammad Ahangar; Moirangthem, Dennis Singh; Lee, Minho

2018-04-01

Coupled Generative Adversarial Network (CoGAN) was recently introduced in order to model a joint distribution of a multi modal dataset. The CoGAN model lacks the capability to handle noisy data as well as it is computationally expensive and inefficient for practical applications such as cross-domain image transformation. In this paper, we propose a new method, named the Coupled Generative Adversarial Stacked Auto-encoder (CoGASA), to directly transfer data from one domain to another domain with robustness to noise in the input data as well to as reduce the computation time. We evaluate the proposed model using MNIST and the Large-scale CelebFaces Attributes (CelebA) datasets, and the results demonstrate a highly competitive performance. Our proposed models can easily transfer images into the target domain with minimal effort. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Incentive Design and Mis-Allocated Effort

OpenAIRE

Schnedler, Wendelin

2013-01-01

Incentives often distort behavior: they induce agents to exert effort but this effort is not employed optimally. This paper proposes a theory of incentive design allowing for such distorted behavior. At the heart of the theory is a trade-off between getting the agent to exert effort and ensuring that this effort is used well. The theory covers various moral-hazard models, ranging from traditional single-task to multi-task models. It also provides -for the first time- a formalization and proof...

Massively parallel implementations of coupled-cluster methods for electron spin resonance spectra. I. Isotropic hyperfine coupling tensors in large radicals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Verma, Prakash; Morales, Jorge A., E-mail: jorge.morales@ttu.edu [Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University, P.O. Box 41061, Lubbock, Texas 79409-1061 (United States); Perera, Ajith [Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University, P.O. Box 41061, Lubbock, Texas 79409-1061 (United States); Department of Chemistry, Quantum Theory Project, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (United States)

2013-11-07

Coupled cluster (CC) methods provide highly accurate predictions of molecular properties, but their high computational cost has precluded their routine application to large systems. Fortunately, recent computational developments in the ACES III program by the Bartlett group [the OED/ERD atomic integral package, the super instruction processor, and the super instruction architecture language] permit overcoming that limitation by providing a framework for massively parallel CC implementations. In that scheme, we are further extending those parallel CC efforts to systematically predict the three main electron spin resonance (ESR) tensors (A-, g-, and D-tensors) to be reported in a series of papers. In this paper inaugurating that series, we report our new ACES III parallel capabilities that calculate isotropic hyperfine coupling constants in 38 neutral, cationic, and anionic radicals that include the {sup 11}B, {sup 17}O, {sup 9}Be, {sup 19}F, {sup 1}H, {sup 13}C, {sup 35}Cl, {sup 33}S,{sup 14}N, {sup 31}P, and {sup 67}Zn nuclei. Present parallel calculations are conducted at the Hartree-Fock (HF), second-order many-body perturbation theory [MBPT(2)], CC singles and doubles (CCSD), and CCSD with perturbative triples [CCSD(T)] levels using Roos augmented double- and triple-zeta atomic natural orbitals basis sets. HF results consistently overestimate isotropic hyperfine coupling constants. However, inclusion of electron correlation effects in the simplest way via MBPT(2) provides significant improvements in the predictions, but not without occasional failures. In contrast, CCSD results are consistently in very good agreement with experimental results. Inclusion of perturbative triples to CCSD via CCSD(T) leads to small improvements in the predictions, which might not compensate for the extra computational effort at a non-iterative N{sup 7}-scaling in CCSD(T). The importance of these accurate computations of isotropic hyperfine coupling constants to elucidate

Estimation of total Effort and Effort Elapsed in Each Step of Software Development Using Optimal Bayesian Belief Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fatemeh Zare Baghiabad

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Accuracy in estimating the needed effort for software development caused software effort estimation to be a challenging issue. Beside estimation of total effort, determining the effort elapsed in each software development step is very important because any mistakes in enterprise resource planning can lead to project failure. In this paper, a Bayesian belief network was proposed based on effective components and software development process. In this model, the feedback loops are considered between development steps provided that the return rates are different for each project. Different return rates help us determine the percentages of the elapsed effort in each software development step, distinctively. Moreover, the error measurement resulted from optimized effort estimation and the optimal coefficients to modify the model are sought. The results of the comparison between the proposed model and other models showed that the model has the capability to highly accurately estimate the total effort (with the marginal error of about 0.114 and to estimate the effort elapsed in each software development step.

Synchronizations in small-world networks of spiking neurons: Diffusive versus sigmoid couplings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hasegawa, Hideo

2005-01-01

By using a semianalytical dynamical mean-field approximation previously proposed by the author [H. Hasegawa, Phys. Rev. E 70, 066107 (2004)], we have studied the synchronization of stochastic, small-world (SW) networks of FitzHugh-Nagumo neurons with diffusive couplings. The difference and similarity between results for diffusive and sigmoid couplings have been discussed. It has been shown that with introducing the weak heterogeneity to regular networks, the synchronization may be slightly increased for diffusive couplings, while it is decreased for sigmoid couplings. This increase in the synchronization for diffusive couplings is shown to be due to their local, negative feedback contributions, but not due to the short average distance in SW networks. Synchronization of SW networks depends not only on their structure but also on the type of couplings

Coupled-channel equations and off-shell transformations in many-body scattering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cattapan, G.; Vanzani, V.

1977-01-01

The general structure and the basic features of several many-body coupled-channel integral equations, obtained by means of the channel coupling array device, are studied in a systematic way. Particular attention is paid to the employment of symmetric transition operators. The connection between different formulations has been clarified and the role played by some off-shell transformations for many-body transition operators has been discussed. Specific choices of the coupling scheme are considered and the corresponding coupled equations are compared with similar equations previously derived. Several sets of linear relations between transition operators have also been presented and used in a three-body context to derive uncoupled integral equations with connected kernel

Coupling-induced oscillations in nonhomogeneous, overdamped, bistable systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hernandez, Mayra; In, Visarath; Longhini, Patrick; Palacios, Antonio; Bulsara, Adi; Kho, Andy

2008-01-01

Coupling-induced oscillations in a homogeneous network of overdamped bistable systems have been previously studied both theoretically and experimentally for a system of N (odd) elements, unidirectionally coupled in a ring topology. In this work, we extend the analysis of this system to include a network of nonhomogeneous elements with respect to the parameter that controls the topology of the potential function and the bistability of each element. In particular, we quantify the effects of the nonhomogeneity on the onset of oscillations and the response of the network to external (assumed to be constant and very small) perturbations, using our (recently developed) coupled core fluxgate magnetometer as a representative system. The potential applications of this work include signal detection and characterization for a large class of sensor systems

Coupling-induced oscillations in nonhomogeneous, overdamped, bistable systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hernandez, Mayra [Nonlinear Dynamical Systems Group, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182 (United States)], E-mail: mayra.alina@yahoo.com; In, Visarath [Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Code 71730, 53560 Hull Street, San Diego, CA 92152-5001 (United States)], E-mail: visarath.in@navy.mil; Longhini, Patrick [Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Code 71730, 53560 Hull Street, San Diego, CA 92152-5001 (United States)], E-mail: longhini@navy.mil; Palacios, Antonio [Nonlinear Dynamical Systems Group, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182 (United States)], E-mail: palacios@euler.sdsu.edu; Bulsara, Adi [Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Code 71730, 53560 Hull Street, San Diego, CA 92152-5001 (United States)], E-mail: bulsara@spawar.navy.mil; Kho, Andy [Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, Code 71730, 53560 Hull Street, San Diego, CA 92152-5001 (United States)], E-mail: kho@spawar.navy.mil

2008-06-09

Coupling-induced oscillations in a homogeneous network of overdamped bistable systems have been previously studied both theoretically and experimentally for a system of N (odd) elements, unidirectionally coupled in a ring topology. In this work, we extend the analysis of this system to include a network of nonhomogeneous elements with respect to the parameter that controls the topology of the potential function and the bistability of each element. In particular, we quantify the effects of the nonhomogeneity on the onset of oscillations and the response of the network to external (assumed to be constant and very small) perturbations, using our (recently developed) coupled core fluxgate magnetometer as a representative system. The potential applications of this work include signal detection and characterization for a large class of sensor systems.

Nonlinear analysis of a cross-coupled quadrature harmonic oscillator

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Djurhuus, Torsten; Krozer, Viktor; Vidkjær, Jens

2005-01-01

The dynamic equations governing the cross-coupled quadrature harmonic oscillator are derived assuming quasi-sinusoidal operation. This allows for an investigation of the previously reported tradeoff between close-to-carrier phase noise and quadrature precision. The results explain how nonlinearity...

Mental and physical effort affect vigilance differently

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, A.S.; Eling, P.A.T.M.; Hopman, M.T.E.; Coenen, A.M.L.

2005-01-01

Both physical and mental effort are thought to affect vigilance. Mental effort is known for its vigilance declining effects, but the effects of physical effort are less clear. This study investigated whether these two forms of effort affect the EEG and subjective alertness differently. Participants

Mental and physical effort affect vigilance differently.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smit, A.S.; Eling, P.A.T.M.; Hopman, M.T.E.; Coenen, A.M.L.

2005-01-01

Both physical and mental effort are thought to affect vigilance. Mental effort is known for its vigilance declining effects, but the effects of physical effort are less clear. This study investigated whether these two forms of effort affect the EEG and subjective alertness differently. Participants

Molecular states of HeH/sup +/. Energies and dynamical couplings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Macias, A.; Riera, A.; Yanez, M.

1983-01-01

We complete the molecular results reported in a previous paper by presenting additional energies (for /sup 1,3/..sigma.. states) and radial couplings (between '..sigma.. states) of the HeH/sup +/ system. These results are needed to treat elastic and inelastic charge-exchange processes when full account is taken of momentum-transfer problems. We also present a formalism to calculate radial couplings between wave functions computed with the use of different variational methods and basis sets. The detailed form of the radial couplings is discussed and related to the Barat-Lichten correlation diagram. The effect of using finite basis sets in calculatig degenerate molecular energies is also discussed.

Dark coupling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gavela, M.B.; Hernández, D.; Honorez, L. Lopez; Mena, O.; Rigolin, S.

2009-01-01

The two dark sectors of the universe—dark matter and dark energy—may interact with each other. Background and linear density perturbation evolution equations are developed for a generic coupling. We then establish the general conditions necessary to obtain models free from non-adiabatic instabilities. As an application, we consider a viable universe in which the interaction strength is proportional to the dark energy density. The scenario does not exhibit ''phantom crossing'' and is free from instabilities, including early ones. A sizeable interaction strength is compatible with combined WMAP, HST, SN, LSS and H(z) data. Neutrino mass and/or cosmic curvature are allowed to be larger than in non-interacting models. Our analysis sheds light as well on unstable scenarios previously proposed

The costs of parental care: a meta-analysis of the trade-off between parental effort and survival in birds.

Science.gov (United States)

Santos, E S A; Nakagawa, S

2012-09-01

A fundamental premise of life-history theory is that organisms that increase current reproductive investment suffer increased mortality. Possibly the most studied life-history phenotypic relationship is the trade-off between parental effort and survival. However, evidence supporting this trade-off is equivocal. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis to test the generality of this tenet. Using experimental studies that manipulated parental effort in birds, we show that (i) the effect of parental effort on survival was similar across species regardless of phylogeny; (ii) individuals that experienced reduced parental effort had similar survival probabilities than control individuals, regardless of sex; and (iii) males that experienced increased parental effort were less likely to survive than control males, whereas females that experienced increased effort were just as likely to survive as control females. Our results suggest that the trade-off between parental effort and survival is more complex than previously assumed. Finally, our study provides recommendations of unexplored avenues of future research into life-history trade-offs. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2012 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Low-effort thought promotes political conservatism.

Science.gov (United States)

Eidelman, Scott; Crandall, Christian S; Goodman, Jeffrey A; Blanchar, John C

2012-06-01

The authors test the hypothesis that low-effort thought promotes political conservatism. In Study 1, alcohol intoxication was measured among bar patrons; as blood alcohol level increased, so did political conservatism (controlling for sex, education, and political identification). In Study 2, participants under cognitive load reported more conservative attitudes than their no-load counterparts. In Study 3, time pressure increased participants' endorsement of conservative terms. In Study 4, participants considering political terms in a cursory manner endorsed conservative terms more than those asked to cogitate; an indicator of effortful thought (recognition memory) partially mediated the relationship between processing effort and conservatism. Together these data suggest that political conservatism may be a process consequence of low-effort thought; when effortful, deliberate thought is disengaged, endorsement of conservative ideology increases.

Mode competition in a system of two parametrically driven pendulums with nonlinear coupling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Banning, E.J.; Banning, E.J.; van der Weele, J.P.; Ross, J.C.; Kettenis, M.M.

1997-01-01

This paper is part three in a series on the dynamics of two coupled, parametrically driven pendulums. In the previous parts Banning and van der Weele (1995) and Banning et al. (1997) studied the case of linear coupling; the present paper deals with the changes brought on by the inclusion of a

Age, training, and previous experience predict race performance in long-distance inline skaters, not anthropometry.

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Knechtle, Beat; Knechtle, Patrizia; Rüst, Christoph Alexander; Rosemann, Thomas; Lepers, Romuald

2012-02-01

The association of characteristics of anthropometry, training, and previous experience with race time in 84 recreational, long-distance, inline skaters at the longest inline marathon in Europe (111 km), the Inline One-eleven in Switzerland, was investigated to identify predictor variables for performance. Age, duration per training unit, and personal best time were the only three variables related to race time in a multiple regression, while none of the 16 anthropometric variables were related. Anthropometric characteristics seem to be of no importance for a fast race time in a long-distance inline skating race in contrast to training volume and previous experience, when controlled with covariates. Improving performance in a long-distance inline skating race might be related to a high training volume and previous race experience. Also, doing such a race requires a parallel psychological effort, mental stamina, focus, and persistence. This may be reflected in the preparation and training for the event. Future studies should investigate what motivates these athletes to train and compete.

Goal striving strategies and effort mobilization: When implementation intentions reduce effort-related cardiac activity during task performance.

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Freydefont, Laure; Gollwitzer, Peter M; Oettingen, Gabriele

2016-09-01

Two experiments investigate the influence of goal and implementation intentions on effort mobilization during task performance. Although numerous studies have demonstrated the beneficial effects of setting goals and making plans on performance, the effects of goals and plans on effort-related cardiac activity and especially the cardiac preejection period (PEP) during goal striving have not yet been addressed. According to the Motivational Intensity Theory, participants should increase effort mobilization proportionally to task difficulty as long as success is possible and justified. Forming goals and making plans should allow for reduced effort mobilization when participants perform an easy task. However, when the task is difficult, goals and plans should differ in their effect on effort mobilization. Participants who set goals should disengage, whereas participants who made if-then plans should stay in the field showing high effort mobilization during task performance. As expected, using an easy task in Experiment 1, we observed a lower cardiac PEP in both the implementation intention and the goal intention condition than in the control condition. In Experiment 2, we varied task difficulty and demonstrated that while participants with a mere goal intention disengaged from difficult tasks, participants with an implementation intention increased effort mobilization proportionally with task difficulty. These findings demonstrate the influence of goal striving strategies (i.e., mere goals vs. if-then plans) on effort mobilization during task performance. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Emotional Stroop interference for threatening words is related to reduced EEG δ-β coupling and low attentional control.

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Putman, Peter; Arias-Garcia, Elsa; Pantazi, Ioanna; van Schie, Charlotte

2012-05-01

Previously, electroencephalographic (EEG) delta-beta coupling (positive correlation between power in the fast beta and slow delta frequency bands) has been related to affective processing. For instance, differences in delta-beta coupling have been observed between people in a psychological stress condition and controls. We previously reported relationships between attentional threat processing and delta-beta coupling and individual differences in attentional control. The present study extended and replicated these findings in a large mixed gender sample (N=80). Results demonstrated that emotional Stroop task interference for threatening words was related to self-reported attentional inhibition capacity and frontal delta-beta coupling. There was no clear gender difference for delta-beta coupling (only a non-significant trend) and the relationship between delta-beta coupling and attentional threat-processing was not affected by gender. These results replicate and extend an earlier finding concerning delta-beta coupling and cognitive affect regulation and further clarify relationships between delta-beta coupling, attentional control, and threat-processing. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Magnetodielectric coupling in multiferroic holmium iron garnets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malar Selvi, M.; Chakraborty, Deepannita; Venkateswaran, C.

2017-01-01

Single phase magneto-electric multiferroics require a large magnetic or electric field for producing magneto-electric (ME) and magnetodielectric (MD) effects. For utilizing these effects in devices investigations on the room temperature and low field MD studies are necessary. Recently, efforts have been largely devoted to the investigation of rare earth iron garnets. In the physical method, the preparation of rare earth iron garnet requires high sintering temperature and processing time. To solve these problems, ball milling assisted microwave sintering technique is used to prepare nanocrystalline holmium iron garnets (Ho_3Fe_5O_1_2). Magnetic and dielectric properties of the prepared sample are investigated. These properties get enhanced in nanocrystalline form when compared to the bulk. The MD coupling of the prepared sample is evident from the anomaly in the temperature dependent dielectric constant plot and the ME coupling susceptibility is derived from the room temperature MD measurements. - Highlights: • Formation of single phase Holmium iron garnet reported. • Ball milling assisted microwave sintering reduces the sintering temperature and time. • Holmium iron garnet shows enhanced magnetic and dielectric properties. • Pyromagnetic and pyroelectric measurements confirm the magnetoelectric coupling. • Room temperature magnetodielectric measurements show the nonlinear behaviour.

Attitudes of Iranian infertile couples toward surrogacy

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Ensiyeh Mohebbi Kian

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Surrogacy arrangements are multifaceted in nature, involving multiple controversial aspects and engaging ethical, moral, psychological and social issues. Successful treatment in reproductive medicine is strongly based on the mutual agreement of both partners, especially in Iran where men often make the final decision for health-related problems of this nature. AIM: The aim of the following study is to assess the attitudes of Iranian infertile couples toward surrogacy. Setting and Design: This descriptive study was conducted at the infertility clinic of Hamadan university of medical sciences, Iran. Materials and Methods: The study sample consisted of 150 infertile couples selected using a systematic randomized method. Data collection was based on responses to a questionnaire consisting of 22 questions. Statistical Analysis: P <0.05 were considered to be statistically significant. Results: While 33.3% of men and 43.3% of women surveyed insisted on not using surrogacy, the overall attitudes toward surrogacy were positive (53.3% of women and 54.6% of men surveyed. Conclusion: Although, there was not a significant difference between the overall positive attitudes of infertile women and men toward surrogacy, the general attitude toward using this method is not strongly positive. Therefore, further efforts are required to increase the acceptability of surrogacy among infertile couples.

Scotopic vision in the monkey is modulated by the G protein-coupled receptor 55

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bouskila, Joseph; Harrar, Vanessa; Javadi, Pasha

2016-01-01

The endogenous cannabinoid system plays important roles in the retina of mice and monkeys via their classic CB1 and CB2 receptors. We have previously reported that the G protein-coupled receptor 55 (GPR55), a putative cannabinoid receptor, is exclusively expressed in rod photoreceptors in the mon......The endogenous cannabinoid system plays important roles in the retina of mice and monkeys via their classic CB1 and CB2 receptors. We have previously reported that the G protein-coupled receptor 55 (GPR55), a putative cannabinoid receptor, is exclusively expressed in rod photoreceptors...

Effort, anhedonia, and function in schizophrenia: reduced effort allocation predicts amotivation and functional impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Barch, Deanna M; Treadway, Michael T; Schoen, Nathan

2014-05-01

One of the most debilitating aspects of schizophrenia is an apparent interest in or ability to exert effort for rewards. Such "negative symptoms" may prevent individuals from obtaining potentially beneficial outcomes in educational, occupational, or social domains. In animal models, dopamine abnormalities decrease willingness to work for rewards, implicating dopamine (DA) function as a candidate substrate for negative symptoms given that schizophrenia involves dysregulation of the dopamine system. We used the effort-expenditure for rewards task (EEfRT) to assess the degree to which individuals with schizophrenia were wiling to exert increased effort for either larger magnitude rewards or for rewards that were more probable. Fifty-nine individuals with schizophrenia and 39 demographically similar controls performed the EEfRT task, which involves making choices between "easy" and "hard" tasks to earn potential rewards. Individuals with schizophrenia showed less of an increase in effort allocation as either reward magnitude or probability increased. In controls, the frequency of choosing the hard task in high reward magnitude and probability conditions was negatively correlated with depression severity and anhedonia. In schizophrenia, fewer hard task choices were associated with more severe negative symptoms and worse community and work function as assessed by a caretaker. Consistent with patterns of disrupted dopamine functioning observed in animal models of schizophrenia, these results suggest that 1 mechanism contributing to impaired function and motivational drive in schizophrenia may be a reduced allocation of greater effort for higher magnitude or higher probability rewards.

Efforts to Bridge the Gap between Research and Practice in Social Work: Precedents and Prospects: Keynote Address at the Bridging the Gap Symposium

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Rubin, Allen

2015-01-01

This keynote address discusses previous and ongoing efforts to reduce the persistent gap between research and practice in social work and offers recommendations for further bridging that gap. Key among those recommendations is the need to conduct descriptive outcome studies of efforts to adapt research-supported interventions in everyday practice…

Overtreatment in couples with unexplained infertility.

Science.gov (United States)

Kersten, F A M; Hermens, R P G M; Braat, D D M; Hoek, A; Mol, B W J; Goddijn, M; Nelen, W L D M

2015-01-01

What is the percentage of overtreatment, i.e. fertility treatment started too early, in couples with unexplained infertility who were eligible for tailored expectant management? Overtreatment occurred in 36% of couples with unexplained infertility who were eligible for an expectant management of at least 6 months. Prognostic models in reproductive medicine can help to identify infertile couples that would benefit from fertility treatment. In couples with unexplained infertility with a good chance of natural conception within 1 year, based on the Hunault prediction model, an expectant management of 6-12 months, as recommended in international fertility guidelines, prevents unnecessary treatment. A retrospective cohort study in 25 participating clinics, with follow-up of all couples who were seen for infertility in 2011-2012. In all, 9818 couples were seen for infertility in the participating clinics. Couples were eligible to participate if they were diagnosed with unexplained infertility and had a good prognosis of natural conception (>30%) within 1 year based on the Hunault prediction model. Data to assess overtreatment were collected from medical records. Multilevel regression analyses were performed to investigate associations of overtreatment with patient and clinic characteristics. Five hundred and forty-four couples eligible for expectant management were included in this study. Among these, overtreatment, i.e. starting medically assisted reproduction within 6 months, occurred in 36%. The underlying quality indicators showed that in 34% no prognosis was calculated and that in 42% expectant management was not recommended. Finally, 16% of the couples for whom a correct recommendation of expectant management for at least 6 months was made, started treatment within 6 months anyway. Overtreatment was associated with childlessness, higher female age and a longer duration of infertility. No associations between overtreatment and clinic characteristics were found. The

The Association between Emotion Work Balance and Relationship Satisfaction of Couples Seeking Therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Holm, Kristen E.; Werner-Wilson, Ronald J.; Cook, Alicia S.; Berger, Peggy S.

2001-01-01

Emotion work refers to efforts made to enhance emotional well being and provide emotional support in a relationship. Data were collected from 63 couples seeking therapy to determine the relation between emotion work balance and relationship satisfaction. Results indicate both men and women are most satisfied with their relationship when levels of…

A variationally coupled FE-BE method for elasticity and fracture mechanics

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Y. Y.; Belytschko, T.; Liu, W. K.

1991-01-01

A new method for coupling finite element and boundary element subdomains in elasticity and fracture mechanics problems is described. The essential feature of this new method is that a single variational statement is obtained for the entire domain, and in this process the terms associated with tractions on the interfaces between the subdomains are eliminated. This provides the additional advantage that the ambiguities associated with the matching of discontinuous tractions are circumvented. The method leads to a direct procedure for obtaining the discrete equations for the coupled problem without any intermediate steps. In order to evaluate this method and compare it with previous methods, a patch test for coupled procedures has been devised. Evaluation of this variationally coupled method and other methods, such as stiffness coupling and constraint traction matching coupling, shows that this method is substantially superior. Solutions for a series of fracture mechanics problems are also reported to illustrate the effectiveness of this method.

Convincing American Women to Join in the Efforts to Win World War I: A Lesson Plan.

Science.gov (United States)

Sunal, Cynthia S.; Haas, Mary E.

1994-01-01

Asserts that World War I, unlike previous wars, was not fought by small groups of professional soldiers, but with large groups of citizens, including women. Presents a lesson plan using poster and postcards that examines methods used by the U.S. government to rally women to join the war effort. (CFR)

Intimate terrorism and situational couple violence in general surveys: ex-spouses required.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Michael P; Leone, Janel M; Xu, Yili

2014-02-01

In this article, we argue that past efforts to distinguish among types of intimate partner violence in general survey data have committed a critical error--using data on current spouses to develop operationalizations of intimate terrorism and situational couple violence. We use ex-spouse data from the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS) to develop new operationalizations. We then demonstrate that NVAWS current spouse data contain little intimate terrorism; we argue that this is likely to be the case for all general surveys. In addition, the ex-spouse data confirm past findings regarding a variety of differences between intimate terrorism and situational couple violence, including those predicted by feminist theories.

Effect of Group Cognitive Behavioral Couples Therapy on Couple Burnout and Divorce Tendency in Couples

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M Mohammadi

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Background & aim: Couple burnout is one of the phenomena which involve many couples, it is among the main causes of emotional divorce, and without proper management and treatment, and it can lay the ground for formal divorce among couples. Cognitive behavioral couple therapy is one of the existing approaches in the couple therapy field, the efficiency of which has been established for resolving many marital problems. The present study was designed by the aim of investigating the effect of group cognitive behavioral couple therapy on couple burnout and divorce tendency in couples.   Methods: The present research was of applied research type. The research method was semi-empirical with a pretest-posttest with control group design. The research population included all the couples with marital conflict and problems who, after a recall announcement of the researcher, visited the counseling and psychological services center located in Gorgan city in 2014. By using the available sampling method, 20 couples were selected among the volunteer and qualified couples for the research, and they were assigned into experiment and control groups (10 couples per group by random assignment. In the present research, the Pines burnout questionnaire (1996 and divorce tendency scale of Rouswelt, Johnson, and Mouro (1986 were used for gathering the data. After taking the pretest, the group cognitive behavioral couple therapy based on the couple therapy model of Baucom  and colleagues (2008 was held in 10 2-hour weekly sessions for the experiment group couples, while the control group couples received no intervention. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics method and multivariate covariance analysis (MANCOVA in SPSS v.20. Results: The multivariate covariance analysis results for couple burnout (F= 28.80 and divorce tendency (F= 51.25 suggested that there was a significant difference between the couples of experiment and control groups (P< 0

Quality-oriented efforts in IPD, - a framework

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andreasen, Mogens Myrup

1998-01-01

It is generally expected that modern quality efforts like TQM and ISO9000 should deliver a sufficient framework for quality efforts in industrial companies. Our findings in Danish industry shows a fragmented picture of islands of efforts and a weak understanding of basic quality concepts between...... designers. The paper propose a framework for quality efforts, illustrated by simple metaphors....

Phase models and clustering in networks of oscillators with delayed coupling

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Sue Ann; Wang, Zhen

2018-01-01

We consider a general model for a network of oscillators with time delayed coupling where the coupling matrix is circulant. We use the theory of weakly coupled oscillators to reduce the system of delay differential equations to a phase model where the time delay enters as a phase shift. We use the phase model to determine model independent existence and stability results for symmetric cluster solutions. Our results extend previous work to systems with time delay and a more general coupling matrix. We show that the presence of the time delay can lead to the coexistence of multiple stable clustering solutions. We apply our analytical results to a network of Morris Lecar neurons and compare these results with numerical continuation and simulation studies.

Learning Environment and Student Effort

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Hopland, Arnt O.; Nyhus, Ole Henning

2016-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between satisfaction with learning environment and student effort, both in class and with homework assignments. Design/methodology/approach: The authors use data from a nationwide and compulsory survey to analyze the relationship between learning environment and student effort. The…

Scaling analysis of the coupled heat transfer process in the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor core

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Conklin, J.C.

1986-08-01

The differential equations representing the coupled heat transfer from the solid nuclear core components to the helium in the coolant channels are scaled in terms of representative quantities. This scaling process identifies the relative importance of the various terms of the coupled differential equations. The relative importance of these terms is then used to simplify the numerical solution of the coupled heat transfer for two bounding cases of full-power operation and depressurization from full-system operating pressure for the Fort St. Vrain High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor. This analysis rigorously justifies the simplified system of equations used in the nuclear safety analysis effort at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Noradrenaline and dopamine neurons in the reward/effort trade-off: a direct electrophysiological comparison in behaving monkeys.

Science.gov (United States)

Varazzani, Chiara; San-Galli, Aurore; Gilardeau, Sophie; Bouret, Sebastien

2015-05-20

Motivation determines multiple aspects of behavior, including action selection and energization of behavior. Several components of the underlying neural systems have been examined closely, but the specific role of the different neuromodulatory systems in motivation remains unclear. Here, we compare directly the activity of dopaminergic neurons from the substantia nigra pars compacta and noradrenergic neurons from the locus coeruleus in monkeys performing a task manipulating the reward/effort trade-off. Consistent with previous reports, dopaminergic neurons encoded the expected reward, but we found that they also anticipated the upcoming effort cost in connection with its negative influence on action selection. Conversely, the firing of noradrenergic neurons increased with both pupil dilation and effort production in relation to the energization of behavior. Therefore, this work underlines the contribution of dopamine to effort-based decision making and uncovers a specific role of noradrenaline in energizing behavior to face challenges. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/357866-12$15.00/0.

Couple characteristics and outcome of therapy in vaginismus.

Science.gov (United States)

Munasinghe, Thiloma; Goonaratna, Colvin; de Silva, Padmal

2004-06-01

To describe couple characteristics and outcome of therapy in vaginismus. A prospective before-after intervention descriptive study. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Fifty six couples with vaginismus, mostly self referrals and referrals from gynaecologists and general practitioners, were treated with a standard cognitive behaviour therapy protocol with before-after assessments of the degree of vaginismus and individual partner self-ratings of the relationship and psychological status (GHQ-30). Success at the end of the therapy was equated to the absence of or only mild vaginismus and, improvement in the couple relationship and psychological status scores. Twenty seven (48%) of the 52 (93%) couples with non-consummation reported failure of coitus following previous non-surgical and surgical interventions. Love marriages (70%), frequent attempts at sex (75%, 3 or 4 times/week) and sexual arousal (women = 86%, men = 89%) characterised couples. Ten men developed sexual problems, mostly erectile failure and premature ejaculation secondarily. Couple therapy enabled penetrative sex in 45 (80.3%). The single prognostic indicator of outcome was the degree of vaginismus at first visit, those with mild and moderate vaginismus (77%) being significantly more likely to establish coitus (p0.01) but the psychological status remained unchanged. Dropouts and referrals for psychiatric and marital counselling failed to complete therapy. Couple sex therapy is effective in the management of vaginismus. Health professionals, especially gynaecologists and general practitioners, need to be aware of the problem and the satisfactory outcome of sex therapy.

Mechanisms of Biliary Plastic Stent Occlusion and Efforts at Prevention

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Chang-Il Kwon

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Biliary stenting via endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography has greatly improved the quality of patient care over the last 30 years. Plastic stent occlusion limits the life span of such stents. Attempts to improve plastic stent patency duration have mostly failed. Metal stents (self-expandable metal stents [SEMSs] have therefore replaced plastic stents, especially for malignant biliary strictures. SEMS are at least 10 times more expensive than plastic stents. In this focused review, we will discuss basic mechanisms of plastic stent occlusion, along with a systematic summary of previous efforts and related studies to improve stent patency and potential new techniques to overcome existing limitations.

Efforts to Improve Writing Skills of High School Students

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Nurul Inayah

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Writing in English is one of the language skills that are taught in the context of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL in Indonesian senior high schools. According to previous studies, most of the students consider writing is the most difficult of the four skills. This research was aimed at finding out the main difficulties in writing faced by the grade XI students at SMA Negeri 10 Fajar Harapan, Banda Aceh, and the efforts made by their teacher to overcome those problems. The design of this study was a descriptive qualitative study. To obtain the data, the writers used document collection and interviews. The results from the document collection showed that the highest percentages of problems faced by the students were in the aspect of language use and the least problems were in the aspect of content. The results from the interviews showed that the most common correcting efforts made by the teacher were giving written feedback for all aspects of writing i.e. language use, mechanics, vocabulary, organization, and content. Likewise, teachers need to develop systemized forms of feedback and make it clear to students what the feedback means and what they are to do with them to assist students in improving their writing skills.

Complementary roles of different oscillatory activities in the subthalamic nucleus in coding motor effort in Parkinsonism.

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Huiling; Pogosyan, Alek; Anzak, Anam; Ashkan, Keyoumars; Bogdanovic, Marko; Green, Alexander L; Aziz, Tipu; Foltynie, Thomas; Limousin, Patricia; Zrinzo, Ludvic; Brown, Peter

2013-10-01

The basal ganglia may play an important role in the control of motor scaling or effort. Recently local field potential (LFP) recordings from patients with deep brain stimulation electrodes in the basal ganglia have suggested that local increases in the synchronisation of neurons in the gamma frequency band may correlate with force or effort. Whether this feature uniquely codes for effort and whether such a coding mechanism holds true over a range of efforts is unclear. Here we investigated the relationship between frequency-specific oscillatory activities in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and manual grips made with different efforts. The latter were self-rated using the 10 level Borg scale ranging from 0 (no effort) to 10 (maximal effort). STN LFP activities were recorded in patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) who had undergone functional surgery. Patients were studied while motor performance was improved by dopaminergic medication. In line with previous studies we observed power increase in the theta/alpha band (4-12 Hz), power suppression in the beta band (13-30 Hz) and power increase in the gamma band (55-90 Hz) and high frequency band (101-375 Hz) during voluntary grips. Beta suppression deepened, and then reached a floor level as effort increased. Conversely, gamma and high frequency power increases were enhanced during grips made with greater effort. Multiple regression models incorporating the four different spectral changes confirmed that the modulation of power in the beta band was the only independent predictor of effort during grips made with efforts rated <5. In contrast, increases in gamma band activity were the only independent predictor of effort during grips made with efforts ≥5. Accordingly, the difference between power changes in the gamma and beta bands correlated with effort across all effort levels. These findings suggest complementary roles for changes in beta and gamma band activities in the STN in motor effort coding. The latter function

Effects of coupled thermal, hydrological and chemical processes on nuclide transport

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carnahan, C.L.

1987-03-01

Coupled thermal, hydrological and chemical processes can be classified in two categories. One category consists of the ''Onsager'' type of processes driven by gradients of thermodynamic state variables. These processes occur simultaneously with the direct transport processes. In particular, thermal osmosis, chemical osmosis and ultrafiltration may be prominent in semipermeable materials such as clays. The other category consists of processes affected indirectly by magnitudes of thermodynamic state variables. An important example of this category is the effect of temperature on rates of chemical reactions and chemical equilibria. Coupled processes in both categories may affect transport of radionuclides. Although computational models of limited extent have been constructed, there exists no model that accounts for the full set of THC-coupled processes. In the category of Onsager coupled processes, further model development and testing is severely constrained by a deficient data base of phenomenological coefficients. In the second category, the lack of a general description of effects of heterogeneous chemical reactions on permeability of porous media inhibits progress in quantitative modeling of hydrochemically coupled transport processes. Until fundamental data necessary for further model development have been acquired, validation efforts will be limited necessarily to testing of incomplete models of nuclide transport under closely controlled experimental conditions. 34 refs., 2 tabs

Strong coupling QCD and the (π+,π-) reaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, G.A.; Washington Univ., Seattle, WA

1989-01-01

Previous six-quark bag model calculations are in disagreement with new (π + , π - ) data, but conventional nucleonic calculations are generally successful. Six-quark bag models are related to perturbative QCD. I argue that the strong coupling limit of QCD (SCQCD) is a more appropriate starting point for nuclear physics. 15 refs., 3 figs

Infusion of SMAP Data into Offline and Coupled Models: Evaluation, Calibration, and Assimilation

Science.gov (United States)

Lawston, P.; Santanello, J. A., Jr.; Dennis, E. J.; Kumar, S.

2017-12-01

The impact of the land surface on the water and energy cycle is modulated by its coupling to the planetary boundary layer (PBL), and begins at the local scale. A core component of the local land-atmosphere coupling (LoCo) effort requires understanding the `links in the chain' between soil moisture and precipitation, most notably through surface heat fluxes and PBL evolution. To date, broader (i.e. global) application of LoCo diagnostics has been limited by observational data requirements of the coupled system (and in particular, soil moisture) that are typically only met during localized, short-term field campaigns. SMAP offers, for the first time, the ability to map high quality, near-surface soil moisture globally every few days at a spatial resolution comparable to current modeling efforts. As a result, there are numerous potential avenues for SMAP model-data fusion that can be explored in the context of improving understanding of L-A interaction and NWP. In this study, we assess multiple points of intersection of SMAP products with offline and coupled models and evaluate impacts using process-level diagnostics. Results will inform upon the importance of high-resolution soil moisture mapping for improved coupled prediction and model development, as well as reconciling differences in modeled, retrieved, and measured soil moisture. Specifically, NASA model (LIS, NU-WRF) and observation (SMAP, NLDAS-2) products are combined with in-situ standard and IOP measurements (soil moisture, flux, and radiosonde) over the ARM-SGP. An array of land surface model spinups (via LIS-Noah) are performed with varying atmospheric forcing, greenness fraction, and soil layering permutations. Calibration of LIS-Noah soil hydraulic parameters is then performed using an array of in-situ soil moisture and flux and SMAP products. In addition, SMAP assimilation is performed in LIS-Noah both at the scale of the observation (36 and 9km) and the model grid (1km). The focus is on the

Electrically tunable single-dot nanocavities in the weak and strong coupling regimes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Laucht, Arne; Hofbauer, Felix; Angele, Jacob

2008-01-01

We report the design, fabrication and optical investigation of electrically tunable single quantum dot - photonic crystal defect nanocavities [1] operating in both the weak and strong coupling regimes of the light matter interaction. Unlike previous studies, where the dot-cavity spectral detuning...... of the emitted photons from a single-dot nanocavity in the weak and strong coupling regimes. New information is obtained on the nature of the dot-cavity coupling in the weak coupling regime and electrical control of zero dimensional polaritons is demonstrated for the first time. Vacuum Rabi splittings up to 2g...... electrical readout of the strongly coupled dot-cavity system using photocurrent methods will be discussed. This work is financially supported by the DFG via SFB 631 and by the German Excellence Initiative via the “Nanosystems Initiative Munich (NIM)”....

Coupling effects in 3D plasmonic structures templated by Morpho butterfly wings.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Jiaqing; Shen, Qingchen; Yang, Shuai; He, Gufeng; Tao, Peng; Song, Chengyi; Wu, Jianbo; Deng, Tao; Shang, Wen

2018-01-03

This paper presents the study of the coupling effects of three dimensional (3D) plasmonic nanostructures templated by Morpho butterfly wings. Different from the random deposition of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) or conformal coating of metallic layers on butterfly wings reported previously, the 3D plasmonic nanostructures studied in this work consist of gold (Au) nanostrips quasi-periodically arranged in 3D, which allows us to investigate the plasmonic coupling effects. Through refractive index (RI) matching, the plasmonic coupling can be differentiated from the optical contribution of butterfly wings. By tuning the deposition thickness of Au from 30 to 90 nm, the plasmonic coupling effects between the 3D Au nanostrips are gradually enhanced. In particular, the near-field coupling results in two resonant modes and enhances the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) signals.

Summary Report of Summer 2009 NGSI Human Capital Development Efforts at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dougan, A; Dreicer, M; Essner, J; Gaffney, A; Reed, J; Williams, R

2009-11-16

In 2009, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) engaged in several activities to support NA-24's Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI). This report outlines LLNL's efforts to support Human Capital Development (HCD), one of five key components of NGSI managed by Dunbar Lockwood in the Office of International Regimes and Agreements (NA-243). There were five main LLNL summer safeguards HCD efforts sponsored by NGSI: (1) A joint Monterey Institute of International Studies/Center for Nonproliferation Studies-LLNL International Safeguards Policy and Information Analysis Course; (2) A Summer Safeguards Policy Internship Program at LLNL; (3) A Training in Environmental Sample Analysis for IAEA Safeguards Internship; (4) Safeguards Technology Internships; and (5) A joint LLNL-INL Summer Safeguards Lecture Series. In this report, we provide an overview of these five initiatives, an analysis of lessons learned, an update on the NGSI FY09 post-doc, and an update on students who participated in previous NGSI-sponsored LLNL safeguards HCD efforts.

Summary Report of Summer 2009 NGSI Human Capital Development Efforts at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dougan, A.; Dreicer, M.; Essner, J.; Gaffney, A.; Reed, J.; Williams, R.

2009-01-01

In 2009, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) engaged in several activities to support NA-24's Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI). This report outlines LLNL's efforts to support Human Capital Development (HCD), one of five key components of NGSI managed by Dunbar Lockwood in the Office of International Regimes and Agreements (NA-243). There were five main LLNL summer safeguards HCD efforts sponsored by NGSI: (1) A joint Monterey Institute of International Studies/Center for Nonproliferation Studies-LLNL International Safeguards Policy and Information Analysis Course; (2) A Summer Safeguards Policy Internship Program at LLNL; (3) A Training in Environmental Sample Analysis for IAEA Safeguards Internship; (4) Safeguards Technology Internships; and (5) A joint LLNL-INL Summer Safeguards Lecture Series. In this report, we provide an overview of these five initiatives, an analysis of lessons learned, an update on the NGSI FY09 post-doc, and an update on students who participated in previous NGSI-sponsored LLNL safeguards HCD efforts.

Effort-Based Decision-Making in Schizophrenia.

Science.gov (United States)

Culbreth, Adam J; Moran, Erin K; Barch, Deanna M

2018-08-01

Motivational impairment has long been associated with schizophrenia but the underlying mechanisms are not clearly understood. Recently, a small but growing literature has suggested that aberrant effort-based decision-making may be a potential contributory mechanism for motivational impairments in psychosis. Specifically, multiple reports have consistently demonstrated that individuals with schizophrenia are less willing than healthy controls to expend effort to obtain rewards. Further, this effort-based decision-making deficit has been shown to correlate with severity of negative symptoms and level of functioning, in many but not all studies. In the current review, we summarize this literature and discuss several factors that may underlie aberrant effort-based decision-making in schizophrenia.

Effort Estimation in BPMS Migration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher Drews

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Usually Business Process Management Systems (BPMS are highly integrated in the IT of organizations and are at the core of their business. Thus, migrating from one BPMS solution to another is not a common task. However, there are forces that are pushing organizations to perform this step, e.g. maintenance costs of legacy BPMS or the need for additional functionality. Before the actual migration, the risk and the effort must be evaluated. This work provides a framework for effort estimation regarding the technical aspects of BPMS migration. The framework provides questions for BPMS comparison and an effort evaluation schema. The applicability of the framework is evaluated based on a simplified BPMS migration scenario.

Prefrontal Cortical Inactivations Decrease Willingness to Expend Cognitive Effort on a Rodent Cost/Benefit Decision-Making Task.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosking, Jay G; Cocker, Paul J; Winstanley, Catharine A

2016-04-01

Personal success often necessitates expending greater effort for greater reward but, equally important, also requires judicious use of our limited cognitive resources (e.g., attention). Previous animal models have shown that the prelimbic (PL) and infralimbic (IL) regions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are not involved in (physical) effort-based choice, whereas human studies have demonstrated PFC contributions to (mental) effort. Here, we utilize the rat Cognitive Effort Task (rCET) to probe PFC's role in effort-based decision making. In the rCET, animals can choose either an easy trial, where the attentional demand is low but the reward (sugar) is small or a difficult trial on which both the attentional demand and reward are greater. Temporary inactivation of PL and IL decreased all animals' willingness to expend mental effort and increased animals' distractibility; PL inactivations more substantially affected performance (i.e., attention), whereas IL inactivations increased motor impulsivity. These data imply that the PFC contributes to attentional resources, and when these resources are diminished, animals shift their choice (via other brain regions) accordingly. Thus, one novel therapeutic approach to deficits in effort expenditure may be to focus on the resources that such decision making requires, rather than the decision-making process per se. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Possibilities of care for serodiscordant couples for HIV who got pregnant.

Science.gov (United States)

Langendorf, Tassiane Ferreira; Souza, Ivis Emília de Oliveira; Padoin, Stela Maris de Mello; Paula, Cristiane Cardoso de; Queiroz, Ana Beatriz Azevedo; Moura, Maria Aparecida Vasconcelos; Melo, Maria Carmen Simões Cardoso de; Silva, Lúcia de Fatima da

2017-01-01

Understanding the meaning of pregnancy for heterosexual couples facing serodiscordant situation for HIV, aiming at construction of care possibilities based on subjectivity. Phenomenological research, theoretical-philosophical-methodological framework by Martin Heidegger. Research was conducted in a University Hospital in the countryside of Southern Brazil, from September 2013 to May 2014 through a phenomenological interview, with participation of eleven couples. For the couples, pregnancy is part of life when they wish to have a child, even when one or both of them already have children from previous relationships. In addition, it is part of life when they consider the risks and do not want to have children in such circumstances anymore, but it happened unexpectedly. Understanding reproductive needs and demands of these couples is an aid for qualification and improvement of care as a contribution to nursing care planning towards reproductive health of these couples.

Mindfulness training affects attention—Or is it attentional effort?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Christian Gaden; Vangkilde, Signe Allerup; Frøkjær, Vibe Gedsø

2012-01-01

Improvements in attentional performance are at the core of proposed mechanisms for stress reduction in mindfulness meditation practices. However, this claim can be questioned because no previous studies have actively manipulated test effort in control groups and controlled for effects of stress...... reduction per se. In a blinded design, 48 young, healthy meditation novices were randomly assigned to a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), nonmindfulness stress reduction (NMSR), or inactive control group. At posttest, inactive controls were randomly split into nonincentive and incentive controls......, the latter receiving a financial reward to improve attentional performance. Pre- and postintervention, 5 validated attention paradigms were employed along with self-report scales on mindfulness and perceived stress and saliva cortisol samples to measure physiological stress. Attentional effects of MBSR, NMSR...

When is Deceptive Message Production More Effortful than Truth-Telling? A Baker's Dozen of Moderators.

Science.gov (United States)

Burgoon, Judee K

2015-01-01

Deception is thought to be more effortful than telling the truth. Empirical evidence from many quarters supports this general proposition. However, there are many factors that qualify and even reverse this pattern. Guided by a communication perspective, I present a baker's dozen of moderators that may alter the degree of cognitive difficulty associated with producing deceptive messages. Among sender-related factors are memory processes, motivation, incentives, and consequences. Lying increases activation of a network of brain regions related to executive memory, suppression of unwanted behaviors, and task switching that is not observed with truth-telling. High motivation coupled with strong incentives or the risk of adverse consequences also prompts more cognitive exertion-for truth-tellers and deceivers alike-to appear credible, with associated effects on performance and message production effort, depending on the magnitude of effort, communicator skill, and experience. Factors related to message and communication context include discourse genre, type of prevarication, expected response length, communication medium, preparation, and recency of target event/issue. These factors can attenuate the degree of cognitive taxation on senders so that truth-telling and deceiving are similarly effortful. Factors related to the interpersonal relationship among interlocutors include whether sender and receiver are cooperative or adversarial and how well-acquainted they are with one another. A final consideration is whether the unit of analysis is the utterance, turn at talk, episode, entire interaction, or series of interactions. Taking these factors into account should produce a more nuanced answer to the question of when deception is more difficult than truth-telling.

Path coupling and aggregate path coupling

CERN Document Server

Kovchegov, Yevgeniy

2018-01-01

This book describes and characterizes an extension to the classical path coupling method applied to statistical mechanical models, referred to as aggregate path coupling. In conjunction with large deviations estimates, the aggregate path coupling method is used to prove rapid mixing of Glauber dynamics for a large class of statistical mechanical models, including models that exhibit discontinuous phase transitions which have traditionally been more difficult to analyze rigorously. The book shows how the parameter regions for rapid mixing for several classes of statistical mechanical models are derived using the aggregate path coupling method.

Dopamine, behavioral economics, and effort

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John D Salamone

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract. There are numerous problems with the hypothesis that brain dopamine (DA systems, particularly in the nucleus accumbens, directly mediate the rewarding or primary motivational characteristics of natural stimuli such as food. Research and theory related to the functions of mesolimbic DA are undergoing a substantial conceptual restructuring, with the traditional emphasis on hedonia and primary reward yielding to other concepts and lines of inquiry. The present review is focused upon the involvement of nucleus accumbens DA in behavioral activation and effort-related processes. Viewed from the framework of behavioral economics, the effects of accumbens DA depletions and antagonism on food-reinforced behavior are highly dependent upon the work requirements of the instrumental task, and DA depleted rats are more sensitive to increases in response costs (i.e., ratio requirements. Moreover, interference with accumbens DA transmission exerts a powerful influence over effort-related choice behavior. Rats with accumbens DA depletions or antagonism reallocate their instrumental behavior away from food-reinforced tasks that have high response requirements, and instead these rats select a less-effortful type of food-seeking behavior. Nucleus accumbens DA and adenosine interact in the regulation of effort-related functions, and other brain structures (anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, ventral pallidum also are involved. Studies of the brain systems regulating effort-based processes may have implications for understanding drug abuse, as well as energy-related disorders such as psychomotor slowing, fatigue or anergia in depression and other neurological disorders.

What makes a reach movement effortful? Physical effort discounting supports common minimization principles in decision making and motor control.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pierre Morel

2017-06-01

Full Text Available When deciding between alternative options, a rational agent chooses on the basis of the desirability of each outcome, including associated costs. As different options typically result in different actions, the effort associated with each action is an essential cost parameter. How do humans discount physical effort when deciding between movements? We used an action-selection task to characterize how subjective effort depends on the parameters of arm transport movements and controlled for potential confounding factors such as delay discounting and performance. First, by repeatedly asking subjects to choose between 2 arm movements of different amplitudes or durations, performed against different levels of force, we identified parameter combinations that subjects experienced as identical in effort (isoeffort curves. Movements with a long duration were judged more effortful than short-duration movements against the same force, while movement amplitudes did not influence effort. Biomechanics of the movements also affected effort, as movements towards the body midline were preferred to movements away from it. Second, by introducing movement repetitions, we further determined that the cost function for choosing between effortful movements had a quadratic relationship with force, while choices were made on the basis of the logarithm of these costs. Our results show that effort-based action selection during reaching cannot easily be explained by metabolic costs. Instead, force-loaded reaches, a widely occurring natural behavior, imposed an effort cost for decision making similar to cost functions in motor control. Our results thereby support the idea that motor control and economic choice are governed by partly overlapping optimization principles.

"I put in effort, therefore I am passionate": Investigating the path from effort to passion in entrepreneurship

OpenAIRE

Gielnik, Michael Marcus; Spitzmuller, Matthias; Schmitt, Antje; Klemann, Katharina; Frese, Michael

2015-01-01

Most theoretical frameworks in entrepreneurship emphasize that entrepreneurial passion drives entrepreneurial effort. We hypothesize that the reverse effect is also true, and investigate changes in passion as an outcome of effort. Based on theories of self-regulation and self-perception, we hypothesize that making new venture progress and free choice are two factors that help to explain why and under which conditions entrepreneurial effort affects entrepreneurial passion. We undertook two stu...

A survey of previous and current industry-wide efforts regarding burnup credit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jones, R.H.

1989-01-01

Sandia has examined the matter of burnup credit from the perspective of physics, logistics, risk, and economics. A limited survey of the nuclear industry has been conducted to get a feeling for the actual application of burnup credit. Based on this survey, it can be concluded that the suppliers of spent fuel storage and transport casks are in general agreement that burnup credit offers the potential for improvements in cask efficiency without increasing the risk of accidental criticality. The actual improvement is design-specific but limited applications have demonstrated that capacity increases in the neighborhood of 20 percent are not unrealistic. A number of these vendors acknowledge that burnup credit has not been reduced to practice in cask applications and suggest that operational considerations may be more important to regulatory acceptance than to the physics. Nevertheless, the importance of burnup credit to the nuclear industry as a cask design and analysis tool has been confirmed by this survey

Development and Validation of an Enhanced Coupled-Field Model for PZT Cantilever Bimorph Energy Harvester

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Long Zhang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The power source with the limited life span has motivated the development of the energy harvesters that can scavenge the ambient environment energy and convert it into the electrical energy. With the coupled field characteristics of structure to electricity, piezoelectric energy harvesters are under consideration as a means of converting the mechanical energy to the electrical energy, with the goal of realizing completely self-powered sensor systems. In this paper, two previous models in the literatures for predicting the open-circuit and close-circuit voltages of a piezoelectric cantilever bimorph (PCB energy harvester are first described, that is, the mechanical equivalent spring mass-damper model and the electrical equivalent circuit model. Then, the development of an enhanced coupled field model for the PCB energy harvester based on another previous model in the literature using a conservation of energy method is presented. Further, the laboratory experiments are carried out to evaluate the enhanced coupled field model and the other two previous models in the literatures. The comparison results show that the enhanced coupled field model can better predict the open-circuit and close-circuit voltages of the PCB energy harvester with a proof mass bonded at the free end of the structure in order to increase the energy-harvesting level of the system.

Incorporating JULES into NASA's Land Information System (LIS) and Investigations of Land-Atmosphere Coupling

Science.gov (United States)

Santanello, Joseph

2011-01-01

NASA's Land Information System (LIS; lis.gsfc.nasa.gov) is a flexible land surface modeling and data assimilation framework developed over the past decade with the goal of integrating satellite- and ground-based observational data products and advanced land surface modeling techniques to produce optimal fields of land surface states and fluxes. LIS features a high performance and flexible design, and operates on an ensemble of land surface models for extension over user-specified regional or global domains. The extensible interfaces of LIS allow the incorporation of new domains, land surface models (LSMs), land surface parameters, meteorological inputs, data assimilation and optimization algorithms. In addition, LIS has also been demonstrated for parameter estimation and uncertainty estimation, and has been coupled to the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale model. A visiting fellowship is currently underway to implement JULES into LIS and to undertake some fundamental science on the feedbacks between the land surface and the atmosphere. An overview of the LIS system, features, and sample results will be presented in an effort to engage the community in the potential advantages of LIS-JULES for a range of applications. Ongoing efforts to develop a framework for diagnosing land-atmosphere coupling will also be presented using the suite of LSM and PBL schemes available in LIS and WRF along with observations from the U. S .. Southern Great Plains. This methodology provides a potential pathway to study factors controlling local land-atmosphere coupling (LoCo) using the LIS-WRF system, which will serve as a testbed for future experiments to evaluate coupling diagnostics within the community.

New generation of space capabilities resulting from US/RF cooperative efforts

Science.gov (United States)

Humpherys, Thomas; Misnik, Victor; Sinelshchikov, Valery; Stair, A. T., Jr.; Khatulev, Valery; Carpenter, Jack; Watson, John; Chvanov, Dmitry; Privalsky, Victor

2006-09-01

Previous successful international cooperative efforts offer a wealth of experience in dealing with highly sensitive issues, but cooperative remote sensing for monitoring and understanding the global environmental is in the national interest of all countries. Cooperation between international partners is paramount, particularly with the Russian Federation, due to its technological maturity and strategic political and geographical position in the world. Based on experience gained over a decade of collaborative space research efforts, continued cooperation provides an achievable goal as well as understanding the fabric of our coexistence. Past cooperative space research efforts demonstrate the ability of the US and Russian Federation to develop a framework for cooperation, working together on a complex, state-of-the-art joint satellite program. These efforts consisted of teams of scientists and engineers who overcame numerous cultural, linguistic, engineering approaches and different political environments. Among these major achievements are: (1) field measurement activities with US satellites MSTI and MSX and the Russian RESURS-1 satellite, as well as the joint experimental use of the US FISTA aircraft; (2) successful joint Science, Conceptual and Preliminary Design Reviews; (3) joint publications of scientific research technical papers, (4) Russian investment in development, demonstration and operation of the Monitor-E spacecraft (Yacht satellite bus), (5) successful demonstration of the conversion of the SS-19 into a satellite launch system, and (6) negotiation of contractual and technical assistant agreements. This paper discusses a new generation of science and space capabilities available to the Remote Sensing community. Specific topics include: joint requirements definition process and work allocation for hardware and responsibility for software development; the function, description and status of Russian contributions in providing space component prototypes

Multidisciplinary Efforts Driving Translational Theranostics

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Tony Y.

2014-01-01

This themed issue summarizes significant efforts aimed at using “biological language” to discern between “friends” and “foes” in the context of theranostics for true clinical application. It is expected that the success of theranostics depends on multidisciplinary efforts, combined to expedite our understanding of host responses to “customized” theranostic agents and formulating individualized therapies. PMID:25285169

Brazing techniques for side-coupled electron accelerator structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hansborough, L.D.; Clark, W.L.; DePaula, R.A.; Martinez, F.A.; Roybal, P.L.; Wilkerson, L.C.; Young, L.M.

1986-01-01

The collaboration between the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the National Bureau of Standards (NBS), started in 1979, has led to the development of an advanced c-w microtron accelerator design. The four 2380-MHz NBS accelerating structures, containing a total of 184 accelerating cavities, have been fabricated and delivered. New fabrication methods, coupled with refinements of hydrogen-furnace brazing techniques described in this paper, allow efficient production of side-coupled structures. Success with the NBS RTM led to Los Alamos efforts on similar 2450-MHz accelerators for the microtron accelerator operated by the Nuclear Physics Department of the University of Illinois. Two accelerators (each with 17 cavities) have been fabricated; in 1986, a 45-cavity accelerator is being fabricated by private industry with some assistance from Los Alamos. Further private industry experience and refinement of the described fabrication techniques may allow future accelerators of this type to be completely fabricated by private industry

Comparative assessment of world research efforts on magnetic confinement fusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKenney, B.L.; McGrain, M.; Rutherford, P.H.

1990-02-01

This report presents a comparative assessment of the world's four major research efforts on magnetic confinement fusion, including a comparison of the capabilities in the Soviet Union, the European Community (Western Europe), Japan, and the United States. A comparative evaluation is provided in six areas: tokamak confinement; alternate confinement approaches; plasma technology and engineering; and fusion computations. The panel members are involved actively in fusion-related research, and have extensive experience in previous assessments and reviews of the world's four major fusion programs. Although the world's four major fusion efforts are roughly comparable in overall capabilities, two conclusions of this report are inescapable. First, the Soviet fusion effort is presently the weakest of the four programs in most areas of the assessment. Second, if present trends continue, the United States, once unambiguously the world leader in fusion research, will soon lose its position of leadership to the West European and Japanese fusion programs. Indeed, before the middle 1990s, the upgraded large-tokamak facilities, JT-60U (Japan) and JET (Western Europe), are likely to explore plasma conditions and operating regimes well beyond the capabilities of the TFTR tokamak (United States). In addition, if present trends continue in the areas of fusion nuclear technology and materials, and plasma technology and materials, and plasma technology development, the capabilities of Japan and Western Europe in these areas (both with regard to test facilities and fusion-specific industrial capabilities) will surpass those of the United States by a substantial margin before the middle 1990s

What can be offered to couples at (possibly) increased genetic risk?

OpenAIRE

Read, Andrew P.; Donnai, Dian

2012-01-01

We review the reasons why a couple might seek specialist genetic counselling about a possible reproductive risk and the options available to them. Most commonly, the couple will be concerned about the risk of recurrence of a medical condition that has already occurred in the family. Sometimes, the increased risk may come from their ethnicity or because of a consanguineous marriage, rather than because any problem has occurred previously. The geneticist must identify the exact nature of any pr...

Exact solutions for MHD flow of couple stress fluid with heat transfer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Najeeb Alam Khan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper aims at presenting exact solutions for MHD flow of couple stress fluid with heat transfer. The governing partial differential equations (PDEs for an incompressible MHD flow of couple stress fluid are reduced to ordinary differential equations by employing wave parameter. The methodology is implemented for linearizing the flow equations without extra transformation and restrictive assumptions. Comparison is made with the result obtained previously.

Coupled Josephson local oscillator and detector experiments in the terahertz regime

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robertazzi, R.P.; Hallen, H.D.; Buhrman, R.A.

1988-01-01

Recent coupled Josephson junction experiments in the authors' laboratory have demonstrated that high critical current density tunnel junctions can serve as effective local oscillators at frequencies up to and in excess of the gap sum frequency of the junction, i.e. well above 1 Terahertz for a niobium or niobium compound tunnel junction. While the details of the behavior of such a THz. oscillator were found not to be in accord with the predictions of the accepted theory of the A.C. Josephson effect in the gap region significant radiation could be capacitively coupled from the oscillator junction to an adjacent junction, sufficient for SIS mixer experiments at Terahertz frequencies. Research efforts are now under way to further extend and expand these studies. A high critical current density all NbN tunnel junction system is now under development for Terahertz applications and a new set of coupled Josephson oscillator - SIS detector experiments is being initiated using NbN tunnel junctions. In this paper the authors review the original coupled junction high frequency experiments and report on the recent progress of the current NbN tunnel junction experiments

Coupled transient thermo-fluid/thermal-stress analysis approach in a VTBM setting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ying, A.; Narula, M.; Zhang, H.; Abdou, M.

2008-01-01

A virtual test blanket module (VTBM) has been envisioned as a utility to aid in streamlining and optimizing the US ITER TBM design effort by providing an integrated multi-code, multi-physics modeling environment. Within this effort, an integrated simulation approach is being developed for TBM design calculations and performance evaluation. Particularly, integrated thermo-fluid/thermal-stress analysis is important for enabling TBM design and performance calculations. In this paper, procedures involved in transient coupled thermo-fluid/thermal-stress analysis are investigated. The established procedure is applied to study the impact of pulsed operational phenomenon on the thermal-stress response of the TBM first wall. A two-way coupling between the thermal strain and temperature field is also studied, in the context of a change in thermal conductivity of the beryllium pebble bed in a solid breeder blanket TBM due to thermal strain. The temperature field determines the thermal strain in beryllium, which in turn changes the temperature field. Iterative thermo-fluid/thermal strain calculations have been applied to both steady-state and pulsed operation conditions. All calculations have been carried out in three dimensions with representative MCAD models, including all the TBM components in their entirety

Effort levels of the partners in networked manufacturing

Science.gov (United States)

Chai, G. R.; Cai, Z.; Su, Y. N.; Zong, S. L.; Zhai, G. Y.; Jia, J. H.

2017-08-01

Compared with traditional manufacturing mode, could networked manufacturing improve effort levels of the partners? What factors will affect effort level of the partners? How to encourage the partners to improve their effort levels? To answer these questions, we introduce network effect coefficient to build effort level model of the partners in networked manufacturing. The results show that (1) with the increase of the network effect in networked manufacturing, the actual effort level can go beyond the ideal level of traditional manufacturing. (2) Profit allocation based on marginal contribution rate would help improve effort levels of the partners in networked manufacturing. (3) The partners in networked manufacturing who wishes to have a larger distribution ratio must make a higher effort level, and enterprises with insufficient effort should be terminated in networked manufacturing.

Eddy-current effect on resonant magnetoelectric coupling in magnetostrictive-piezoelectric laminated composites

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Guoxi; Zhang, Chunli; Chen, Weiqiu; Dong, Shuxiang

2013-07-01

An analytical model of resonant magnetoelectric (ME) coupling in magnetostrictive (MS)-piezoelectric (PE) laminated composites in consideration of eddy-current effect in MS layer using equivalent circuit method is presented. Numerical calculations show that: (1) the eddy-current has a strong effect on ME coupling in MS-PE laminated composites at resonant frequency; and (2) the resonant ME coupling is then significantly dependent on the sizes of ME laminated composites, which were neglected in most previous theoretical analyses. The achieved results provide a theoretical guidance for the practice engineering design, manufacture, and application of ME laminated composites and devices.

Anomalous moments of quarks and leptons from nonstandard WWγ couplings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boudjema, F.; Hagiwara, K.; Hamzaoui, C.; Numata, K.

1991-01-01

Contributions of nonstandard WWγ couplings to the four electromagnetic form factors of light quarks and leptons, magnetic and electric dipole moments, anapole moments, and charge radii, have been reevaluated, with a special emphasis on the effects of the locally SU(2) weak -invariant nonrenormalizable couplings λ and λ. Previous results for the contribution of the dimension-four anomalous couplings Δκ and κ are reproduced. The λ contribution to the charge radius and the anapole moments are found to be logarithmically sensitive to the cutoff scale (Λ), but the contribution of the λ coupling to the anomalous magnetic moments as well as that of the λ coupling to the electric dipole moments are found to be finite. These finite values are, however, found to be regularization-scheme dependent. The origin of the ambiguities is discussed and we argue that the numerical coefficients depend on the details of the underlying physics that gives rise to these nonstandard couplings. Banning an accidental cancellation, we can place an order-of-magnitude upper bound |λ|approx-lt 10 -4 from the experimental limit on the electric dipole moment of the neutron. Some definite predictions for the off-shell form factors are also presented

Multivalued synchronization by Poincaré coupling

Science.gov (United States)

Ontañón-García, L. J.; Campos-Cantón, E.; Femat, R.; Campos-Cantón, I.; Bonilla-Marín, M.

2013-10-01

This work presents multivalued chaotic synchronization via coupling based on the Poincaré plane. The coupling is carried out by an underdamped signal, triggered every crossing event of the trajectory of the master system through a previously defined Poincaré plane. A master-slave system is explored, and the synchronization between the systems is detected via the auxiliary system approach and the maximum conditional Lyapunov exponent. Due to the response to specific conditions two phenomena may be obtained: univalued and multivalued synchronization. Since the Lyapunov exponent is not enough to detect these two phenomena, the distance between the pieces of trajectories of the slave and auxiliary systems with different initial conditions is also used as a tool for the detection of multivalued synchronization. Computer simulations using the benchmark chaotic systems of Lorenz and Rössler are used to exemplify the approach proposed.

Measuring collections effort improves cash performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Shutts, Joe

2009-09-01

Having a satisfied work force can lead to an improved collections effort. Hiring the right people and training them ensures employee engagement. Measuring collections effort and offering incentives is key to revenue cycle success.

Study on the Vehicle Dynamic Load Considering the Vehicle-Pavement Coupled Effect

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, H. L.; He, L.; An, D.

2017-11-01

The vibration of vehicle-pavement interaction system is sophisticated random vibration process and the vehicle-pavement coupled effect was not considered in the previous study. A new linear elastic model of the vehicle-pavement coupled system was established in the paper. The new model was verified with field measurement which could reflect the real vibration between vehicle and pavement. Using the new model, the study on the vehicle dynamic load considering the vehicle-pavement coupled effect showed that random forces (centralization) between vehicle and pavement were influenced largely by vehicle-pavement coupled effect. Numerical calculation indicated that the maximum of random forces in coupled model was 2.4 times than that in uncoupled model. Inquiring the reason, it was found that the main vibration frequency of the vehicle non-suspension system was similar with that of the vehicle suspension system in the coupled model and the resonance vibration lead to vehicle dynamic load increase significantly.

Visual cues and listening effort: individual variability.

Science.gov (United States)

Picou, Erin M; Ricketts, Todd A; Hornsby, Benjamin W Y

2011-10-01

To investigate the effect of visual cues on listening effort as well as whether predictive variables such as working memory capacity (WMC) and lipreading ability affect the magnitude of listening effort. Twenty participants with normal hearing were tested using a paired-associates recall task in 2 conditions (quiet and noise) and 2 presentation modalities (audio only [AO] and auditory-visual [AV]). Signal-to-noise ratios were adjusted to provide matched speech recognition across audio-only and AV noise conditions. Also measured were subjective perceptions of listening effort and 2 predictive variables: (a) lipreading ability and (b) WMC. Objective and subjective results indicated that listening effort increased in the presence of noise, but on average the addition of visual cues did not significantly affect the magnitude of listening effort. Although there was substantial individual variability, on average participants who were better lipreaders or had larger WMCs demonstrated reduced listening effort in noise in AV conditions. Overall, the results support the hypothesis that integrating auditory and visual cues requires cognitive resources in some participants. The data indicate that low lipreading ability or low WMC is associated with relatively effortful integration of auditory and visual information in noise.

Phase correction of electromagnetic coupling effects in cross-borehole EIT measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, Y; Zimmermann, E; Wolters, B; Van Waasen, S; Huisman, J A; Treichel, A; Kemna, A

2015-01-01

Borehole EIT measurements in a broad frequency range (mHz to kHz) are used to study subsurface geophysical properties. However, accurate measurements have long been difficult because the required long electric cables introduce undesired inductive and capacitive coupling effects. Recently, it has been shown that such effects can successfully be corrected in the case of single-borehole measurements. The aim of this paper is to extend the previously developed correction procedure for inductive coupling during EIT measurements in a single borehole to cross-borehole EIT measurements with multiple borehole electrode chains. In order to accelerate and simplify the previously developed correction procedure for inductive coupling, a pole–pole matrix of mutual inductances is defined. This consists of the inductances of each individual chain obtained from calibration measurements and the inductances between two chains calculated from the known cable positions using numerical modelling. The new correction procedure is successfully verified with measurements in a water-filled pool under controlled conditions where the errors introduced by capacitive coupling were well-defined and could be estimated by FEM forward modelling. In addition, EIT field measurements demonstrate that the correction methods increase the phase accuracy considerably. Overall, the phase accuracy of cross-hole EIT measurements after correction of inductive and capacitive coupling is improved to better than 1 mrad up to a frequency of 1 kHz, which substantially improves our ability to characterize the frequency-dependent complex electrical resistivity of weakly polarizable soils and sediments in situ. (paper)

Possibilities of care for serodiscordant couples for HIV who got pregnant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tassiane Ferreira Langendorf

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective: Understanding the meaning of pregnancy for heterosexual couples facing serodiscordant situation for HIV, aiming at construction of care possibilities based on subjectivity. Method: Phenomenological research, theoretical-philosophical-methodological framework by Martin Heidegger. Research was conducted in a University Hospital in the countryside of Southern Brazil, from September 2013 to May 2014 through a phenomenological interview, with participation of eleven couples. Results: For the couples, pregnancy is part of life when they wish to have a child, even when one or both of them already have children from previous relationships. In addition, it is part of life when they consider the risks and do not want to have children in such circumstances anymore, but it happened unexpectedly. Conclusion: Understanding reproductive needs and demands of these couples is an aid for qualification and improvement of care as a contribution to nursing care planning towards reproductive health of these couples.

On the longitudinal coupling impedance of a toroidal beam tube

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hahn, H.; Tepikian, S.

1990-01-01

In this paper, the longitudinal coupling impedance of a smooth toroidal beam tube is derived. By treating the torus as a slow-wave structure, the well-known method of describing the impedance in terms of cavity resonances can be used. A simple analytical expression for the coupling impedance of a toroidal beam tube with square cross section valid in the low-frequency limit is obtained. The results from the present study are compared with previously published solutions and qualitative differences are pointed out. 16 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab

Qualitative investigation of the meanings of eating fruits and vegetables for adult couples.

Science.gov (United States)

Paisley, J; Sheeshka, J; Daly, K

2001-01-01

The purpose of this study was to develop a substantive theory expressing the meanings couples associated with eating fruits and vegetables. This inductive qualitative study was based on a grounded theory approach and employed the constant comparison method of data analysis. Data were collected using semistructured individual interviews and a life history approach. Ten adult couples, aged 20 to 60 years, with and without children, all of whom were born in North America, were recruited using modified snowball sampling. Two overarching themes emerged. The "should syndrome" describes a morality concerning fruit and vegetable consumption arising from a tension between the low status of these foods in participants' childhood homes and their contemporary idealized status. The creation of couple gastronomies expresses couples'efforts to construct their own food norms and practices within a context of changes in social norms and fruit and vegetable availability. The substantive theory, making choices that balance their lives, conveys the dynamic processes involved in participants' fruit and vegetable choices. Future research will determine the transferability of the "should syndrome" and new couples' receptiveness to trying new fruits and vegetables. Understanding the changing contexts of food choice may help nutrition professionals better support healthful eating.

A Coupled Fluid-Structure Interaction Analysis of Solid Rocket Motor with Flexible Inhibitors

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, H. Q.; West, Jeff

2014-01-01

A capability to couple NASA production CFD code, Loci/CHEM, with CFDRC's structural finite element code, CoBi, has been developed. This paper summarizes the efforts in applying the installed coupling software to demonstrate/investigate fluid-structure interaction (FSI) between pressure wave and flexible inhibitor inside reusable solid rocket motor (RSRM). First a unified governing equation for both fluid and structure is presented, then an Eulerian-Lagrangian framework is described to satisfy the interfacial continuity requirements. The features of fluid solver, Loci/CHEM and structural solver, CoBi, are discussed before the coupling methodology of the solvers is described. The simulation uses production level CFD LES turbulence model with a grid resolution of 80 million cells. The flexible inhibitor is modeled with full 3D shell elements. Verifications against analytical solutions of structural model under steady uniform pressure condition and under dynamic condition of modal analysis show excellent agreements in terms of displacement distribution and eigen modal frequencies. The preliminary coupled result shows that due to acoustic coupling, the dynamics of one of the more flexible inhibitors shift from its first modal frequency to the first acoustic frequency of the solid rocket motor.

Greater effort increases perceived value in an invertebrate.

Science.gov (United States)

Czaczkes, Tomer J; Brandstetter, Birgit; di Stefano, Isabella; Heinze, Jürgen

2018-05-01

Expending effort is generally considered to be undesirable. However, both humans and vertebrates will work for a reward they could also get for free. Moreover, cues associated with high-effort rewards are preferred to low-effort associated cues. Many explanations for these counterintuitive findings have been suggested, including cognitive dissonance (self-justification) or a greater contrast in state (e.g., energy or frustration level) before and after an effort-linked reward. Here, we test whether effort expenditure also increases perceived value in ants, using both classical cue-association methods and pheromone deposition, which correlates with perceived value. In 2 separate experimental setups, we show that pheromone deposition is higher toward the reward that requires more effort: 47% more pheromone deposition was performed for rewards reached via a vertical runway (high effort) compared with ones reached via a horizontal runway (low effort), and deposition rates were 28% higher on rough (high effort) versus smooth (low effort) runways. Using traditional cue-association methods, 63% of ants trained on different surface roughness, and 70% of ants trained on different runway elevations, preferred the high-effort related cues on a Y maze. Finally, pheromone deposition to feeders requiring memorization of one path bifurcation was up to 29% higher than to an identical feeder requiring no learning. Our results suggest that effort affects value perception in ants. This effect may stem from a cognitive process, which monitors the change in a generalized hedonic state before and after reward. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Fast Fiber-Coupled Imaging Devices

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brockington, Samuel; Case, Andrew; Witherspoon, Franklin

2018-04-22

HyperV Technologies Corp. has successfully designed, built and experimentally demonstrated a full scale 1024 pixel 100 MegaFrames/s fiber coupled camera with 12 or 14 bits, and record lengths of 32K frames, exceeding our original performance objectives. This high-pixel-count, fiber optically-coupled, imaging diagnostic can be used for investigating fast, bright plasma events. In Phase 1 of this effort, a 100 pixel fiber-coupled fast streak camera for imaging plasma jet profiles was constructed and successfully demonstrated. The resulting response from outside plasma physics researchers emphasized development of increased pixel performance as a higher priority over increasing pixel count. In this Phase 2 effort, HyperV therefore focused on increasing the sample rate and bit-depth of the photodiode pixel designed in Phase 1, while still maintaining a long record length and holding the cost per channel to levels which allowed up to 1024 pixels to be constructed. Cost per channel was $53.31, very close to our original target of $50 per channel. The system consists of an imaging "camera head" coupled to a photodiode bank with an array of optical fibers. The output of these fast photodiodes is then digitized at 100 Megaframes per second and stored in record lengths of 32,768 samples with bit depths of 12 to 14 bits per pixel. Longer record lengths are possible with additional memory. A prototype imaging system with up to 1024 pixels was designed and constructed and used to successfully take movies of very fast moving plasma jets as a demonstration of the camera performance capabilities. Some faulty electrical components on the 64 circuit boards resulted in only 1008 functional channels out of 1024 on this first generation prototype system. We experimentally observed backlit high speed fan blades in initial camera testing and then followed that with full movies and streak images of free flowing high speed plasma jets (at 30-50 km/s). Jet structure and jet collisions onto

Learner Characteristic Based Learning Effort Curve Mode: The Core Mechanism on Developing Personalized Adaptive E-Learning Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, Pi-Shan

2012-01-01

This study aims to develop the core mechanism for realizing the development of personalized adaptive e-learning platform, which is based on the previous learning effort curve research and takes into account the learner characteristics of learning style and self-efficacy. 125 university students from Taiwan are classified into 16 groups according…

Dynamic diffraction-limited light-coupling of 3D-maneuvered wave-guided optical waveguides.

Science.gov (United States)

Villangca, Mark; Bañas, Andrew; Palima, Darwin; Glückstad, Jesper

2014-07-28

We have previously proposed and demonstrated the targeted-light delivery capability of wave-guided optical waveguides (WOWs). As the WOWs are maneuvered in 3D space, it is important to maintain efficient light coupling through the waveguides within their operating volume. We propose the use of dynamic diffractive techniques to create diffraction-limited spots that will track and couple to the WOWs during operation. This is done by using a spatial light modulator to encode the necessary diffractive phase patterns to generate the multiple and dynamic coupling spots. The method is initially tested for a single WOW and we have experimentally demonstrated dynamic tracking and coupling for both lateral and axial displacements.

Dynamic diffraction-limited light-coupling of 3D-maneuvered wave-guided optical waveguides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Villangca, Mark Jayson; Bañas, Andrew Rafael; Palima, Darwin

2014-01-01

We have previously proposed and demonstrated the targeted-light delivery capability of wave-guided optical waveguides (WOWs). As the WOWs are maneuvered in 3D space, it is important to maintain efficient light coupling through the waveguides within their operating volume. We propose the use...... of dynamic diffractive techniques to create diffraction-limited spots that will track and couple to the WOWs during operation. This is done by using a spatial light modulator to encode the necessary diffractive phase patterns to generate the multiple and dynamic coupling spots. The method is initially tested...... for a single WOW and we have experimentally demonstrated dynamic tracking and coupling for both lateral and axial displacements....

A surface diffuse scattering model for the mobility of electrons in surface charge coupled devices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ionescu, M.

1977-01-01

An analytical model for the mobility of electrons in surface charge coupled devices is studied on the basis of the results previously obtained, considering a surface diffuse scattering; the importance of the results obtained for a better understanding of the influence of the fringing field in surface charge coupled devices is discussed. (author)

CRCM + BATS-R-US two-way coupling

Science.gov (United States)

Glocer, A.; Fok, M.; Meng, X.; Toth, G.; Buzulukova, N.; Chen, S.; Lin, K.

2013-04-01

We present the coupling methodology and validation of a fully coupled inner and global magnetosphere code using the infrastructure provided by the Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF). In this model, the Comprehensive Ring Current Model (CRCM) represents the inner magnetosphere, while the Block-Adaptive-Tree Solar-Wind Roe-Type Upwind Scheme (BATS-R-US) represents the global magnetosphere. The combined model is a global magnetospheric code with a realistic ring current and consistent electric and magnetic fields. The computational performance of the model was improved to surpass real-time execution by the use of the Message Passing Interface (MPI) to parallelize the CRCM. Initial simulations under steady driving found that the coupled model resulted in a higher pressure in the inner magnetosphere and an inflated closed field-line region as compared to simulations without inner-magnetosphere coupling. Our validation effort was split into two studies. The first study examined the ability of the model to reproduce Dst for a range of events from the Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM) Dst Challenge. It also investigated the possibility of a baseline shift and compared two approaches to calculating Dst from the model. We found that the model did a reasonable job predicting Dst and Sym-H according to our two metrics of prediction efficiency and predicted yield. The second study focused on the specific case of the 22 July 2009 moderate geomagnetic storm. In this study, we directly compare model predictions and observations for Dst, THEMIS energy spectragrams, TWINS ENA images, and GOES 11 and 12 magnetometer data. The model did an adequate job reproducing trends in the data. Moreover, we found that composition can have a large effect on the result.

Listening Effort With Cochlear Implant Simulations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pals, Carina; Sarampalis, Anastasios; Başkent, Deniz

2013-01-01

Purpose: Fitting a cochlear implant (CI) for optimal speech perception does not necessarily optimize listening effort. This study aimed to show that listening effort may change between CI processing conditions for which speech intelligibility remains constant. Method: Nineteen normal-hearing

Quark and pion effective couplings from polarization effects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Braghin, Fabio L. [Federal University of Goias, Instituto de Fisica, Goiania, GO (Brazil)

2016-05-15

A flavor SU(2) effective model for pions and quarks is derived by considering polarization effects departing from the usual quark-quark effective interaction induced by dressed gluon exchange, i.e. a global color model for QCD. For that, the quark field is decomposed into a component that yields light mesons and the quark-antiquark condensate, being integrated out by means of the auxiliary field method, and another component which yields constituent quarks, which is basically a background quark field. Within a long-wavelength and weak quark field expansion (or large quark effective mass expansion) of a quark determinant, the leading terms are found up to the second order in a zero-order derivative expansion, by neglecting vector mesons that are considerably heavier than the pion. Pions are considered in the structureless limit and, besides the chiral invariant terms that reproduce previously derived expressions, symmetry breaking terms are also presented. The leading chiral quark-quark effective couplings are also found corresponding to a NJL and a vector-NJL couplings. All the resulting effective coupling constants and parameters are expressed in terms of the current and constituent quark masses and of the coupling g. (orig.)

Design of a Maglev Vibration Test Platform for the Research of Maglev Vehicle-girder Coupled Vibration Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhou Danfeng

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The maglev vehicle-girder coupled vibration problem has been encountered in many maglev test or commercial lines, which significantly degrade the performance of the maglev train. In previous research on the principle of the coupled vibration problem, it has been discovered that the fundamental model of the maglev girder can be simplified as a series of mass-spring resonators of different but related resonance frequencies, and that the stability of the vehicle-girder coupled system can be investigated by separately examining the stability of each mass-spring resonator – electromagnet coupled system. Based on this conclusion, a maglev test platform, which includes a single electromagnetic suspension control system, is built for experimental study of the coupled vibration problem. The guideway of the test platform is supported by a number of springs so as to change its flexibility. The mass of the guideway can also be changed by adjusting extra weights attached to it. By changing the flexibility and mass of the guideway, the rules of the maglev vehicle-girder coupled vibration problem are to be examined through experiments, and related theory on the vehicle-girder self-excited vibration proposed in previous research is also testified.

Diversity of chimera-like patterns from a model of 2D arrays of neurons with nonlocal coupling

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Chang-Hai; Zhang, Xi-Yun; Wang, Zhen-Hua; Liu, Zong-Hua

2017-06-01

Chimera states have been studied in 1D arrays, and a variety of different chimera states have been found using different models. Research has recently been extended to 2D arrays but only to phase models of them. Here, we extend it to a nonphase model of 2D arrays of neurons and focus on the influence of nonlocal coupling. Using extensive numerical simulations, we find, surprisingly, that this system can show most types of previously observed chimera states, in contrast to previous models, where only one or a few types of chimera states can be observed in each model. We also find that this model can show some special chimera-like patterns such as gridding and multicolumn patterns, which were previously observed only in phase models. Further, we present an effective approach, i.e., removing some of the coupling links, to generate heterogeneous coupling, which results in diverse chimera-like patterns and even induces transformations from one chimera-like pattern to another.

The effects of freedom of choice in action selection on perceived mental effort and the sense of agency.

Science.gov (United States)

Barlas, Zeynep; Hockley, William E; Obhi, Sukhvinder S

2017-10-01

Previous research showed that increasing the number of action alternatives enhances the sense of agency (SoA). Here, we investigated whether choice space could affect subjective judgments of mental effort experienced during action selection and examined the link between subjective effort and the SoA. Participants performed freely selected (among two, three, or four options) and instructed actions that produced pleasant or unpleasant tones. We obtained action-effect interval estimates to quantify intentional binding - the perceived interval compression between actions and outcomes and feeling of control (FoC) ratings. Additionally, participants reported the degree of mental effort they experienced during action selection. We found that both binding and FoC were systematically enhanced with increasing choice-level. Outcome valence did not influence binding, while FoC was stronger for pleasant than unpleasant outcomes. Finally, freely chosen actions were associated with low subjective effort and slow responses (i.e., higher reaction times), and instructed actions were associated with high effort and fast responses. Although the conditions that yielded the greatest and least subjective effort also yielded the greatest and least binding and FoC, there was no significant correlation between subjective effort and SoA measures. Overall, our results raise interesting questions about how agency may be influenced by response selection demands (i.e., indexed by speed of responding) and subjective mental effort. Our work also highlights the importance of understanding how subjective mental effort and response speed are related to popular notions of fluency in response selection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A reduced low-temperature electro-thermal coupled model for lithium-ion batteries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang, Jiuchun; Ruan, Haijun; Sun, Bingxiang; Zhang, Weige; Gao, Wenzhong; Wang, Le Yi; Zhang, Linjing

2016-01-01

Highlights: • A reduced low-temperature electro-thermal coupled model is proposed. • A novel frequency-dependent equation for polarization parameters is presented. • The model is validated under different frequency and low-temperature conditions. • The reduced model exhibits a high accuracy with a low computational effort. • The adaptability of the proposed methodology for model reduction is verified. - Abstract: A low-temperature electro-thermal coupled model, which is based on the electrochemical mechanism, is developed to accurately capture both electrical and thermal behaviors of batteries. Activation energies reveal that temperature dependence of resistances is greater than that of capacitances. The influence of frequency on polarization voltage and irreversible heat is discussed, and frequency dependence of polarization resistance and capacitance is obtained. Based on the frequency-dependent equation, a reduced low-temperature electro-thermal coupled model is proposed and experimentally validated under different temperature, frequency and amplitude conditions. Simulation results exhibit good agreement with experimental data, where the maximum relative voltage error and temperature error are below 2.65% and 1.79 °C, respectively. The reduced model is demonstrated to have almost the same accuracy as the original model and require a lower computational effort. The effectiveness and adaptability of the proposed methodology for model reduction is verified using batteries with three different cathode materials from different manufacturers. The reduced model, thanks to its high accuracy and simplicity, provides a promising candidate for development of rapid internal heating and optimal charging strategies at low temperature, and for evaluation of the state of battery health in on-board battery management system.

Description of a stable scheme for steady-state coupled Monte Carlo–thermal–hydraulic calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dufek, Jan; Eduard Hoogenboom, J.

2014-01-01

Highlights: • A stable coupling scheme for steady-state MC–TH calculations is described. • The coupling scheme is based on the stochastic approximation method. • The neutron flux (or power) distribution is relaxed using a variable step-size. - Abstract: We provide a detailed description of a numerically stable and efficient coupling scheme for steady-state Monte Carlo neutronic calculations with thermal–hydraulic feedback. While we have previously derived and published the stochastic approximation based method for coupling the Monte Carlo criticality and thermal–hydraulic calculations, its possible implementation has not been described in a step-by-step manner. As the simple description of the coupling scheme was repeatedly requested from us, we have decided to make it available via this note

'We keep her status to ourselves': experiences of stigma and discrimination among HIV-discordant couples in South Africa, Tanzania and Ukraine.

Science.gov (United States)

Rispel, Laetitia C; Cloete, Allanise; Metcalf, Carol A

2015-01-01

In HIV-discordant relationships, the HIV-negative partner also carries the burden of a stigmatised disease. For this reason, couples often hide their HIV-discordant status from family, friends and community members. This perpetuates the silence around HIV-discordant relationships and impacts on targeted HIV prevention, treatment and counselling efforts. This article reports on experiences of stigma and discrimination among HIV-discordant couples in South Africa, Tanzania and Ukraine. During 2008, HIV-discordant couples who had been in a relationship for at least one year were recruited purposively through health-care providers and civil society organisations in the three countries. Participants completed a brief self-administered questionnaire, while semi-structured interviews were conducted with each partner separately and with both partners together. Interviews were analysed using thematic content analysis. Fifty-one couples were recruited: 26 from South Africa, 10 from Tanzania, and 15 from Ukraine. Although most participants had disclosed their HIV status to someone other than their partner, few were living openly with HIV discordance. Experiences of stigma were common and included being subjected to gossip, rumours and name-calling, and HIV-negative partners being labelled as HIV-positive. Perpetrators of discrimination included family members and health workers. Stigma and discrimination present unique and complex challenges to couples in HIV sero-discordant relationships in these three diverse countries. Addressing stigmatisation of HIV-discordant couples requires a holistic human rights approach and specific programme efforts to address discrimination in the health system.

When is deceptive message production more effortful than truth-telling? A baker’s dozen of moderators

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Judee K Burgoon

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Deception is thought to be more effortful than telling the truth. Empirical evidence from many quarters supports this general proposition. However, there are many factors that qualify and even reverse this pattern. Guided by a communication perspective, I present a baker’s dozen of moderators that may alter the degree of cognitive difficulty associated with producing deceptive messages. Among sender-related factors are memory processes, motivation, incentives, and consequences. Lying increases activation of a network of brain regions related to executive memory, suppression of unwanted behaviors, and task switching that is not observed with truth-telling. High motivation coupled with strong incentives or the risk of adverse consequences also prompts more cognitive exertion--for truth-tellers and deceivers alike--to appear credible, with associated effects on performance and message production effort, depending on the magnitude of effort, communicator skill and experience. Factors related to message and communication context include discourse genre, type of prevarication, expected response length, communication medium, preparation, and recency of target event/issue. These factors can attenuate the degree of cognitive taxation on senders so that truth-telling and deceiving are similarly effortful. Factors related to the interpersonal relationship among interlocutors include whether sender and receiver are cooperative or adversarial and how well-acquainted they are with one another. A final consideration is whether the unit of analysis is the utterance, turn at talk, episode, entire interaction, or series of interactions. Taking these factors into account should produce a more nuanced answer to the question of when deception is more difficult than truth-telling.

Nonequilibrium phase transitions in finite arrays of globally coupled Stratonovich models: strong coupling limit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Senf, Fabian; Altrock, Philipp M; Behn, Ulrich

2009-01-01

A finite array of N globally coupled Stratonovich models exhibits a continuous nonequilibrium phase transition. In the limit of strong coupling, there is a clear separation of timescales of centre of mass and relative coordinates. The latter relax very fast to zero and the array behaves as a single entity described by the centre of mass coordinate. We compute analytically the stationary probability distribution and the moments of the centre of mass coordinate. The scaling behaviour of the moments near the critical value of the control parameter a c (N) is determined. We identify a crossover from linear to square root scaling with increasing distance from a c . The crossover point approaches a c in the limit N→∞ which reproduces previous results for infinite arrays. Our results are obtained in both the Fokker-Planck and the Langevin approach and are corroborated by numerical simulations. For a general class of models we show that the transition manifold in the parameter space depends on N and is determined by the scaling behaviour near a fixed point of the stochastic flow.

An efficient method for hybrid density functional calculation with spin-orbit coupling

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Maoyuan; Liu, Gui-Bin; Guo, Hong; Yao, Yugui

2018-03-01

In first-principles calculations, hybrid functional is often used to improve accuracy from local exchange correlation functionals. A drawback is that evaluating the hybrid functional needs significantly more computing effort. When spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is taken into account, the non-collinear spin structure increases computing effort by at least eight times. As a result, hybrid functional calculations with SOC are intractable in most cases. In this paper, we present an approximate solution to this problem by developing an efficient method based on a mixed linear combination of atomic orbital (LCAO) scheme. We demonstrate the power of this method using several examples and we show that the results compare very well with those of direct hybrid functional calculations with SOC, yet the method only requires a computing effort similar to that without SOC. The presented technique provides a good balance between computing efficiency and accuracy, and it can be extended to magnetic materials.

Effect of surface modes on coupling to fast waves in the LHRF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinsker, R.I.; Colestock, P.L.

1990-01-01

The effect of surface modes of propagation on coupling to fast waves in the LHRF is studied theoretically and experimentally. The previously reported 'up-down' poloidal phasing asymmetry for coupling to a uniform plasma is shown to be due to the properties of a mode which carries energy along the plasma-conducting wall interface. Comparison of the theory with coupling experiments performed on the PLT tokamak with a phased array of twelve dielectric-loaded waveguides at 800 MHz shows that the observed dependence of the net reflection coefficient on toroidal phase angle can be explained only if the surface wave is taken into account. 43 refs., 10 figs

Surveillance for previously unmonitored organic contaminants in the San Francisco Estuary.

Science.gov (United States)

Oros, Daniel R; Jarman, Walter M; Lowe, Theresa; David, Nicole; Lowe, Sarah; Davis, Jay A

2003-09-01

The San Francisco Estuary Regional Monitoring Program initiated surveillance monitoring to identify previously unmonitored synthetic organic contaminants in the San Francisco Estuary. Organic extracts of water samples were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in full scan mode. The major contaminant classes identified in the samples were fire retardants, pesticides, personal care product ingredients, and plasticizers. Evidence from the literature suggests that some of these contaminants can persist in the environment, induce toxicity, and accumulate in marine biota and in higher food chain consumers. The major sources of these contaminants into the marine environment are the discharge of municipal and industrial wastewater effluents, urban stormwater, and agricultural runoff. As a proactive effort, it is suggested that surveillance studies be used routinely in monitoring programs to identify and prevent potential problem contaminants from harming the marine environment.

Achieving the unlikely : innovating in the loosely coupled construction system

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Doree, Andries G.; Holmen, Elsebeth

2004-01-01

Previous research suggests that a characteristic of the construction industry is a lack of technological innovation. Since this is seen as a problem, much theoretical development within construction management focuses on explaining the lack of innovation. Less effort has been expended on using such

Contribution to the heavy-ion optical potential from coupling to vibrational states

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Donangelo, R; Canto, L F; Hussein, M S

1978-11-01

The component of the optical potential in the elastic channel due to the coupling to vibrational states in Coulomb excitation is derived using a previously developed semiclassical method. Several numerical examples are worked out.

Warthog: A MOOSE-Based Application for the Direct Code Coupling of BISON and PROTEUS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McCaskey, Alexander J. [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Slattery, Stuart [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Billings, Jay Jay [Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

2015-09-01

The Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program from the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy provides a robust toolkit for the modeling and simulation of current and future advanced nuclear reactor designs. This toolkit provides these technologies organized across product lines: two divisions targeted at fuels and end-to-end reactor modeling, and a third for integration, coupling, and high-level workflow management. The Fuels Product Line and the Reactor Product line provide advanced computational technologies that serve each respective field well, however, their current lack of integration presents a major impediment to future improvements of simulation solution fidelity. There is a desire for the capability to mix and match tools across Product Lines in an effort to utilize the best from both to improve NEAMS modeling and simulation technologies. This report details a new effort to provide this Product Line interoperability through the development of a new application called Warthog. This application couples the BISON Fuel Performance application from the Fuels Product Line and the PROTEUS Core Neutronics application from the Reactors Product Line in an effort to utilize the best from all parts of the NEAMS toolkit and improve overall solution fidelity of nuclear fuel simulations. To achieve this, Warthog leverages as much prior work from the NEAMS program as possible, and in doing so, enables interoperability between the disparate MOOSE and SHARP frameworks, and the libMesh and MOAB mesh data formats. This report describes this work in full. We begin with a detailed look at the individual NEAMS framework technologies used and developed in the various Product Lines, and the current status of their interoperability. We then introduce the Warthog application: its overall architecture and the ways it leverages the best existing tools from across the NEAMS toolkit to enable BISON-PROTEUS integration. Furthermore, we show how

Interests, Effort, Achievement and Vocational Preference.

Science.gov (United States)

Sjoberg, L.

1984-01-01

Relationships between interest in natural sciences and technology and perceived ability, success, and invested effort were studied in Swedish secondary school students. Interests were accounted for by logical orientation and practical value. Interests and grades were strongly correlated, but correlations between interests and effort and vocational…

Has Malaysia's antidrug effort been effective?

Science.gov (United States)

Scorzelli, J F

1992-01-01

It is a common belief that a massive effort in law enforcement, preventive education and rehabilitation will result in the elimination of a country's drug problem. Based on this premise. Malaysia in 1983 implemented such a multifaceted anti-drug strategy, and the results of a 1987 study by the author suggested that Malaysia's effort had begun to contribute to a steady decrease in the number of identified drug abusers. Although the number of drug-addicted individuals declined, the country's recidivism rates were still high. Because of this high relapse rate, Malaysia expanded their rehabilitation effort and developed a community transition program. In order to determine the impact of these changes on the country's battle against drug abuse, a follow-up study was conducted in 1990. The results of this study did not clearly demonstrate that the Malaysian effort had been successful in eliminating the problem of drug abuse, and raised some questions concerning the effectiveness of the country's drug treatment programs.

An association between paying physician-teachers for their teaching efforts and an improved educational experience for learners.

Science.gov (United States)

Ashar, Bimal; Levine, Rachel; Magaziner, Jeffrey; Shochet, Robert; Wright, Scott

2007-10-01

Medical schools often rely on faculty volunteerism to address clinical teaching needs for students. Increasing time pressures on physicians has made it difficult to secure commitments for clinical instruction. In the 2005-2006 academic year, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) launched the Colleges Program, recruiting 24 salary-supported physician-faculty to serve as advisors to students as well as teachers of the second year course, 'clinical skills'. We hypothesized that compensating physician educators would have a measurable positive impact on the students' experiences in this course. Students' assessments of paid colleges faculty (CF) preceptors from the 2005-2006 year were compared to those of volunteer preceptors from the two prior years (2003-2005 academic years) along six different teaching parameters linked to the course's objectives. Multivariable regression analysis was used to identify the factors independently associated with higher preceptor scores. Fifty-eight preceptors taught clinical skills over the 3-year study period. The overall response rate for preceptor evaluations by medical learners was 77% (277/359). CF, more likely than volunteer preceptors to have a full-time academic appointment (100 vs 63%, p evaluation domains were higher for CF compared to those from the two previous years combined (all p evaluation scores (Odds Ratio 4.3, 95% CI 1.01-18.20). Salary support for teaching efforts in the time-intensive CS course coupled with the prestige of being appointed to the CF was associated with higher student evaluations.

The calculation of Feshbach resonances using coupled propagator equations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhan, Hongbin; Zhang, Yinchun; Winkler, P.

1994-01-01

A coupled channel theory of resonances has been formulated within the propagator approach of man-body theory and applied to the 1s3s 2 resonance of e-helium scattering. This system has previously been studied both experimentally and theoretically. These results for the width of the resonance agree well with these earlier findings

Coupled cluster valence bond theory for open-shell systems with application to very long range strong correlation in a polycarbene dimer.

Science.gov (United States)

Small, David W; Head-Gordon, Martin

2017-07-14

The Coupled Cluster Valence Bond (CCVB) method, previously presented for closed-shell (CS) systems, is extended to open-shell (OS) systems. The theoretical development is based on embedding the basic OS CCVB wavefunction in a fictitious singlet super-system. This approach reveals that the OS CCVB amplitude equations are quite similar to those of CS CCVB, and thus that OS CCVB requires the same level of computational effort as CS CCVB, which is an inexpensive method. We present qualitatively correct CCVB potential energy curves for all low-lying spin states of P 2 and Mn 2 + . CCVB is successfully applied to the low-lying spin states of some model linear polycarbenes, systems that appear to be a hindrance to standard density functionals. We examine an octa-carbene dimer in a side-by-side orientation, which, in the monomer dissociation limit, exhibits maximal strong correlation over the length of the polycarbene.

Dopamine antagonism decreases willingness to expend physical, but not cognitive, effort: a comparison of two rodent cost/benefit decision-making tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Hosking, Jay G; Floresco, Stan B; Winstanley, Catharine A

2015-03-01

Successful decision making often requires weighing a given option's costs against its associated benefits, an ability that appears perturbed in virtually every severe mental illness. Animal models of such cost/benefit decision making overwhelmingly implicate mesolimbic dopamine in our willingness to exert effort for a larger reward. Until recently, however, animal models have invariably manipulated the degree of physical effort, whereas human studies of effort have primarily relied on cognitive costs. Dopamine's relationship to cognitive effort has not been directly examined, nor has the relationship between individuals' willingness to expend mental versus physical effort. It is therefore unclear whether willingness to work hard in one domain corresponds to willingness in the other. Here we utilize a rat cognitive effort task (rCET), wherein animals can choose to allocate greater visuospatial attention for a greater reward, and a previously established physical effort-discounting task (EDT) to examine dopaminergic and noradrenergic contributions to effort. The dopamine antagonists eticlopride and SCH23390 each decreased willingness to exert physical effort on the EDT; these drugs had no effect on willingness to exert mental effort for the rCET. Preference for the high effort option correlated across the two tasks, although this effect was transient. These results suggest that dopamine is only minimally involved in cost/benefit decision making with cognitive effort costs. The constructs of mental and physical effort may therefore comprise overlapping, but distinct, circuitry, and therapeutic interventions that prove efficacious in one effort domain may not be beneficial in another.

Initialization and Predictability of a Coupled ENSO Forecast Model

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Dake; Zebiak, Stephen E.; Cane, Mark A.; Busalacchi, Antonio J.

1997-01-01

The skill of a coupled ocean-atmosphere model in predicting ENSO has recently been improved using a new initialization procedure in which initial conditions are obtained from the coupled model, nudged toward observations of wind stress. The previous procedure involved direct insertion of wind stress observations, ignoring model feedback from ocean to atmosphere. The success of the new scheme is attributed to its explicit consideration of ocean-atmosphere coupling and the associated reduction of "initialization shock" and random noise. The so-called spring predictability barrier is eliminated, suggesting that such a barrier is not intrinsic to the real climate system. Initial attempts to generalize the nudging procedure to include SST were not successful; possible explanations are offered. In all experiments forecast skill is found to be much higher for the 1980s than for the 1970s and 1990s, suggesting decadal variations in predictability.

Effort Estimation in BPMS Migration

OpenAIRE

Drews, Christopher; Lantow, Birger

2018-01-01

Usually Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) are highly integrated in the IT of organizations and are at the core of their business. Thus, migrating from one BPMS solution to another is not a common task. However, there are forces that are pushing organizations to perform this step, e.g. maintenance costs of legacy BPMS or the need for additional functionality. Before the actual migration, the risk and the effort must be evaluated. This work provides a framework for effort estimation re...

Analytical solution for a coaxial plasma gun: Weak coupling limit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dietz, D.

1987-01-01

The analytical solution of the system of coupled ODE's which describes the time evolution of an ideal (i.e., zero resistance) coaxial plasma gun operating in the snowplow mode is obtained in the weak coupling limit, i.e, when the gun is fully influenced by the driving (RLC) circuit in which it resides but the circuit is negligibly influenced by the gun. Criteria for the validity of this limit are derived and numerical examples are presented. Although others have obtained approximate, asymptotic and numerical solutions of the equations, the present analytical results seem not to have appeared previously in the literature

Marital quality, coping with conflict, marital complaints, and affection in couples with a depressed wife.

Science.gov (United States)

Coyne, James C; Thompson, Richard; Palmer, Steven C

2002-03-01

This study compared three groups of women--outpatient depressed, inpatient depressed, and community control--and their husbands on a range of variables including marital functioning and styles of coping with conflict. Outpatient depressed couples reported greater marital distress and more destructive and less constructive tactics for resolving conflict than did community control couples. They also were more likely to have been previously married and to express regrets about having married their current husbands. There were smaller and less consistent differences for couples with inpatient depressed spouses, although inpatient couples with younger wives were similar to outpatient depressed couples. Both groups of depressed women and their husbands reported fewer expressions of affection and more complaints about the marriage than did control couples. Results are discussed in terms of interpersonal perspectives on depression.

The Rayleigh curve as a model for effort distribution over the life of medium scale software systems. M.S. Thesis - Maryland Univ.

Science.gov (United States)

Picasso, G. O.; Basili, V. R.

1982-01-01

It is noted that previous investigations into the applicability of Rayleigh curve model to medium scale software development efforts have met with mixed results. The results of these investigations are confirmed by analyses of runs and smoothing. The reasons for the models' failure are found in the subcycle effort data. There are four contributing factors: uniqueness of the environment studied, the influence of holidays, varying management techniques and differences in the data studied.

Transient coupling relationships of the Holocene Australian monsoon

Science.gov (United States)

McRobie, F. H.; Stemler, T.; Wyrwoll, K.-H.

2015-08-01

The northwest Australian summer monsoon owes a notable degree of its interannual variability to interactions with other regional monsoon systems. Therefore, changes in the nature of these relationships may contribute to variability in monsoon strength over longer time scales. Previous attempts to evaluate how proxy records from the Indonesian-Australian monsoon region correspond to other records from the Indian and East Asian monsoon regions, as well as to El Niño-related proxy records, have been qualitative, relying on 'curve-fitting' methods. Here, we seek a quantitative approach for identifying coupling relationships between paleoclimate proxy records, employing statistical techniques to compute the interdependence of two paleoclimate time series. We verify the use of complex networks to identify coupling relationships between modern climate indices. This method is then extended to a set of paleoclimate proxy records from the Asian, Australasian and South American regions spanning the past 9000 years. The resulting networks demonstrate the existence of coupling relationships between regional monsoon systems on millennial time scales, but also highlight the transient nature of teleconnections during this period. In the context of the northwest Australian summer monsoon, we recognise a shift in coupling relationships from strong interhemispheric links with East Asian and ITCZ-related proxy records in the mid-Holocene to significantly weaker coupling in the later Holocene. Although the identified links cannot explain the underlying physical processes leading to coupling between regional monsoon systems, this method provides a step towards understanding the role that changes in teleconnections play in millennial-to orbital-scale climate variability.

Improved Helicopter Rotor Performance Prediction through Loose and Tight CFD/CSD Coupling

Science.gov (United States)

Ickes, Jacob C.

Helicopters and other Vertical Take-Off or Landing (VTOL) vehicles exhibit an interesting combination of structural dynamic and aerodynamic phenomena which together drive the rotor performance. The combination of factors involved make simulating the rotor a challenging and multidisciplinary effort, and one which is still an active area of interest in the industry because of the money and time it could save during design. Modern tools allow the prediction of rotorcraft physics from first principles. Analysis of the rotor system with this level of accuracy provides the understanding necessary to improve its performance. There has historically been a divide between the comprehensive codes which perform aeroelastic rotor simulations using simplified aerodynamic models, and the very computationally intensive Navier-Stokes Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solvers. As computer resources become more available, efforts have been made to replace the simplified aerodynamics of the comprehensive codes with the more accurate results from a CFD code. The objective of this work is to perform aeroelastic rotorcraft analysis using first-principles simulations for both fluids and structural predictions using tools available at the University of Toledo. Two separate codes are coupled together in both loose coupling (data exchange on a periodic interval) and tight coupling (data exchange each time step) schemes. To allow the coupling to be carried out in a reliable and efficient way, a Fluid-Structure Interaction code was developed which automatically performs primary functions of loose and tight coupling procedures. Flow phenomena such as transonics, dynamic stall, locally reversed flow on a blade, and Blade-Vortex Interaction (BVI) were simulated in this work. Results of the analysis show aerodynamic load improvement due to the inclusion of the CFD-based airloads in the structural dynamics analysis of the Computational Structural Dynamics (CSD) code. Improvements came in the form

ASME Code Efforts Supporting HTGRs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

D.K. Morton

2012-09-01

In 1999, an international collaborative initiative for the development of advanced (Generation IV) reactors was started. The idea behind this effort was to bring nuclear energy closer to the needs of sustainability, to increase proliferation resistance, and to support concepts able to produce energy (both electricity and process heat) at competitive costs. The U.S. Department of Energy has supported this effort by pursuing the development of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant, a high temperature gas-cooled reactor. This support has included research and development of pertinent data, initial regulatory discussions, and engineering support of various codes and standards development. This report discusses the various applicable American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) codes and standards that are being developed to support these high temperature gascooled reactors during construction and operation. ASME is aggressively pursuing these codes and standards to support an international effort to build the next generation of advanced reactors so that all can benefit.

ASME Code Efforts Supporting HTGRs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

D.K. Morton

2011-09-01

In 1999, an international collaborative initiative for the development of advanced (Generation IV) reactors was started. The idea behind this effort was to bring nuclear energy closer to the needs of sustainability, to increase proliferation resistance, and to support concepts able to produce energy (both electricity and process heat) at competitive costs. The U.S. Department of Energy has supported this effort by pursuing the development of the Next Generation Nuclear Plant, a high temperature gas-cooled reactor. This support has included research and development of pertinent data, initial regulatory discussions, and engineering support of various codes and standards development. This report discusses the various applicable American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) codes and standards that are being developed to support these high temperature gascooled reactors during construction and operation. ASME is aggressively pursuing these codes and standards to support an international effort to build the next generation of advanced reactors so that all can benefit.

Same-Sex Couples' Decisions and Experiences of Marriage in the Context of Minority Stress: Interviews From a Population-Based Longitudinal Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rostosky, Sharon S; Riggle, Ellen D B; Rothblum, Esther D; Balsam, Kimberly F

2016-08-01

In the emerging context of marriage equality, it is important to explore the reasons for and experience of marriage for long-term same-sex couples, including the role of minority stress. In Wave 3 of the population-based, longitudinal CUPPLES Study we interviewed 21 long-term same-sex couples (14 female, 7 male) who resided in 12 different states and who were legally married. Couple members ranged in age from 37 to 84 and reported being together as a couple from 15 to 41 years. Seven couples lived in states that did not recognize their marriage at the time of the interview. Legal protection and social validation emerged as the two primary domains that captured couples' lived experiences of marriage. Minority stress experiences emerged in the narratives in the context of couples' long-term commitment, the availability of civil marriage, and couples' participation in activist efforts on behalf of marriage equality for themselves and others.

Integrated climate and hydrology modelling - Coupling of the HIRHAM regional climate model and the MIKE SHE hydrological model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dahl Larsen, M.A. [Technical Univ. of Denmark. DTU Management Engineering, DTU Risoe Campus, Roskilde (Denmark)

2013-10-15

To ensure optimal management and sustainable strategies for water resources, infrastructures, food production and ecosystems there is a need for an improved understanding of feedback and interaction mechanisms between the atmosphere and the land surface. This is especially true in light of expected global warming and increased frequency of extreme events. The skill in developing projections of both the present and future climate depends essentially on the ability to numerically simulate the processes of atmospheric circulation, hydrology, energy and ecology. Previous modelling efforts of climate and hydrology have used each model component in an offline mode where the models are run in sequential steps and one model serves as a boundary condition or data input source to the other. Within recent years a new field of research has emerged where efforts have been made to dynamically couple existing climate and hydrology models to more directly include the interaction between the atmosphere and the land surface. The present PhD study is motivated by an ambition of developing and applying a modelling tool capable of including the interaction and feedback mechanisms between the atmosphere and the land surface. The modelling tool consists of a fully dynamic two-way coupling of the HIRHAM regional climate model and the MIKE SHE hydrological model. The expected gain is twofold. Firstly, HIRHAM utilizes the land surface component of the combined MIKE SHE/SWET hydrology and land surface model (LSM), which is superior to the LSM in HIRHAM. A wider range of processes are included at the land surface, subsurface flow is distributed in three dimensions and the temporal and spatial resolution is higher. Secondly, the feedback mechanisms of e.g. soil moisture and precipitation between the two models are included. The preparation of the HIRHAM and MIKE SHE models for the coupled study revealed several findings. The performance of HIRHAM was highly affected by the domain size, domain

Chimera states in two-dimensional networks of locally coupled oscillators

Science.gov (United States)

Kundu, Srilena; Majhi, Soumen; Bera, Bidesh K.; Ghosh, Dibakar; Lakshmanan, M.

2018-02-01

Chimera state is defined as a mixed type of collective state in which synchronized and desynchronized subpopulations of a network of coupled oscillators coexist and the appearance of such anomalous behavior has strong connection to diverse neuronal developments. Most of the previous studies on chimera states are not extensively done in two-dimensional ensembles of coupled oscillators by taking neuronal systems with nonlinear coupling function into account while such ensembles of oscillators are more realistic from a neurobiological point of view. In this paper, we report the emergence and existence of chimera states by considering locally coupled two-dimensional networks of identical oscillators where each node is interacting through nonlinear coupling function. This is in contrast with the existence of chimera states in two-dimensional nonlocally coupled oscillators with rectangular kernel in the coupling function. We find that the presence of nonlinearity in the coupling function plays a key role to produce chimera states in two-dimensional locally coupled oscillators. We analytically verify explicitly in the case of a network of coupled Stuart-Landau oscillators in two dimensions that the obtained results using Ott-Antonsen approach and our analytical finding very well matches with the numerical results. Next, we consider another type of important nonlinear coupling function which exists in neuronal systems, namely chemical synaptic function, through which the nearest-neighbor (locally coupled) neurons interact with each other. It is shown that such synaptic interacting function promotes the emergence of chimera states in two-dimensional lattices of locally coupled neuronal oscillators. In numerical simulations, we consider two paradigmatic neuronal oscillators, namely Hindmarsh-Rose neuron model and Rulkov map for each node which exhibit bursting dynamics. By associating various spatiotemporal behaviors and snapshots at particular times, we study the chimera

Real-time dynamic coupling of GPC-enhanced diffraction-limited focal spots

Science.gov (United States)

Villangca, Mark; Bañas, Andrew; Kopylov, Oleksii; Palima, Darwin; Glückstad, Jesper

2015-03-01

We have previously demonstrated on-demand dynamic coupling of an optically manipulated wave-guided optical waveguide (WOW) using diffractive techniques on a "point and shoot" approach. In this work, the generation of the coupling focal spots is done in real-time following the position of the WOW. Object-tracking routine has been added in the trapping program to get the position of the WOW. This approach allows continuous coupling of light through the WOWs which may be useful in some application. In addition, we include a GPC light shaper module in the holography setup to efficiently illuminate the spatial light modulator (SLM). The ability to switch from on-demand to continuous addressing with efficient illumination leverages our WOWs for potential applications in stimulation and nonlinear optics.

Real-time Dynamic Coupling of GPC-enhanced Diffraction-limited Focal Spots

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Villangca, Mark Jayson; Bañas, Andrew Rafael; Kopylov, Oleksii

2015-01-01

We have previously demonstrated on-demand dynamic coupling of an optically manipulated wave-guided optical waveguide (WOW) using diffractive techniques on a “point and shoot” approach. In this work, the generation of the coupling focal spots is done in real-time following the position of the WOW....... Object-tracking routine has been added in the trapping program to get the position of the WOW. This approach allows continuous coupling of light through the WOWs which may be useful in some application. In addition, we include a GPC light shaper module in the holography setup to efficiently illuminate...... the spatial light modulator (SLM). The ability to switch from on-demand to continuous addressing with efficient illumination leverages our WOWs for potential applications in stimulation and nonlinear optics....

Precise strength of the $\\pi$NN coupling constant

CERN Document Server

Ericson, Torleif Eric Oskar; Rahm, J; Blomgren, J; Olsson, N; Thomas, A W

1998-01-01

We report here a preliminary value for the piNN coupling constant deduced from the GMO sumrule for forward piN scattering. As in our previous determination from np backward differential scattering cross sections we give a critical discussion of the analysis with careful attention not only to the statistical, but also to the systematic uncertainties. Our preliminary evaluation gives $g^2_c$(GMO) = 13.99(24).

Longitudinal coupling impedance of a thick iris collimator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gluckstern, R.L.; Jiang, S.

1992-01-01

A previous calculation of the longitudinal coupling impedance of an iris in a beam pipe turned out not to be well convergent. In this work an alternate basis vector for the matrix equations is constructed, leading to convergent results. Numerical results are presented for the limit a/b → ∞, corresponding to a beam passing through a circular hole in a thick wall. 4 figs., 4 refs

Pocket money and child effort at school

OpenAIRE

François-Charles Wolff; Christine Barnet-Verzat

2008-01-01

In this paper, we study the relationship between the provision of parental pocket and the level of effort undertaken by the child at school. Under altruism, an increased amount of parental transfer should reduce the child's effort. Our empirical analysis is based on a French data set including about 1,400 parent-child pairs. We find that children do not undertake less effort when their parents are more generous.

Guideline adherence is worth the effort: a cost-effectiveness analysis in intrauterine insemination care.

Science.gov (United States)

Haagen, E C; Nelen, W L D M; Adang, E M; Grol, R P T M; Hermens, R P M G; Kremer, J A M

2013-02-01

a result, 415 infertile couples who started a total of 1803 IUI cycles were eligible for the cost-effectiveness analyses. Optimal adherence to the guideline recommendations about sperm quality, the total number of IUI cycles and dose of human chorionic gonadotrophin was cost-effective with an incremental net monetary benefit between € 645 and over € 7500 per couple, depending on the recommendation and assuming a willingness to pay € 20 000 for an ongoing pregnancy. Because not all recommendations applied to all 415 included couples, smaller groups were left for some of the cost-effectiveness analyses, and one integrated analysis with all recommendations within one model was impossible. Optimal guideline adherence in IUI care has substantial economic benefits when compared with suboptimal guideline adherence. For Europe, where over 144,000 IUI cycles are initiated each year to treat ≈ 32 000 infertile couples, this could mean a possible cost saving of at least 20 million euro yearly. Therefore, it is valuable to make an effort to improve guideline development and implementation.

Action-Perception Coupling in Violinists

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lauren eStewart

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The current study investigates auditory-motor coupling in musically trained participants using a Stroop-type task that required the execution of simple finger sequences according to aurally presented number sequences (e.g. ‘2’, ‘4’, ‘5’, ‘3’, ‘1’. Digital remastering was used to manipulate the pitch contour of the number sequences such that they were either congruent or incongruent with respect to the resulting action sequence. Conservatoire-level violinists showed a strong effect of congruency manipulation (increased response time for incongruent versus congruent trials, in comparison to a control group of non-musicians. In experiment 2, this paradigm was used to determine whether pedagogical background would influence this effect in a group of young violinists. Suzuki trained violinists differed significantly from those with no musical background, while traditionally trained violinists did not. The findings extend previous research in this area by demonstrating that obligatory audio-motor coupling is directly related to a musicians’ expertise on their instrument of study and is influenced by pedagogy.

The Impact of Occupational Status on Household Chore Hours among Dual Earner Couples

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Megumi Omori

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Previous studies on the who does what about routine chores in the household have tended to neglect the occupational structure and its influence on the amount of time spent on housework. Using NSFH data, it is found that married couples' household chore hours vary by their occupational status: couples in higher status occupations spend significantly fewer hours on household chores as compared to their counterparts in lower status occupations.

Systemic-constructivist couple therapy (SCCT): Description of approach, theoretical advances, and published longitudinal evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Reid, David W; Doell, Faye K; Dalton, E Jane; Ahmad, Saunia

2008-12-01

The systemic-constructivist approach to studying and benefiting couples was derived from qualitative and quantitative research on distressed couples over the past 10 years. Systemic-constructivist couple therapy (SCCT) is the clinical intervention that accompanies the approach. SCCT guides the therapist to work with both the intrapersonal and the interpersonal aspects of marriage while also integrating the social-environmental context of the couple. The theory that underlies SCCT is explained, including concepts such as we-ness and interpersonal processing. The primary components of the therapy are described. Findings described previously in an inaugural monograph containing extensive research demonstrating the long-term utility of SCCT are reviewed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

Thermal rectification and negative differential thermal conductance in harmonic chains with nonlinear system-bath coupling

Science.gov (United States)

Ming, Yi; Li, Hui-Min; Ding, Ze-Jun

2016-03-01

Thermal rectification and negative differential thermal conductance were realized in harmonic chains in this work. We used the generalized Caldeira-Leggett model to study the heat flow. In contrast to most previous studies considering only the linear system-bath coupling, we considered the nonlinear system-bath coupling based on recent experiment [Eichler et al., Nat. Nanotech. 6, 339 (2011), 10.1038/nnano.2011.71]. When the linear coupling constant is weak, the multiphonon processes induced by the nonlinear coupling allow more phonons transport across the system-bath interface and hence the heat current is enhanced. Consequently, thermal rectification and negative differential thermal conductance are achieved when the nonlinear couplings are asymmetric. However, when the linear coupling constant is strong, the umklapp processes dominate the multiphonon processes. Nonlinear coupling suppresses the heat current. Thermal rectification is also achieved. But the direction of rectification is reversed compared to the results of weak linear coupling constant.

Ideas and perspectives: how coupled is the vegetation to the boundary layer?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. G. De Kauwe

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Understanding the sensitivity of transpiration to stomatal conductance is critical to simulating the water cycle. This sensitivity is a function of the degree of coupling between the vegetation and the atmosphere and is commonly expressed by the decoupling factor. The degree of coupling assumed by models varies considerably and has previously been shown to be a major cause of model disagreement when simulating changes in transpiration in response to elevated CO2. The degree of coupling also offers us insight into how different vegetation types control transpiration fluxes, which is fundamental to our understanding of land–atmosphere interactions. To explore this issue, we combined an extensive literature summary from 41 studies with estimates of the decoupling coefficient estimated from FLUXNET data. We found some notable departures from the values previously reported in single-site studies. There was large variability in estimated decoupling coefficients (range 0.05–0.51 for evergreen needleleaf forests. This is a result that was broadly supported by our literature review but contrasts with the early literature which suggests that evergreen needleleaf forests are generally well coupled. Estimates from FLUXNET indicated that evergreen broadleaved forests were the most tightly coupled, differing from our literature review and instead suggesting that it was evergreen needleleaf forests. We also found that the assumption that grasses would be strongly decoupled (due to vegetation stature was only true for high precipitation sites. These results were robust to assumptions about aerodynamic conductance and, to a lesser extent, energy balance closure. Thus, these data form a benchmarking metric against which to test model assumptions about coupling. Our results identify a clear need to improve the quantification of the processes involved in scaling from the leaf to the whole ecosystem. Progress could be made with targeted measurement campaigns at

Multiscale Universal Interface: A concurrent framework for coupling heterogeneous solvers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tang, Yu-Hang, E-mail: yuhang_tang@brown.edu [Division of Applied Mathematics, Brown University, Providence, RI (United States); Kudo, Shuhei, E-mail: shuhei-kudo@outlook.jp [Graduate School of System Informatics, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai-cho, Nada-ku, Kobe, 657-8501 (Japan); Bian, Xin, E-mail: xin_bian@brown.edu [Division of Applied Mathematics, Brown University, Providence, RI (United States); Li, Zhen, E-mail: zhen_li@brown.edu [Division of Applied Mathematics, Brown University, Providence, RI (United States); Karniadakis, George Em, E-mail: george_karniadakis@brown.edu [Division of Applied Mathematics, Brown University, Providence, RI (United States); Collaboratory on Mathematics for Mesoscopic Modeling of Materials, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA 99354 (United States)

2015-09-15

Graphical abstract: - Abstract: Concurrently coupled numerical simulations using heterogeneous solvers are powerful tools for modeling multiscale phenomena. However, major modifications to existing codes are often required to enable such simulations, posing significant difficulties in practice. In this paper we present a C++ library, i.e. the Multiscale Universal Interface (MUI), which is capable of facilitating the coupling effort for a wide range of multiscale simulations. The library adopts a header-only form with minimal external dependency and hence can be easily dropped into existing codes. A data sampler concept is introduced, combined with a hybrid dynamic/static typing mechanism, to create an easily customizable framework for solver-independent data interpretation. The library integrates MPI MPMD support and an asynchronous communication protocol to handle inter-solver information exchange irrespective of the solvers' own MPI awareness. Template metaprogramming is heavily employed to simultaneously improve runtime performance and code flexibility. We validated the library by solving three different multiscale problems, which also serve to demonstrate the flexibility of the framework in handling heterogeneous models and solvers. In the first example, a Couette flow was simulated using two concurrently coupled Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations of different spatial resolutions. In the second example, we coupled the deterministic SPH method with the stochastic Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD) method to study the effect of surface grafting on the hydrodynamics properties on the surface. In the third example, we consider conjugate heat transfer between a solid domain and a fluid domain by coupling the particle-based energy-conserving DPD (eDPD) method with the Finite Element Method (FEM)

Flexible Working in the UK and its Impact on Couples' Time Coordination

OpenAIRE

Bryan, M.L.; Sevilla, A.

2017-01-01

The ability to combine work with quality time together as a family is at the heart of the\\ud concept of work-life balance. Using previously unexploited data on couples work\\ud schedules we investigate the effect of flexible working on couples coordination of their\\ud daily work schedules in the UK. We consider three distinct dimensions of flexible\\ud working: flexibility of daily start and finish times (flexitime), flexibility of work times\\ud over the year (annualized hours), and generalized...

Static and Dynamic Amplification Using Strong Mechanical Coupling

KAUST Repository

Ilyas, Saad

2016-07-28

Amplifying the signal-to-noise ratio of resonant sensors is vital toward the effort to miniaturize devices into the sub-micro and nano regimes. In this paper, we demonstrate theoretically and experimentally, amplification through mechanically coupled microbeams. The device is composed of two identical clamped-clamped beams, made of polyimide, connected at their middle through a third beam, which acts as a mechanical coupler. Each of the clamped-clamped microbeams and the coupler are designed to be actuated separately, hence providing various possibilities of actuation and sensing. The coupled resonator is driven into resonance near its first resonance mode and its dynamic behavior is explored via frequency sweeps. The results show significant amplification in the resonator amplitude when the signal is measured at the midpoint of the coupler compared with the response of the individual uncoupled beams. The static pull-in characteristics of the resonator are also studied. It is shown that the compliant mechanical coupler can serve as a low-power radio frequency switch actuated at low voltage loads. [2016-0100

How Best to Obtain Valid, Verifiable Data Online From Male Couples? Lessons Learned From an eHealth HIV Prevention Intervention for HIV-Negative Male Couples.

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Jason; Lee, Ji-Young; Stephenson, Rob

2016-09-20

validity that data came from two unique partners of a couple. Several important lessons were learned from these experiences, resulting in recommendations for future eHealth studies involving male couples. Use of certain "interests" and types of images (eg, shirtless) in targeted Facebook advertisements should be avoided or used sparingly because these interests and types of images may generate adverse reactions from a broader audience. Development of a systematic approach with predetermined criteria and parameters to verify male couples' relationships is strongly recommended. Further, researchers are encouraged to develop a system of decision rules to detect and handle suspicious data (eg, suspicious email addresses/names, multiple entries, same IP address used in multiple entries) to help validate the legitimacy of male couples' relationships online. These lessons learned combined with recommendations for future studies aim to help enhance recruitment efforts and the validity and reliability of collecting dyadic data from male couples for novel eHealth HIV-preventive interventions.

Improved coupling of the conduction and flow equations in TRAC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Addessio, F.L.

1981-01-01

Recent nuclear-reactor-systems modeling efforts have been directed toward the development of computer codes capable of simulating transients in short computational times. For this reason, a stability enhancing two-stem method (SETS) has been applied to the two-phase flow equations in the Transient Reactor Analysis Code (TRAC) allowing the Courant limit to be violated. Unfortunately, the coupling between the wall conduction equation and the fluid-dynamics equations is performed semi-implicitly, that is, the wall-heat transfer term, is evaluated using old-time heat-transfer coefficients and wall temperatures and new-time coolant temperatures. This coupling may lead to numerical instabilities at large time steps because of large variations in the heat-transfer coefficient in certain regimes of the boiling curve. Consequently, simply using new-time wall temperatures is not sufficient. A technique that also incorporates new-time heat-transfer coefficients must be used

Ion sampling and transport in Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry

Science.gov (United States)

Farnsworth, Paul B.; Spencer, Ross L.

2017-08-01

Quantitative accuracy and high sensitivity in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) depend on consistent and efficient extraction and transport of analyte ions from an inductively coupled plasma to a mass analyzer, where they are sorted and detected. In this review we examine the fundamental physical processes that control ion sampling and transport in ICP-MS and compare the results of theory and computerized models with experimental efforts to characterize the flow of ions through plasma mass spectrometers' vacuum interfaces. We trace the flow of ions from their generation in the plasma, into the sampling cone, through the supersonic expansion in the first vacuum stage, through the skimmer, and into the ion optics that deliver the ions to the mass analyzer. At each stage we consider idealized behavior and departures from ideal behavior that affect the performance of ICP-MS as an analytical tool.

Stretch-sensitive paresis and effort perception in hemiparesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Vinti, Maria; Bayle, Nicolas; Hutin, Emilie; Burke, David; Gracies, Jean-Michel

2015-08-01

In spastic paresis, stretch applied to the antagonist increases its inappropriate recruitment during agonist command (spastic co-contraction). It is unknown whether antagonist stretch: (1) also affects agonist recruitment; (2) alters effort perception. We quantified voluntary activation of ankle dorsiflexors, effort perception, and plantar flexor co-contraction during graded dorsiflexion efforts at two gastrocnemius lengths. Eighteen healthy (age 41 ± 13) and 18 hemiparetic (age 54 ± 12) subjects performed light, medium and maximal isometric dorsiflexion efforts with the knee flexed or extended. We determined dorsiflexor torque, Root Mean Square EMG and Agonist Recruitment/Co-contraction Indices (ARI/CCI) from the 500 ms peak voluntary agonist recruitment in a 5-s maximal isometric effort in tibialis anterior, soleus and medial gastrocnemius. Subjects retrospectively reported effort perception on a 10-point visual analog scale. During gastrocnemius stretch in hemiparetic subjects, we observed: (1) a 25 ± 7 % reduction of tibialis anterior voluntary activation (maximum reduction 98 %; knee extended vs knee flexed; p = 0.007, ANOVA); (2) an increase in dorsiflexion effort perception (p = 0.03, ANCOVA). Such changes did not occur in healthy subjects. Effort perception depended on tibialis anterior recruitment only (βARI(TA) = 0.61, p hemiparesis, voluntary ability to recruit agonist motoneurones is impaired--sometimes abolished--by antagonist stretch, a phenomenon defined here as stretch-sensitive paresis. In addition, spastic co-contraction increases effort perception, an additional incentive to evaluate and treat this phenomenon.

Spectroscopic studies of resonant coupling of silver optical antenna arrays to a near-surface quantum well

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gehl, Michael; Zandbergen, Sander; Gibson, Ricky; Nader, Nima; Sears, Jasmine; Keiffer, Patrick; Khitrova, Galina; Béchu, Muriel; Wegener, Martin; Hendrickson, Joshua

2014-01-01

The coupling of radiation emitted on semiconductor inter-band transitions to resonant optical-antenna arrays allows for enhanced light–matter interaction via the Purcell effect. Semiconductor optical gain also potentially allows for loss reduction in metamaterials. Here we extend our previous work on optically pumped individual near-surface InGaAs quantum wells coupled to silver split-ring-resonator arrays to wire and square-antenna arrays. By comparing the transient pump-probe experimental results with the predictions of a simple model, we find that the effective coupling is strongest for the split rings, even though the split rings have the weakest dipole moment. The effect of the latter must thus be overcompensated by a smaller effective mode volume of the split rings. Furthermore, we also present a systematic variation of the pump-pulse energy, which was fixed in our previous experiments. (paper)

Risk Factor Associated with Negative Spouse HIV Seroconversion among Sero-Different Couples: A Nested Case-Control Retrospective Survey Study in 30 Counties in Rural China.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Houlin Tang

Full Text Available Antiretroviral therapy (ART and condom use have been proven to reduce the risk of sexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV among HIV sero-different couples, but its full implementation remains a challenge. This study aims to assess HIV seroconversion rate of HIV-negative spouse and its associated risk factors among HIV sero-different couples in rural China.An open cohort of HIV sero-different couples enrolled in 30 counties in China between October 1, 2010, and September 30, 2012, and followed-up to December 31, 2012, was constructed retrospectively. A nested case-control study of risk factors of HIV seroconversion among sero-different couples was conducted in April and May of 2013, based on the open cohort. Sero-different couples with the HIV-negative spouse seroconverting at least 3 months after the previous negative diagnosis during cohort observation period were labeled as "case couples". The "control couples" were selected randomly from the same cohort that did not have the HIV-negative spouse seroconversion during the same period. The "case couples" and "control couples" were matched on gender, age, and region of residence. Sexual behaviors among HIV sero-different couples before and after the index spouses notifying their HIV infection status to their HIV-negative spouses were collected via face-to-face interview. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to assess factors associated with HIV seroconversion among HIV sero-different couples.Of 4481 HIV sero-different couples, a total of 53 seroconversions were observed within 5218 person-years of follow-up. The incidence rate was 1.02 (95%CI: 0.76-1.33 per 100 person-years. Forty "case couples" confirmed HIV-negative spouse seroconversions infected via marital sexual transmission, were matched to 80 "control couples". Of the 120 couples, 81(67.5% were receiving ART, and 70 (58.3% reported consistently used condoms during intercourse after the index

Risk Factor Associated with Negative Spouse HIV Seroconversion among Sero-Different Couples: A Nested Case-Control Retrospective Survey Study in 30 Counties in Rural China.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Houlin; Wu, Zunyou; Mao, Yurong; Cepeda, Javier; Morano, Jamie

2016-01-01

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) and condom use have been proven to reduce the risk of sexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among HIV sero-different couples, but its full implementation remains a challenge. This study aims to assess HIV seroconversion rate of HIV-negative spouse and its associated risk factors among HIV sero-different couples in rural China. An open cohort of HIV sero-different couples enrolled in 30 counties in China between October 1, 2010, and September 30, 2012, and followed-up to December 31, 2012, was constructed retrospectively. A nested case-control study of risk factors of HIV seroconversion among sero-different couples was conducted in April and May of 2013, based on the open cohort. Sero-different couples with the HIV-negative spouse seroconverting at least 3 months after the previous negative diagnosis during cohort observation period were labeled as "case couples". The "control couples" were selected randomly from the same cohort that did not have the HIV-negative spouse seroconversion during the same period. The "case couples" and "control couples" were matched on gender, age, and region of residence. Sexual behaviors among HIV sero-different couples before and after the index spouses notifying their HIV infection status to their HIV-negative spouses were collected via face-to-face interview. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to assess factors associated with HIV seroconversion among HIV sero-different couples. Of 4481 HIV sero-different couples, a total of 53 seroconversions were observed within 5218 person-years of follow-up. The incidence rate was 1.02 (95%CI: 0.76-1.33) per 100 person-years. Forty "case couples" confirmed HIV-negative spouse seroconversions infected via marital sexual transmission, were matched to 80 "control couples". Of the 120 couples, 81(67.5%) were receiving ART, and 70 (58.3%) reported consistently used condoms during intercourse after the index spouse was

Effort-Based Career Opportunities and Working Time

OpenAIRE

Bratti, M.; Staffolani, S.

2005-01-01

The authors evaluate the economic effects of the hypothesis of effort-based career opportunities, described as a situation in which a firm creates incentives for employees to work longer hours than bargained (or desired), by making career prospects depend on relative working hours. Firms' personnel management policies may tend to increase working time (or workers' effort) in order to maximize profits. Effort-based career opportunities raise working time, production and output per worker, and ...

How coupling affects closely packed rectenna arrays used for wireless power transmission

Science.gov (United States)

Walls, Deidra; Choi, Sang H.; Yoon, Hargsoon; Geddis, Demetris; Song, Kyo D.

2017-04-01

The development of power transmission by microwave beam power harvesting attracts manufactures for use of wireless power transmission. Optimizing maximum conversion efficiency is affected by many design parameters, and has been mainly focused previously. Combining several rectennas in one array potentially aides in the amount of microwave energy that can be harvested for energy conversion. Closely packed rectenna arrays is the result of the demand to minimize size and weight for flexibility. This paper specifically focuses on the coupling effects on power; mutual coupling, comparing sparameters and gain total while varying effective parameters. This paper investigates how coupling between each dipole positively and negatively affects the microwave energy, harvesting, and the design limitations.

Quantum thermodynamics of the resonant-level model with driven system-bath coupling

Science.gov (United States)

Haughian, Patrick; Esposito, Massimiliano; Schmidt, Thomas L.

2018-02-01

We study nonequilibrium thermodynamics in a fermionic resonant-level model with arbitrary coupling strength to a fermionic bath, taking the wide-band limit. In contrast to previous theories, we consider a system where both the level energy and the coupling strength depend explicitly on time. We find that, even in this generalized model, consistent thermodynamic laws can be obtained, up to the second order in the drive speed, by splitting the coupling energy symmetrically between system and bath. We define observables for the system energy, work, heat, and entropy, and calculate them using nonequilibrium Green's functions. We find that the observables fulfill the laws of thermodynamics, and connect smoothly to the known equilibrium results.

Simulation of the OECD Main-Steam-Line-Break Benchmark Exercise 3 Using the Coupled RELAP5/PANTHER Codes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schneidesch, Christophe R.; Zhang Jinzhao

2004-01-01

The RELAP5 best-estimate thermal-hydraulic system code has been coupled with the PANTHER three-dimensional neutron kinetics code via the TALINK dynamic data exchange control and processing tool. The coupled RELAP5/PANTHER code package has been qualified and will be used at Tractebel Engineering (TE) for analyzing asymmetric pressurized water reactor (PWR) accidents with strong core-system interactions. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development/U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission PWR main-steam-line-break benchmark problem was analyzed as part of the qualification efforts to demonstrate the capability of the coupled code package of simulating such transients. This paper reports the main results of TE's contribution to the benchmark Exercise 3

Intermediate coupling collision strengths from LS coupled R-matrix elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clark, R.E.H.

1978-01-01

Fine structure collision strength for transitions between two groups of states in intermediate coupling and with inclusion of configuration mixing are obtained from LS coupled reactance matrix elements (R-matrix elements) and a set of mixing coefficients. The LS coupled R-matrix elements are transformed to pair coupling using Wigner 6-j coefficients. From these pair coupled R-matrix elements together with a set of mixing coefficients, R-matrix elements are obtained which include the intermediate coupling and configuration mixing effects. Finally, from the latter R-matrix elements, collision strengths for fine structure transitions are computed (with inclusion of both intermediate coupling and configuration mixing). (Auth.)

Rigid-flexible coupling dynamics of three-dimensional hub-beams system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Jinyang; Lu Hao

2007-01-01

In the previous research of the coupling dynamics of a hub-beam system, coupling between the rotational motion of hub and the torsion deformation of beam is not taken into account since the system undergoes planar motion. Due to the small longitudinal deformation, coupling between the rotational motion of hub and the longitudinal deformation of beam is also neglected. In this paper, rigid-flexible coupling dynamics is extended to a hub-beams system with three-dimensional large overall motion. Not only coupling between the large overall motion and the bending deformation, but also coupling between the large overall motion and the torsional deformation are taken into account. In case of temperature increase, the longitudinal deformation caused by the thermal expansion is significant, such that coupling between the large overall motion and the longitudinal deformation is also investigated. Combining the characteristics of the hybrid coordinate formulation and the absolute nodal coordinate formulation, the system generalized coordinates include the relative nodal displacement and the slope of each beam element with respect to the body-fixed frame of the hub, and the variables related to the spatial large overall motion of the hub and beams. Based on precise strain-displacement relation, the geometric stiffening effect is taken into account, and the rigid-flexible coupling dynamic equations are derived using velocity variational principle. Finite element method is employed for discretization. Simulation of a hub-beams system is used to show the coupling effect between the large overall motion and the torsional deformation as well as the longitudinal deformation. Furthermore, conservation of energy in case of free motion is shown to verify the formulation

Growth of perturbations in dark matter coupled with quintessence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koivisto, Tomi

2005-01-01

We consider the evolution of linear perturbations in models with a nonminimal coupling between dark matter and scalar field dark energy. Growth of matter inhomogeneities in two examples of such models proposed in the literature are investigated in detail. Both of these models are based on a low-energy limit of effective string theory action, and have been previously shown to naturally lead to late acceleration of the Universe. However, we find that these models can be ruled out by taking properly into account the impact of the scalar field coupling on the formation of structure in the dark matter density. In particular, when the transition to acceleration in these models begins, the interaction with dark energy enhances the small scale clustering in dark matter much too strongly. We discuss also the role of an effective small scale sound speed squared and the issue of adiabatic initial conditions in models with a coupled dark sector

Constraints on Anomalous Quartic Gauge Boson Couplings from $\

CERN Document Server

Abbiendi, G; Åkesson, P F; Alexander, G; Allison, J; Amaral, P; Anagnostou, G; Anderson, K J; Asai, S; Axen, D A; Azuelos, Georges; Bailey, I; Barberio, E; Barillari, T; Barlow, R J; Batley, J Richard; Bechtle, P; Behnke, T; Bell, K W; Bell, P J; Bella, G; Bellerive, A; Benelli, G; Bethke, Siegfried; Biebel, O; Boeriu, O; Bock, P; Boutemeur, M; Braibant, S; Brigliadori, L; Brown, R M; Büsser, K; Burckhart, H J; Campana, S; Carnegie, R K; Carter, A A; Carter, J R; Chang, C Y; Charlton, D G; Ciocca, C; Csilling, Akos; Cuffiani, M; Dado, S; de Roeck, A; De Wolf, E A; Desch, Klaus; Dienes, B; Donkers, M; Dubbert, J; Duchovni, E; Duckeck, G; Duerdoth, I P; Etzion, E; Fabbri, Franco Luigi; Feld, L; Ferrari, P; Fiedler, F; Fleck, I; Ford, M; Frey, A; Gagnon, P; Gary, J W; Gaycken, G; Geich-Gimbel, C; Giacomelli, G; Giacomelli, P; Giunta, M; Goldberg, J; Gross, E; Grunhaus, Jacob; Gruwé, M; Günther, P O; Sen-Gupta, A; Hajdu, C; Hamann, M; Hanson, G G; Harel, A; Hauschild, M; Hawkes, C M; Hawkings, R; Hemingway, Richard J; Herten, G; Heuer, R D; Hill, J C; Hoffman, K; Horváth, D; Igo-Kemenes, P; Ishii, K; Jeremie, H; Jovanovic, P; Junk, T R; Kanaya, N; Kanzaki, J; Karlen, Dean A; Kawagoe, K; Kawamoto, T; Keeler, Richard K; Kellogg, R G; Kennedy, B W; Kluth, S; Kobayashi, T; Kobel, M; Komamiya, S; Kramer, T; Krieger, P; Von Krogh, J; Krüger, K; Kühl, T; Kupper, M; Lafferty, G D; Landsman, Hagar Yaël; Lanske, D; Layter, J G; Lellouch, D; Letts, J; Levinson, L; Lillich, J; Lloyd, S L; Loebinger, F K; Lü, J; Ludwig, A; Ludwig, J; Mader, W; Marcellini, S; Martin, A J; Masetti, G; Mashimo, T; Mättig, P; McKenna, J A; McPherson, R A; Meijers, F; Menges, W; Merritt, F S; Mes, H; Meyer, N; Michelini, Aldo; Mihara, S; Mikenberg, G; Miller, D J; Moed, S; Mohr, W; Mori, T; Mutter, A; Nagai, K; Nakamura, I; Nanjo, H; Neal, H A; Nisius, R; O'Neale, S W; Oh, A; Oreglia, M J; Orito, S; Pahl, C; Pásztor, G; Pater, J R; Pilcher, J E; Pinfold, J L; Plane, D E; Poli, B; Pooth, O; Przybycien, M B; Quadt, A; Rabbertz, K; Rembser, C; Renkel, P; Roney, J M; Rozen, Y; Runge, K; Sachs, K; Saeki, T; Sarkisyan-Grinbaum, E; Schaile, A D; Schaile, O; Scharff-Hansen, P; Schieck, J; Schörner-Sadenius, T; Schröder, M; Schumacher, M; Scott, W G; Seuster, R; Shears, T G; Shen, B C; Sherwood, P; Skuja, A; Smith, A M; Sobie, R J; Söldner-Rembold, S; Spanó, F; Stahl, A; Strom, D; Ströhmer, R; Tarem, S; Tasevsky, M; Teuscher, R; Thomson, M A; Torrence, E; Toya, D; Tran, P; Trigger, I; Trócsányi, Z L; Tsur, E; Turner-Watson, M F; Ueda, I; Ujvári, B; Vollmer, C F; Vannerem, P; Vertesi, R; Verzocchi, M; Voss, H; Vossebeld, Joost Herman; Ward, C P; Ward, D R; Watkins, P M; Watson, A T; Watson, N K; Wells, P S; Wengler, T; Wermes, N; Wilson, G W; Wilson, J A; Wolf, G; Wyatt, T R; Yamashita, S; Zer-Zion, D; Zivkovic, L

2004-01-01

Anomalous quartic couplings between the electroweak gauge bosons may contribute to the vv gamma gamma and qq gamma gamma final states produced in e+e- collisions. This analysis uses the LEP2 OPAL data sample at centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV. Event selections identify vv gamma gamma and qq gamma gamma events in which the two photons are reconstructed within the detector acceptance. The cross-section for the process e+e- -> qq gamma gamma is measured. Averaging over all energies, the ratio of the observed e+e- -> qq gamma gamma cross-section to the Standard Model expectation is R(data/SM) = 0.92 +- 0.07 +- 0.04 where the errors represent the statistical and systematic uncertainties respectively. The vv gamma gamma and qq gamma gamma data are used to constrain possible anomalous W+W- gamma gamma and ZZ gamma gamma couplings. Combining with previous OPAL results from the W+W- gamma final state, the 95% confidence level limits on the anomalous coupling parameters aoz, acz, aow and acw are found to be: -0.0...

Rigid Body Sampling and Individual Time Stepping for Rigid-Fluid Coupling of Fluid Simulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaokun Wang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we propose an efficient and simple rigid-fluid coupling scheme with scientific programming algorithms for particle-based fluid simulation and three-dimensional visualization. Our approach samples the surface of rigid bodies with boundary particles that interact with fluids. It contains two procedures, that is, surface sampling and sampling relaxation, which insures uniform distribution of particles with less iterations. Furthermore, we present a rigid-fluid coupling scheme integrating individual time stepping to rigid-fluid coupling, which gains an obvious speedup compared to previous method. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

X-ray active mirror coupled with a Hartmann wavefront sensor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Idir, Mourad; Mercere, Pascal; Modi, Mohammed H.; Dovillaire, Guillaume; Levecq, Xavier; Bucourt, Samuel; Escolano, Lionel; Sauvageot, Paul

2010-01-01

This paper reports on the design and performances of a test prototype active X-ray mirror (AXM) which has been designed and manufactured in collaboration with the French Small and Medium Enterprise mechanical company ISP System for the national French storage ring SOLEIL. Coupled with this active X-ray mirror and also in collaboration with another French Small and Medium Enterprise (Imagine Optic) a lot of efforts have been done in order to design and fabricate a wavefront X-ray analyzer based on the Hartmann principle (Hartman wavefront sensor, HWS).

An overview of the fire risk scoping study objectives, approach, findings and follow-on efforts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nowlen, S.P.; Lambright, J.A.; Nicolette, V.F.; Bohn, M.P.

1989-01-01

The Fire Risk Scoping Study was sponsored by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and performed at Sandia National Laboratories. The study was initiated as a result of previous USNRC-sponsored fire research efforts that had identified certain fire risk issues which had not been addressed in previously completed commercial nuclear power plant fire risk analyses. The specific objectives of this study were (1) to review and requantify fire risk scenarios from four fire probabilistic risk assessments (PRAs) in light of updated data bases made available as a result of USNRC sponsored Fire Protection Research Program and updated computer fire modeling capabilities, (2) to identify potentially significant fire risk issues that have not been previously addressed in a fire risk context and to quantify the potential impact of those identified fire risk issues where possible, and (3) to review current fire regulations and plant implementation practices for relevance to the identified unaddressed fire risk issues. 8 refs., 2 tabs

Trust and Reciprocity: Are Effort and Money Equivalent?

Science.gov (United States)

Vilares, Iris; Dam, Gregory; Kording, Konrad

2011-01-01

Trust and reciprocity facilitate cooperation and are relevant to virtually all human interactions. They are typically studied using trust games: one subject gives (entrusts) money to another subject, which may return some of the proceeds (reciprocate). Currently, however, it is unclear whether trust and reciprocity in monetary transactions are similar in other settings, such as physical effort. Trust and reciprocity of physical effort are important as many everyday decisions imply an exchange of physical effort, and such exchange is central to labor relations. Here we studied a trust game based on physical effort and compared the results with those of a computationally equivalent monetary trust game. We found no significant difference between effort and money conditions in both the amount trusted and the quantity reciprocated. Moreover, there is a high positive correlation in subjects' behavior across conditions. This suggests that trust and reciprocity may be character traits: subjects that are trustful/trustworthy in monetary settings behave similarly during exchanges of physical effort. Our results validate the use of trust games to study exchanges in physical effort and to characterize inter-subject differences in trust and reciprocity, and also suggest a new behavioral paradigm to study these differences. PMID:21364931

Inference of Time-Evolving Coupled Dynamical Systems in the Presence of Noise

Science.gov (United States)

Stankovski, Tomislav; Duggento, Andrea; McClintock, Peter V. E.; Stefanovska, Aneta

2012-07-01

A new method is introduced for analysis of interactions between time-dependent coupled oscillators, based on the signals they generate. It distinguishes unsynchronized dynamics from noise-induced phase slips and enables the evolution of the coupling functions and other parameters to be followed. It is based on phase dynamics, with Bayesian inference of the time-evolving parameters achieved by shaping the prior densities to incorporate knowledge of previous samples. The method is tested numerically and applied to reveal and quantify the time-varying nature of cardiorespiratory interactions.

Perceived effort for motor control and decision-making.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ignasi Cos

2017-08-01

Full Text Available How effort is internally quantified and how it influences both movement generation and decisions between potential movements are 2 difficult questions to answer. Physical costs are known to influence motor control and decision-making, yet we lack a general, principled characterization of how the perception of effort operates across tasks and conditions. Morel and colleagues introduce an insightful approach to that end, assessing effort indifference points and presenting a quadratic law between perceived effort and force production.

Precise strength of the πNN coupling constant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ericson, T.E.O.; Loiseau, B.; Rahm, J.; Blomgren, J.; Olsson, N.; Thomas, A. W.

1999-01-01

We report here a preliminary value for the πNN coupling constant deduced from the Goldberger-Miyazawa-Oehme sum rule for forward πN scattering. As in our previous determination from np backward differential scattering cross sections we give a critical discussion of the analysis with careful attention not only to the statistical, but also to the systematic uncertainties. Our preliminary evaluation gives g 2 c =13.99(24)

Biological-Physical Coupling in the Gulf of Maine: Satellite and Model Studies of Phytoplankton Variability

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Andrew C.; Chai, F.; Townsend, D. W.; Xue, H.

2002-01-01

The goals of this project were to acquire, process, QC, archive and analyze SeaWiFS chlorophyll fields over the Gulf of Maine and Scotia Shelf region. The focus of the analysis effort was to calculate and quantify seasonality and interannual. variability of SeaWiFS-measured phytoplankton biomass in the study area and compare these to physical forcing and hydrography. An additional focus within this effort was on regional differences within the heterogeneous biophysical regions of the Gulf of Maine / Scotia Shelf. Overall goals were approached through the combined use of SeaWiFS and AVHRR data and the development of a coupled biology-physical numerical model.

Temperature dependence of interlayer coupling in perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions with GdOX barriers

Science.gov (United States)

Newhouse-Illige, T.; Xu, Y. H.; Liu, Y. H.; Huang, S.; Kato, H.; Bi, C.; Xu, M.; LeRoy, B. J.; Wang, W. G.

2018-02-01

Perpendicular magnetic tunnel junctions with GdOX tunneling barriers have shown a unique voltage controllable interlayer magnetic coupling effect. Here, we investigate the quality of the GdOX barrier and the coupling mechanism in these junctions by examining the temperature dependence of the tunneling magnetoresistance and the interlayer coupling from room temperature down to 11 K. The barrier is shown to be of good quality with the spin independent conductance only contributing a small portion, 14%, to the total room temperature conductance, similar to AlOX and MgO barriers. The interlayer coupling, however, shows an anomalously strong temperature dependence including sign changes below 80 K. This non-trivial temperature dependence is not described by previous models of interlayer coupling and may be due to the large induced magnetic moment of the Gd ions in the barrier.

Multipole analyses and photo-decay couplings at intermediate energies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Workman, R.L.; Arndt, R.A.; Zhujun Li

1992-01-01

The authors describe the results of several multipole analyses of pion-photoproduction data to 2 GeV in the lab photon energy. Comparisons are made with previous analyses. The photo-decay couplings for the delta are examined in detail. Problems in the representation of photoproduction data are discussed, with an emphasis on the recent LEGS data. 16 refs., 4 tabs

Phase transitions in least-effort communications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prokopenko, Mikhail; Ay, Nihat; Obst, Oliver; Polani, Daniel

2010-01-01

We critically examine a model that attempts to explain the emergence of power laws (e.g., Zipf's law) in human language. The model is based on the principle of least effort in communications—specifically, the overall effort is balanced between the speaker effort and listener effort, with some trade-off. It has been shown that an information-theoretic interpretation of this principle is sufficiently rich to explain the emergence of Zipf's law in the vicinity of the transition between referentially useless systems (one signal for all referable objects) and indexical reference systems (one signal per object). The phase transition is defined in the space of communication accuracy (information content) expressed in terms of the trade-off parameter. Our study explicitly solves the continuous optimization problem, subsuming a recent, more specific result obtained within a discrete space. The obtained results contrast Zipf's law found by heuristic search (that attained only local minima) in the vicinity of the transition between referentially useless systems and indexical reference systems, with an inverse-factorial (sub-logarithmic) law found at the transition that corresponds to global minima. The inverse-factorial law is observed to be the most representative frequency distribution among optimal solutions

Men's Work Efforts and the Transition to Fatherhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Astone, Nan Marie; Dariotis, Jacinda; Sonenstein, Freya; Pleck, Joseph H; Hynes, Kathryn

2010-03-01

In this paper we tested three hypotheses: (a) the transition to fatherhood is associated with an increase in work effort; (b) the positive association (if any) between the transition to fatherhood and work effort is greater for fathers who are married at the time of the transition; and (c) the association (if any) is greater for men who make the transition at younger ages. The data are from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Cohort. The transition to fatherhood was associated with an increase in work effort among young unmarried men, but not for married men. Among married men who were on-time fathers, work effort decreased. Among childless men, the marriage transition was associated with increased work effort.

Pure spin current manipulation in antiferromagnetically exchange coupled heterostructures

Science.gov (United States)

Avilés-Félix, L.; Butera, A.; González-Chávez, D. E.; Sommer, R. L.; Gómez, J. E.

2018-03-01

We present a model to describe the spin currents generated by ferromagnet/spacer/ferromagnet exchange coupled trilayer systems and heavy metal layers with strong spin-orbit coupling. By exploiting the magnitude of the exchange coupling (oscillatory RKKY-like coupling) and the spin-flop transition in the magnetization process, it has been possible to produce spin currents polarized in arbitrary directions. The spin-flop transition of the trilayer system originates pure spin currents whose polarization vector depends on the exchange field and the magnetization equilibrium angles. We also discuss a protocol to control the polarization sign of the pure spin current injected into the metallic layer by changing the initial conditions of magnetization of the ferromagnetic layers previously to the spin pumping and inverse spin Hall effect experiments. The small differences in the ferromagnetic layers lead to a change in the magnetization vector rotation that permits the control of the sign of the induced voltage components due to the inverse spin Hall effect. Our results can lead to important advances in hybrid spintronic devices with new functionalities, particularly, the ability to control microscopic parameters such as the polarization direction and the sign of the pure spin current through the variation of macroscopic parameters, such as the external magnetic field or the thickness of the spacer in antiferromagnetic exchange coupled systems.

Coupling nanoliter high-performance liquid chromatography to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for arsenic speciation.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Heyong; Shen, Lihuan; Liu, Jinhua; Xu, Zigang; Wang, Yuanchao

2018-04-01

Nanoliter high-performance liquid chromatography shows low consumption of solvents and samples, offering one of the best choices for arsenic speciation in precious samples in combination with inuctively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. A systematic investigation on coupling nanoliter high-performance liquid chromatography to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry from instrument design to injected sample volume and mobile phase was performed in this study. Nanoflow mobile phase was delivered by flow splitting using a conventional high-pressure pump with reuse of mobile phase waste. Dead volume was minimized to 60 nL for the sheathless interface based on the previously developed nanonebulizer. Capillary columns for nanoliter high-performance liquid chromatography were found to be sensitive to sample loading volume. An apparent difference was also found between the mobile phases for nanoliter and conventional high-performance liquid chromatography. Baseline separation of arsenite, arsenate, monomethylarsenic, and dimethylarsenic was achieved within 11 min on a 15 cm C 18 capillary column and within 12 min on a 25 cm strong anion exchange column. Detection limits of 0.9-1.8 μg/L were obtained with precisions variable in the range of 1.6-4.2%. A good agreement between determined and certified values of a certified reference material of human urine (GBW 09115) validated its accuracy along with good recoveries (87-102%). © 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Not all effort is equal: the role of the anterior cingulate cortex in different forms of effort-reward decisions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victoria eHolec

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The rat anterior cingulate cortex (ACC mediates effort-based decision making when the task requires the physical effort of climbing a ramp. Normal rats will readily climb a barrier leading to high reward whereas rats with ACC lesions will opt instead for an easily obtained small reward. The present study explored whether the role of ACC in cost-benefit decisions extends beyond climbing by testing its role in ramp climbing as well as two novel cost-benefit decision tasks, one involving the physical effort of lifting weights and the other the emotional cost of overcoming fear (i.e., courage. As expected, rats with extensive ACC lesions tested on a ramp-climbing task were less likely to choose a high-reward/high-effort arm than sham controls. However, during the first few trials, lesioned rats were as likely as controls to initially turn into the high-reward arm but far less likely to actually climb the barrier, suggesting that the role of the ACC is not in deciding which course of action to pursue, but rather in maintaining a course of action in the face of countervailing forces. In the effort-reward decision task involving weight lifting, some lesion animals behaved like controls while others avoided the high reward arm. However, the results were not statistically significant and a follow-up study using incremental increasing effort failed to show any difference between lesion and control groups. The results suggest that the ACC is not needed for effort-reward decisions involving weight lifting but may affect motor abilities. Finally, a courage task explored the willingness of rats to overcome the fear of crossing an open, exposed arm to obtain a high reward. Both sham and ACC-lesioned animals exhibited equal tendencies to enter the open arm. However, whereas sham animals gradually improved on the task, ACC-lesioned rats did not. Taken together, the results suggest that the role of the ACC in effort-reward decisions may be limited to certain

Using the Model Coupling Toolkit to couple earth system models

Science.gov (United States)

Warner, J.C.; Perlin, N.; Skyllingstad, E.D.

2008-01-01

Continued advances in computational resources are providing the opportunity to operate more sophisticated numerical models. Additionally, there is an increasing demand for multidisciplinary studies that include interactions between different physical processes. Therefore there is a strong desire to develop coupled modeling systems that utilize existing models and allow efficient data exchange and model control. The basic system would entail model "1" running on "M" processors and model "2" running on "N" processors, with efficient exchange of model fields at predetermined synchronization intervals. Here we demonstrate two coupled systems: the coupling of the ocean circulation model Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) to the surface wave model Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN), and the coupling of ROMS to the atmospheric model Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Prediction System (COAMPS). Both coupled systems use the Model Coupling Toolkit (MCT) as a mechanism for operation control and inter-model distributed memory transfer of model variables. In this paper we describe requirements and other options for model coupling, explain the MCT library, ROMS, SWAN and COAMPS models, methods for grid decomposition and sparse matrix interpolation, and provide an example from each coupled system. Methods presented in this paper are clearly applicable for coupling of other types of models. ?? 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Electron phonon couplings in 2D perovskite probed by ultrafast photoinduced absorption spectroscopy

Science.gov (United States)

Huynh, Uyen; Ni, Limeng; Rao, Akshay

We use the time-resolved photoinduced absorption (PIA) spectroscopy with 20fs time resolution to investigate the electron phonon coupling in the self-assembled hybrid organic layered perovskite, the hexyl ammonium lead iodide compound (C6H13NH3)2 (PbI4) . The coupling results in the broadening and asymmetry of its temperature-dependence photoluminescence spectra. The exact time scale of this coupling, however, wasn't reported experimentally. Here we show that using an ultrashort excitation pulse allows us to resolve from PIA kinetics the oscillation of coherent longitudinal optical phonons that relaxes and self-traps electrons to lower energy states within 200 fs. The 200fs relaxation time is equivalent to a coupling strength of 40meV. Two coupled phonon modes are also identified as about 100 cm-1 and 300 cm-1 from the FFT spectrum of the PIA kinetics. The lower energy mode is consistent with previous reports and Raman spectrum but the higher energy one hasn't been observed before.

Coupled assimilation for an intermediated coupled ENSO prediction model

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Fei; Zhu, Jiang

2010-10-01

The value of coupled assimilation is discussed using an intermediate coupled model in which the wind stress is the only atmospheric state which is slavery to model sea surface temperature (SST). In the coupled assimilation analysis, based on the coupled wind-ocean state covariance calculated from the coupled state ensemble, the ocean state is adjusted by assimilating wind data using the ensemble Kalman filter. As revealed by a series of assimilation experiments using simulated observations, the coupled assimilation of wind observations yields better results than the assimilation of SST observations. Specifically, the coupled assimilation of wind observations can help to improve the accuracy of the surface and subsurface currents because the correlation between the wind and ocean currents is stronger than that between SST and ocean currents in the equatorial Pacific. Thus, the coupled assimilation of wind data can decrease the initial condition errors in the surface/subsurface currents that can significantly contribute to SST forecast errors. The value of the coupled assimilation of wind observations is further demonstrated by comparing the prediction skills of three 12-year (1997-2008) hindcast experiments initialized by the ocean-only assimilation scheme that assimilates SST observations, the coupled assimilation scheme that assimilates wind observations, and a nudging scheme that nudges the observed wind stress data, respectively. The prediction skills of two assimilation schemes are significantly better than those of the nudging scheme. The prediction skills of assimilating wind observations are better than assimilating SST observations. Assimilating wind observations for the 2007/2008 La Niña event triggers better predictions, while assimilating SST observations fails to provide an early warning for that event.

Phase-space curvature in spin-orbit-coupled ultracold atomic systems

Science.gov (United States)

Armaitis, J.; Ruseckas, J.; Anisimovas, E.

2017-04-01

We consider a system with spin-orbit coupling and derive equations of motion which include the effects of Berry curvatures. We apply these equations to investigate the dynamics of particles with equal Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling in one dimension. In our derivation, the adiabatic transformation is performed first and leads to quantum Heisenberg equations of motion for momentum and position operators. These equations explicitly contain position-space, momentum-space, and phase-space Berry curvature terms. Subsequently, we perform the semiclassical approximation and obtain the semiclassical equations of motion. Taking the low-Berry-curvature limit results in equations that can be directly compared to previous results for the motion of wave packets. Finally, we show that in the semiclassical regime, the effective mass of the equal Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit-coupled system can be viewed as a direct effect of the phase-space Berry curvature.

Effect of Turbulence on Power for Bend-Twist Coupled Blades

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Stäblein, Alexander; Hansen, Morten Hartvig

2016-01-01

that it might be related to the dynamic response of bend-twist coupled blades in turbulent flow. This paper contains estimations of the power curve from nonlinear time simulations, a linear frequency domain based method and a normal distribution weighted average method. It is shown that the frequency domain...... that changes in power due to turbulence are similar for coupled and uncoupled blades. Power gains at low wind speeds are related to the curvature of the steady state power curve. Losses around rated wind speed are caused by the effects of controller switching between partial and full power operation.......Bend-twist coupling of wind turbine blades reduces the structural loads of the turbine but it also results in a decrease of the annual energy production. The main part of the power loss can be mitigated by pretwisting the blade, but some power loss remains and previous studies indicate...

Programming effort analysis of the ELLPACK language

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, J. R.

1978-01-01

ELLPACK is a problem statement language and system for elliptic partial differential equations which is implemented by a FORTRAN preprocessor. ELLPACK's principal purpose is as a tool for the performance evaluation of software. However, it is used here as an example with which to study the programming effort required for problem solving. It is obvious that problem statement languages can reduce programming effort tremendously; the goal is to quantify this somewhat. This is done by analyzing the lengths and effort (as measured by Halstead's software science technique) of various approaches to solving these problems.

Structural Characterisation of Acetogenins from Annona muricata by Supercritical Fluid Chromatography Coupled to High-Resolution Tandem Mass Spectrometry.

Science.gov (United States)

Laboureur, Laurent; Bonneau, Natacha; Champy, Pierre; Brunelle, Alain; Touboul, David

2017-11-01

Acetogenins are plant polyketides known to be cytotoxic and proposed as antitumor candidates. They are also suspected to be alimentary neurotoxins. Their occurrence as complex mixtures renders their dereplication and structural identification difficult using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry and efforts are required to improve the methodology. To develop a supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry method, involving lithium post-column cationisation, for the structural characterisation of Annonaceous acetogenins in crude extracts. The seeds of Annona muricata L. were extracted with methanol. Supercritical fluid chromatography of the extract, using a 2-ethylpyridine stationary phase column, was monitored using a high-resolution quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Lithium iodide was added post-column in the make-up solvent. For comparison, the same extract was analysed using high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled to the same mass spectrometer, with a column based on solid core particles. Sensitivity was similar for both HPLC and SFC approaches. Retention behaviour and fragmentation pathways of three different isomer groups are described. A previously unknown group of acetogenins was also evidenced for the first time. The use of SFC-MS/MS allows the reduction of the time of analysis, of environmental impact and an increase in the chromatographic resolution, compared to liquid chromatography. This new methodology enlightened a new group of acetogenins, isomers of montanacin-D. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Laparoscopy After Previous Laparotomy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zulfo Godinjak

2006-11-01

Full Text Available Following the abdominal surgery, extensive adhesions often occur and they can cause difficulties during laparoscopic operations. However, previous laparotomy is not considered to be a contraindication for laparoscopy. The aim of this study is to present that an insertion of Veres needle in the region of umbilicus is a safe method for creating a pneumoperitoneum for laparoscopic operations after previous laparotomy. In the last three years, we have performed 144 laparoscopic operations in patients that previously underwent one or two laparotomies. Pathology of digestive system, genital organs, Cesarean Section or abdominal war injuries were the most common causes of previouslaparotomy. During those operations or during entering into abdominal cavity we have not experienced any complications, while in 7 patients we performed conversion to laparotomy following the diagnostic laparoscopy. In all patients an insertion of Veres needle and trocar insertion in the umbilical region was performed, namely a technique of closed laparoscopy. Not even in one patient adhesions in the region of umbilicus were found, and no abdominal organs were injured.

Diffractive beam shaping, tracking and coupling for wave-guided optical waveguides (WOWs)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Villangca, Mark Jayson; Bañas, Andrew Rafael; Aabo, Thomas

2014-01-01

techniques to create multiple focal spots that can be coupled into light manipulated WOWs. This is done by using a spatial light modulator to project the necessary phase to generate the multiple coupling light spots. We incorporate a diffractive setup in our Biophotonics Workstation (BWS) and demonstrate......We have previously proposed and demonstrated the targeted-light delivery capability of wave-guided optical waveguides (WOWs). The full strength of this structure-mediated paradigm can be harnessed by addressing multiple WOWs and manipulating them to work in tandem. We propose the use of diffractive...

Application of numerical inverse method in calculation of composition-dependent interdiffusion coefficients in finite diffusion couples

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Yuanrong; Chen, Weimin; Zhong, Jing

2017-01-01

The previously developed numerical inverse method was applied to determine the composition-dependent interdiffusion coefficients in single-phase finite diffusion couples. The numerical inverse method was first validated in a fictitious binary finite diffusion couple by pre-assuming four standard...... sets of interdiffusion coefficients. After that, the numerical inverse method was then adopted in a ternary Al-Cu-Ni finite diffusion couple. Based on the measured composition profiles, the ternary interdiffusion coefficients along the entire diffusion path of the target ternary diffusion couple were...... obtained by using the numerical inverse approach. The comprehensive comparisons between the computations and the experiments indicate that the numerical inverse method is also applicable to high-throughput determination of the composition-dependent interdiffusion coefficients in finite diffusion couples....

Coupling a transient solvent extraction module with the separations and safeguards performance model.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

DePaoli, David W. (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN); Birdwell, Joseph F. (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN); Gauld, Ian C. (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN); Cipiti, Benjamin B.; de Almeida, Valmor F. (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN)

2009-10-01

A number of codes have been developed in the past for safeguards analysis, but many are dated, and no single code is able to cover all aspects of materials accountancy, process monitoring, and diversion scenario analysis. The purpose of this work was to integrate a transient solvent extraction simulation module developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with the Separations and Safeguards Performance Model (SSPM), developed at Sandia National Laboratory, as a first step toward creating a more versatile design and evaluation tool. The SSPM was designed for materials accountancy and process monitoring analyses, but previous versions of the code have included limited detail on the chemical processes, including chemical separations. The transient solvent extraction model is based on the ORNL SEPHIS code approach to consider solute build up in a bank of contactors in the PUREX process. Combined, these capabilities yield a more robust transient separations and safeguards model for evaluating safeguards system design. This coupling and initial results are presented. In addition, some observations toward further enhancement of separations and safeguards modeling based on this effort are provided, including: items to be addressed in integrating legacy codes, additional improvements needed for a fully functional solvent extraction module, and recommendations for future integration of other chemical process modules.

Assessment of covalent bond formation between coupling agents and wood by FTIR spectroscopy and pull strength tests

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Jonas Stensgaard; Barsberg, Søren Talbro; Venås, Thomas Mark

2014-01-01

In the focus was the question whether metal alkoxide coupling agents – titanium, silane, and zirconium – form covalent bonds to wood and how they improve coating adhesion. In a previous work, a downshift of the lignin infrared (IR) band ∼1600 cm-1 was shown to be consistent with the formation...... of ether linkages between lignin and titanium coupling agent. In the present work, changes were found in the attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform IR (ATR-FTIR) spectra of lignin and wood mixed with silane, and titanium coupling agents, and to a lesser extent for a zirconium coupling agent...

Perceptions of smoking-related risk and worry among dual-smoker couples.

Science.gov (United States)

Ranby, Krista W; Lewis, Megan A; Toll, Benjamin A; Rohrbaugh, Michael J; Lipkus, Isaac M

2013-03-01

Quit rates are lower and relapse rates are higher for people in close relationships with a partner who smokes. Although desire to quit is often related to health concerns for one's self, much less is known about psychosocial factors associated with quitting in dual-smoker couples. This study investigated relations among beliefs about smoking and desire to quit from both partners' perspectives. We recruited 63 couples in which both partners smoke daily. Participants were aged 21-67 (M = 43.0, SD = 11.3) and had been smoking for 4-51 years (M = 22.9, SD = 11.3). Individuals' desire to quit related to worry about partner's health (r = .29, p belief that own smoking has caused partner physical harm (r = .38, p harm of smoking for oneself (r = .30, p scale) for their partner's help if they attempt to quit. Dual-smoker couples are at heightened health risks due to exposure to passive smoke and their own smoking. Partners' perceived risk and worry about the harms of smoking could be important leverage points for smoking cessation efforts. Interventions can be informed by considering both partners' beliefs and by helping partners develop plans for quitting and supporting each other.

Life-history traits in an evergreen Mediterranean oak respond differentially to previous experimental environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. M. Rey Benayas

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Living organisms respond both to current and previous environments, which can have important consequences on population dynamics. However, there is little experimental evidence based on long-term field studies of the effects of previous environments on the performance of individuals. We tested the hypothesis that trees that establish under different environmental conditions perform differently under similar post-establishment conditions. We used the slow-growing, evergreen Mediterranean oak Quercus ilex subsp. rotundifolia as target species. We analyzed the effects of previous environments, competition effects and tradeoffs among life-history traits (survival, growth, and reproduction. We enhanced seedling establishment for three years by reducing abiotic environmental harshness by means of summer irrigation and artificial shading in 12 experimental plots, while four plots remained as controls. Then these treatments were interrupted for ten years. Seedlings under ameliorated environmental conditions survived and grew faster during early establishment. During the post-management period, previous treatments 1 did not have any effect on survival, 2 experienced a slower above-ground growth, 3 decreased root biomass as indicated from reflectivity of Ground Penetration Radar, 4 increased acorn production mostly through a greater canopy volume and 5 increased acorn production effort. The trees exhibited a combination of effects related to acclimation for coping with abiotic stress and effects of intra-specific competition. In accordance with our hypothesis, tree performance overall depended on previous environmental conditions, and the response was different for different life-history traits. We recommend early management because it increased plot cover, shortened the time to attain sexual maturity and increased the amount of acorn production. Plots such as those assessed in this study may act as sources of propagules in deforested

Homicide and domestic violence. Are there different psychological profiles mediated by previous exerted on the victim?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Montserrat Yepes

2009-07-01

Full Text Available A sample of 46 men was evaluated with the DAPP (Questionnaire of Domestic Aggressor Psychological Profile. All were inmates convicted for various degrees of violence against their wives in different prisons. The sample was divided into three groups: homicides without previous violence against their wives (H (n=11, homicides with previous violence (VH (n=9 and domestic batterers without previous homicide attempts against their partners (B (n=26. The aim of the study was to analyze the possible existence of three different kinds of profiles and more specifically if it’s possible to obtain an independent profile for domestic homicides with previous episodes of violence against their wives. The results neither confirm the hypothesis as whole nor for the violent homicides. However, differences between groups were obtained in the admission and description of the facts, in the risk of future violence, in some sociodemographical characteristics (i.e., level of education, social status, in the couple relationship, in the dissatisfaction concerning the unachieved ideal woman, in the use of extreme physical force during the aggression, the time of the first aggression, the use of verbal threats during the aggression, explanation of the events to the family and the period of time between the beginning of the romantic relationship and the manifestation of violence. The implications of the results for the theoretical frameworks proposed and future research are discussed.

Dark matter as a Bose-Einstein Condensate: the relativistic non-minimally coupled case

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bettoni, Dario; Colombo, Mattia; Liberati, Stefano

2014-01-01

Bose-Einstein Condensates have been recently proposed as dark matter candidates. In order to characterize the phenomenology associated to such models, we extend previous investigations by studying the general case of a relativistic BEC on a curved background including a non-minimal coupling to curvature. In particular, we discuss the possibility of a two phase cosmological evolution: a cold dark matter-like phase at the large scales/early times and a condensed phase inside dark matter halos. During the first phase dark matter is described by a minimally coupled weakly self-interacting scalar field, while in the second one dark matter condensates and, we shall argue, develops as a consequence the non-minimal coupling. Finally, we discuss how such non-minimal coupling could provide a new mechanism to address cold dark matter paradigm issues at galactic scales

Time preferences, study effort, and academic performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Non, J.A.; Tempelaar, D.T.

2014-01-01

We analyze the relation between time preferences, study effort, and academic performance among first-year Business and Economics students. Time preferences are measured by stated preferences for an immediate payment over larger delayed payments. Data on study efforts are derived from an electronic

Effort problem of chemical pipelines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Okrajni, J.; Ciesla, M.; Mutwil, K. [Silesian Technical University, Katowice (Poland)

1998-12-31

The problem of the technical state assessment of the chemical pipelines working under mechanical and thermal loading has been shown in the paper. The pipelines effort after the long time operating period has been analysed. Material geometrical and loading conditions of the crack initiation and crack growth process in the chosen object has been discussed. Areas of the maximal effort have been determined. The material structure charges after the long time operating period have been described. Mechanisms of the crack initiation and crack growth in the pipeline elements have been analysed and mutual relations between the chemical and mechanical influences have been shown. (orig.) 16 refs.

Partnering Against Cancer Today: A Blueprint for Coordinating Efforts Through Communication Science

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

One of the hallmarks of the communication revolution over the past decade has been its support for participation, whether that be in the active engagement of patients searching the Web for answers to vital health questions, or in the collective energies of self-organizing communities through social media. At the same time, some of the major obstacles to achieving a full and equitable reach of evidence-based cancer control knowledge have been traced back to discontinuities in communication either within clinical care or the broader public awareness system. Communication scientists from the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the American Cancer Society joined forces in 2010 to investigate ways in which communication science can be used to improve coordination and enhance participation in cancer control for the nation. From 2010 to 2013, the three organizations worked together in 1) convening two meetings designed to assess the status of funded research in communication science, 2) completing a systematic review of literature published over the previous 10 years, and 3) authoring a blueprint for coordinated efforts using the implications of communication science. The blueprint consists of three major goals: first, to identify high-yield targets of opportunity using the health impact pyramid articulated by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director, Thomas Frieden; second, to leverage opportunities within the new communication environment, including the opportunities catalyzed by national efforts to create an infrastructure for evidence implementation through health information technology; and third, to assist in coordinating efforts across collaborative entities through participative media. PMID:24395998

A fully coupled air foil bearing model considering friction – Theory & experiment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

von Osmanski, Alexander Sebastian; Larsen, Jon Steffen; Santos, Ilmar

2017-01-01

The dynamics of air foil bearings (AFBs) are not yet fully captured by any model. The recent years have, however, seen promising results from nonlinear time domain models, and simultaneously coupled formulations are now available, avoiding the previous requirements for undesirably small time steps...

Science behind the scenes during Fossett's recent around-the-world ballooning effort

Science.gov (United States)

Showstack, Randy

“In my mind, there's no question. If you eliminate that one temporary setback, he completes the global,” Bob Rice said on August 17, exhausted after having slept little during the previous 8 ½ days of intensive weather forecasting and emotional roller coaster riding.As chief meteorologist for the Solo Spirit balloon trip, Rice helped to navigate 54-yearold balloonist and businessman Steve Fossett on his fourth attempt to circle the globe nonstop. During that effort, which began at 23:30 UTC on August 7 from Mendoza, Argentina, Fossett had floated 24,460 km—63% of the way around the world longitudinally-surpassing his previous world distance record of 16,674 km set in January 1997. His “roziere” balloon, a combination of gas and hot air, had risen or descended to avoid violent weather systems and winds that would blow him in the wrong direction, and to catch air currents that would push his vessel along. With the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and Australia behind him, only the wide Pacific Ocean lay in Fossett's path.

Perceived gender inequality in the couple relationship and musculoskeletal pain in middle-aged women and men.

Science.gov (United States)

Bohlin, Anna; Ahlgren, Christina; Hammarstrom, Anne; Gustafsson, Per E

2013-12-01

Musculoskeletal pain is a major health problem, especially in women, and is partially determined by psychosocial factors. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether gender inequality in the couple relationship was related to musculoskeletal pain. Participants (n=721; 364 women and 357 men) were all individuals living in a couple relationship in the Northern Swedish Cohort, a 26-year Swedish cohort study. Self-administered questionnaire data at age 42 years comprised perceived gender inequality in the couple relationship and musculoskeletal pain (in three locations, summarised into one score and median-split), concurrent demographic factors, psychological distress, and previous musculoskeletal pain at age 30 years. Associations were examined using logistic regression. Gender inequality was positively associated with symptoms of musculoskeletal pain in the total sample, remaining significant after addition of possible confounders and of previous musculoskeletal pain. Separate adjustment for concurrent psychological distress attenuated the association but not below significance. The association was present and of comparable strength in both women and men. Gender inequality in the couple relationship might contribute to the experience of musculoskeletal pain in both women and men. The results highlight the potential adverse bodily consequences of living in unequal relationships.

Improving emotion recognition systems by embedding cardiorespiratory coupling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Valenza, Gaetano; Lanatá, Antonio; Scilingo, Enzo Pasquale

2013-01-01

This work aims at showing improved performances of an emotion recognition system embedding information gathered from cardiorespiratory (CR) coupling. Here, we propose a novel methodology able to robustly identify up to 25 regions of a two-dimensional space model, namely the well-known circumplex model of affect (CMA). The novelty of embedding CR coupling information in an autonomic nervous system-based feature space better reveals the sympathetic activations upon emotional stimuli. A CR synchrogram analysis was used to quantify such a coupling in terms of number of heartbeats per respiratory period. Physiological data were gathered from 35 healthy subjects emotionally elicited by means of affective pictures of the international affective picture system database. In this study, we finely detected five levels of arousal and five levels of valence as well as the neutral state, whose combinations were used for identifying 25 different affective states in the CMA plane. We show that the inclusion of the bivariate CR measures in a previously developed system based only on monovariate measures of heart rate variability, respiration dynamics and electrodermal response dramatically increases the recognition accuracy of a quadratic discriminant classifier, obtaining more than 90% of correct classification per class. Finally, we propose a comprehensive description of the CR coupling during sympathetic elicitation adapting an existing theoretical nonlinear model with external driving. The theoretical idea behind this model is that the CR system is comprised of weakly coupled self-sustained oscillators that, when exposed to an external perturbation (i.e. sympathetic activity), becomes synchronized and less sensible to input variations. Given the demonstrated role of the CR coupling, this model can constitute a general tool which is easily embedded in other model-based emotion recognition systems. (paper)

I love you ... and heroin: care and collusion among drug-using couples

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Singer Merrill

2006-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Romantic partnerships between drug-using couples, when they are recognized at all, tend to be viewed as dysfunctional, unstable, utilitarian, and often violent. This study presents a more nuanced portrayal by describing the interpersonal dynamics of 10 heroin and cocaine-using couples from Hartford, Connecticut. Results These couples cared for each other similarly to the ways that non-drug-using couples care for their intimate partners. However, most also cared by helping each other avoid the symptoms of drug withdrawal. They did this by colluding with each other to procure and use drugs. Care and collusion in procuring and using drugs involved meanings and social practices that were constituted and reproduced by both partners in an interpersonal dynamic that was often overtly gendered. These gendered dynamics could be fluid and changed over time in response to altered circumstances and/or individual agency. They also were shaped by and interacted with long-standing historical, economic and socio-cultural forces including the persistent economic inequality, racism and other forms of structural violence endemic in the inner-city Hartford neighborhoods where these couples resided. As a result, these relationships offered both risk and protection from HIV, HCV and other health threats (e.g. arrest and violence. Conclusion A more complex and nuanced understanding of drug-using couples can be tapped for its potential in shaping prevention and intervention efforts. For example, drug treatment providers need to establish policies which recognize the existence and importance of interpersonal dynamics between drug users, and work with them to coordinate detoxification and treatment for both partners, whenever possible, as well as provide additional couples-oriented services in an integrated and comprehensive drug treatment system.

Quark model calculation of the parity violating NNπ coupling in the Weinberg-Salam model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Koerner, J.G.; Kramer, G.; Willrodt, J.

1978-10-01

We argue that there are no charged current contributions to the parity violating NNπ coupling except for small contributions from flavour symmetry breaking effects. From the neutral current product only the left-right chiral component contributes which is considerably enhanced due to gluon corrections and due to the lightness of current quark masses. The resulting parity violating NNπ coupling has a definite phase and is 10 times stronger than the value used previously in nuclear physics calculations. (orig.) [de

Application of the SALOME platform to the loose coupling of the CATHENA and ELOCA codes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhuchkova, A.

2012-01-01

Use of coupled codes for the safety analysis of nuclear power plants is highly desirable, as it permits multi-disciplinary studies of complex reactor behaviors and, in particular, accident simulations. The present work demonstrates the potential of the SALOME platform as an interface for creating integrated, multi-disciplinary simulations of reactor scenarios. For this purpose two codes currently in use within the Canadian nuclear industry, CATHENA and ELOCA, were coupled by means of SALOME. The coupled codes were used to model the Power Burst Facility (PBF)-CANDU Test, which was to test the thermal-mechanical behavior of PHWR (pressurized heavy water reactor) fuel during a simulated Large Loss-Of-Coolant Accident (LLOCA). The results of the SALOME-coupled simulations are compared with a previous analysis in which the two codes were coupled using a package of scripts. (author)

15 CFR 930.114 - Secretarial mediation efforts.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 15 Commerce and Foreign Trade 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Secretarial mediation efforts. 930.114... MANAGEMENT FEDERAL CONSISTENCY WITH APPROVED COASTAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS Secretarial Mediation § 930.114 Secretarial mediation efforts. (a) Following the close of the hearing, the hearing officer shall transmit the...

Effort and Selection Effects of Incentive Contracts

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bouwens, J.F.M.G.; van Lent, L.A.G.M.

2003-01-01

We show that the improved effort of employees associated with incentive contracts depends on the properties of the performance measures used in the contract.We also find that the power of incentives in the contract is only indirectly related to any improved employee effort.High powered incentive

Interface model coupling in fluid dynamics: application to two-phase flows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galie, Th.

2009-03-01

This thesis is devoted to the study of interface model coupling problems in space between different models of compressible flows. We consider one-dimensional problems where the interface is sharp, fixed and separating two regions of space corresponding to the two coupled models. Our goal is to define a coupling condition at the interface and to solve numerically the coupling problem with this condition. After a state of art on the interface model coupling of hyperbolic systems of conservation laws, we propose a new coupling condition by adding in the equations of the coupled problem a measure source term at the interface. We first suppose a given constant weight associated to this source term. Two Riemann solvers are developed and one of them is based on a relaxation approach preserving equilibrium solutions of the coupled problem. This relaxation method is then used in an optimization problem, defined by several motivations at the interface, which permits to calculate a time dynamical weight. In a second part, we develop an approached Riemann solver for a two-phase two-pressure model in the particular case of a two-phase isentropic flow. Such a model contains non conservative terms that we write under the form of measure source terms. The previous relaxation method is thus extended to the case of the two-phase two-pressure model with an a priori estimation of the non conservative term contributions. The method allows us to solve, in the next and last chapter, the coupling problem of a two-fluid two-pressure model with a drift-flux model thanks to the father model approach. (authors)

Age-Related Inter-region EEG Coupling Changes during the Control of Bottom-up and Top-down Attention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ling eLi

2015-12-01

Full Text Available We investigated age-related changes in electroencephalographic (EEG coupling of theta-, alpha-, and beta-frequency bands during bottom-up and top-down attention. Arrays were presented with either automatic pop-out (bottom-up or effortful search (top-down behavior to younger and older participants. The phase-locking value (PLV was used to estimate coupling strength between scalp recordings. Behavioral performance decreased with age, with a greater age-related decline in accuracy for the search than for the pop-out condition. Aging was associated with a declined coupling strength of theta and alpha frequency bands, with a greater age-related decline in whole-brain coupling values for the search than for the pop-out condition. Specifically, prefronto-frontal coupling in theta- and alpha-bands, fronto-parietal and parieto-occipital couplings in beta-band for younger group showed a right hemispheric dominance, which was reduced with aging to compensate for the inhibitory dysfunction. While pop-out target detection was mainly associated with greater parieto-occipital beta-coupling strength compared to search condition regardless of aging. Furthermore, prefronto-frontal coupling in theta-, alpha- and beta-bands, and parieto-occipital coupling in beta-band functioned as predictors of behavior for both groups. Taken together these findings provide evidence that prefronto-frontal coupling of theta-, alpha-, and beta-bands may serve as a possible basis of aging during visual attention, while parieto-occipital coupling in beta-band could serve for a bottom-up function and be vulnerable to top-down attention control for younger and older groups.

Preoperative screening: value of previous tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Macpherson, D S; Snow, R; Lofgren, R P

1990-12-15

To determine the frequency of tests done in the year before elective surgery that might substitute for preoperative screening tests and to determine the frequency of test results that change from a normal value to a value likely to alter perioperative management. Retrospective cohort analysis of computerized laboratory data (complete blood count, sodium, potassium, and creatinine levels, prothrombin time, and partial thromboplastin time). Urban tertiary care Veterans Affairs Hospital. Consecutive sample of 1109 patients who had elective surgery in 1988. At admission, 7549 preoperative tests were done, 47% of which duplicated tests performed in the previous year. Of 3096 previous results that were normal as defined by hospital reference range and done closest to the time of but before admission (median interval, 2 months), 13 (0.4%; 95% CI, 0.2% to 0.7%), repeat values were outside a range considered acceptable for surgery. Most of the abnormalities were predictable from the patient's history, and most were not noted in the medical record. Of 461 previous tests that were abnormal, 78 (17%; CI, 13% to 20%) repeat values at admission were outside a range considered acceptable for surgery (P less than 0.001, frequency of clinically important abnormalities of patients with normal previous results with those with abnormal previous results). Physicians evaluating patients preoperatively could safely substitute the previous test results analyzed in this study for preoperative screening tests if the previous tests are normal and no obvious indication for retesting is present.

Stochastic evolutionary dynamics in minimum-effort coordination games

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Kun; Cong, Rui; Wang, Long

2016-08-01

The minimum-effort coordination game draws recently more attention for the fact that human behavior in this social dilemma is often inconsistent with the predictions of classical game theory. Here, we combine evolutionary game theory and coalescence theory to investigate this game in finite populations. Both analytic results and individual-based simulations show that effort costs play a key role in the evolution of contribution levels, which is in good agreement with those observed experimentally. Besides well-mixed populations, set structured populations have also been taken into consideration. Therein we find that large number of sets and moderate migration rate greatly promote effort levels, especially for high effort costs.

Challenges in the care for consanguineous couples: an exploratory interview study among general practitioners and midwives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teeuw Marieke E

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background It is often suggested that an effort must be made to increase awareness among consanguineous couples of their reproductive risk, and to refer them for genetic counseling if needed. Primary care professionals are considered most appropriate for addressing the subject and identifying couples at risk during consultations in their practice. This Dutch study aims to explore the experiences, attitudes and beliefs of such professionals regarding their care for consanguineous couples. Methods Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with midwives and general practitioners. Results Although most primary care professionals considered it their task to inform couples about the risks of consanguinity, during consultations the topic was generally only briefly touched upon and quickly abandoned. Important reasons for this were professionals’ beliefs about religious and social values of couples, their low perception of the couples’ reproductive risk and expected limited feasibility of referral. Feelings of embarrassment regarding addressing consanguinity did not seem to play a significant role. Conclusions Primary care professional beliefs about their clients’ religious and social values, their attitudes toward the risk, and perceived limited options for referral seem to conflict with the professional norm to address the topic of consanguinity.

Casimir Interaction from Magnetically Coupled Eddy Currents

Science.gov (United States)

Intravaia, Francesco; Henkel, Carsten

2009-09-01

We study the quantum and thermal fluctuations of eddy (Foucault) currents in thick metallic plates. A Casimir interaction between two plates arises from the coupling via quasistatic magnetic fields. As a function of distance, the relevant eddy current modes cross over from a quantum to a thermal regime. These modes alone reproduce previously discussed thermal anomalies of the electromagnetic Casimir interaction between good conductors. In particular, they provide a physical picture for the Casimir entropy whose nonzero value at zero temperature arises from a correlated, glassy state.

Maintenance personnel performance simulation (MAPPS) model: overview and evaluation efforts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knee, H.E.; Haas, P.M.; Siegel, A.I.; Bartter, W.D.; Wolf, J.J.; Ryan, T.G.

1984-01-01

The development of the MAPPS model has been completed and the model is currently undergoing evaluation. These efforts are addressing a number of identified issues concerning practicality, acceptability, usefulness, and validity. Preliminary analysis of the evaluation data that has been collected indicates that MAPPS will provide comprehensive and reliable data for PRA purposes and for a number of other applications. The MAPPS computer simulation model provides the user with a sophisticated tool for gaining insights into tasks performed by NPP maintenance personnel. Its wide variety of input parameters and output data makes it extremely flexible for application to a number of diverse applications. With the demonstration of favorable model evaluation results, the MAPPS model will represent a valuable source of NPP maintainer reliability data and provide PRA studies with a source of data on maintainers that has previously not existed

A nonlinear magnetoelectric model for magnetoelectric layered composite with coupling stress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shi, Yang; Gao, Yuanwen

2014-01-01

Based on a linear piezoelectric relation and a nonlinear magnetostrictive constitutive relation, A nonlinear magnetoelectric (ME) effect model for flexural layered ME composites is established in in-plane magnetic field. In the proposed model, the true coupling stress and the equivalent piezomagnetic coefficient are taken into account and obtained through an iterative approach. Some calculations on nonlinear ME coefficient are conducted and discussed. Our results show that for both the flexural bilayer and trilayer composites, the true coupling stress in the composites first increase and then approach to a constant value with the increase of applied magnetic fields, affecting the nonlinear ME effect significantly. With consideration of the true coupling stress, the ME effect is smaller than that without consideration of the true coupling stress. Moreover, the proposed theoretical model predicts that the ME coefficient of the trilayer composite (does not generate the bending deflection) is much larger than that of bilayer composite (generates the bending deflection), which is in well agreement with the previous works. The influences of the applied magnetic field on the true coupling stress and fraction ratio corresponding to the extreme ME coefficients of layered structures are also investigated. - Highlights: • This paper develops a nonlinear model for layered ME composite. • The true coupling stress is obtained through an iterative approach. • The influences of coupling stress and flexural deformation are discussed. • The dependence of ME coefficient on magnetic field is studied

Folding-type coupling potentials in the context of the generalized rotation-vibration model

Science.gov (United States)

Chamon, L. C.; Morales Botero, D. F.

2018-03-01

The generalized rotation-vibration model was proposed in previous works to describe the structure of heavy nuclei. The model was successfully tested in the description of experimental results related to the electron-nucleus elastic and inelastic scattering. In the present work, we consider heavy-ion collisions and assume this model to calculate folding-type coupling potentials for inelastic states, through the corresponding transition densities. As an example, the method is applied to coupled-channel data analyses for the α + 70,72,74,76Ge systems.

Strongly Coupled Chameleons and the Neutronic Quantum Bouncer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brax, Philippe; Pignol, Guillaume

2011-01-01

We consider the potential detection of chameleons using bouncing ultracold neutrons. We show that the presence of a chameleon field over a planar plate would alter the energy levels of ultracold neutrons in the terrestrial gravitational field. When chameleons are strongly coupled to nuclear matter, β > or approx. 10 8 , we find that the shift in energy levels would be detectable with the forthcoming GRANIT experiment, where a sensitivity of the order of 1% of a peV is expected. We also find that an extremely large coupling β > or approx. 10 11 would lead to new bound states at a distance of order 2 μm, which is already ruled out by previous Grenoble experiments. The resulting bound, β 11 , is already 3 orders of magnitude better than the upper bound, β 14 , from precision tests of atomic spectra.

Beam coupling impedance of fast stripline beam kickers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caporaso, G; Chen, Y J; Nelson, A D; Poole, B R

1999-01-01

A fast stripline beam kicker is used to dynamically switch a high current electron beam between two beamlines. The transverse dipole impedance of a stripline beam kicker has been previously determined from a simple transmission line model of the structure. This model did not include effects due to the long axial slots along the structure as well as the cavities and coaxial feed transition sections at the ends of the structure. 3-D time domain simulations show that the simple transmission line model underestimates the low frequency dipole beam coupling impedance by about 20% for our structure. In addition, the end cavities and transition sections can exhibit dipole impedances not included in the transmission line model. For high current beams, these additional dipole coupling terms can provide additional beam-induced steering effects not included in the transmission line model of the structure

Magnetoconductance correction in zinc-blende semiconductor nanowires with spin-orbit coupling

Science.gov (United States)

Kammermeier, Michael; Wenk, Paul; Schliemann, John; Heedt, Sebastian; Gerster, Thomas; Schäpers, Thomas

2017-12-01

We study the effects of spin-orbit coupling on the magnetoconductivity in diffusive cylindrical semiconductor nanowires. Following up on our former study on tubular semiconductor nanowires, we focus in this paper on nanowire systems where no surface accumulation layer is formed but instead the electron wave function extends over the entire cross section. We take into account the Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling resulting from a zinc-blende lattice and the Rashba spin-orbit coupling, which is controlled by a lateral gate electrode. The spin relaxation rate due to Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling is found to depend neither on the spin density component nor on the wire growth direction and is unaffected by the radial boundary. In contrast, the Rashba spin relaxation rate is strongly reduced for a wire radius that is smaller than the spin precession length. The derived model is fitted to the data of magnetoconductance measurements of a heavily doped back-gated InAs nanowire and transport parameters are extracted. At last, we compare our results to previous theoretical and experimental studies and discuss the occurring discrepancies.

What can be offered to couples at (possibly) increased genetic risk?

Science.gov (United States)

Read, Andrew P; Donnai, Dian

2012-07-01

We review the reasons why a couple might seek specialist genetic counselling about a possible reproductive risk and the options available to them. Most commonly, the couple will be concerned about the risk of recurrence of a medical condition that has already occurred in the family. Sometimes, the increased risk may come from their ethnicity or because of a consanguineous marriage, rather than because any problem has occurred previously. The geneticist must identify the exact nature of any problem and determine the risks in the light of the mode of inheritance, any investigations undertaken and any other relevant information. The geneticist will then review the options open to the couple, and help them arrive at their own decision in a non-directive way. Some couples may opt to do nothing and let nature take its course but others may request prenatal or pre-implantation diagnosis, or they may avoid the conception of an at-risk child by using donor gametes, adoption or even decide not to have children.

The couple context of pregnancy and its effects on prenatal care and birth outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Hohmann-Marriott, Bryndl

2009-11-01

The couple context of pregnancy and newborn health is gaining importance with the increase in births to unmarried couples, a disproportionate number of which were not intended. This study investigates the association of early prenatal care, preterm birth, and low birth weight with the couple relationship context, including partners' joint intentions for the pregnancy, their marital status at conception, and the presence of relationship problems during pregnancy. Data are drawn from the first wave of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study--Birth Cohort, a representative study of births in 2001. The sample is composed of parents residing together with their biological child at the time the child is 9 months old, where both the mother and father completed the self-report interview (N = 5,788). Couple-level multivariate logistic regression models, weighted to account for the complex sampling design, were used in the analysis. Risk of inadequate prenatal care and preterm birth was increased when partners did not share intentions or when neither partner intended the pregnancy. Couples were at additional risk of inadequate prenatal care when the pregnancy was conceived nonmaritally and when the mother did not tell the father about the pregnancy, particularly when neither partner intended the pregnancy. The risk of premature birth was particularly high when the partners were unmarried and either or both did not intend the pregnancy. The couple context of pregnancy is important for a healthy pregnancy and birth. When the partner is present, practitioners and programs should maintain a focus on the couple, and researchers should make every effort to include the father's own perspective.

Affective Synchrony and Autonomic Coupling during Cooperation: A Hyperscanning Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Elide Vanutelli

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Previous research highlighted that during social interactions people shape each other’s emotional states by resonance mechanisms and synchronized autonomic patterns. Starting from the idea that joint actions create shared emotional experiences, in the present study a social bond was experimentally induced by making subjects cooperate with each other. Participants’ autonomic system activity (electrodermal: skin conductance level and response: SCL, SCR; cardiovascular indices: heart rate: HR was continuously monitored during an attentional couple game. The cooperative motivation was induced by presenting feedback which reinforced the positive outcomes of the intersubjective exchange. 24 participants coupled in 12 dyads were recruited. Intrasubject analyses revealed higher HR in the first part of the task, connoted by increased cognitive demand and arousing social dynamic, while intersubject analysis showed increased synchrony in electrodermal activity after the feedback. Such results encourage the use of hyperscanning techniques to assess emotional coupling in ecological and real-time paradigms.

Relationship Quality and Alcohol-Related Social Reinforcement during Couples Interaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Fairbairn, Catharine E; Testa, Maria

2016-01-01

Individuals who are unhappy in their intimate partnerships are at risk for developing alcohol problems. But little is known about the mechanisms underlying this link. One possibility is that couples with poor relationship quality gain more reinforcement from alcohol in certain contexts-a possibility that has never previously been empirically examined. In the current study, 304 individuals (152 couples) were assigned to receive alcohol (target BAC .08%) or a non-alcoholic beverage. They then engaged in a conflict-resolution interaction with their partners. Videotaped interactions were coded by trained observers. Results revealed a significant interaction between alcohol and relationship quality across multiple measures. Alcohol decreased negative behaviors, decreased negative reciprocity, and enhanced self-reported experience to a greater extent during interactions involving individuals reporting low relationship quality and had comparatively little effect among those reporting high relationship quality. Findings point to a potential mechanism underlying problem drinking among couples with poor relationship quality.

Multistage Coupling of Laser-Wakefield Accelerators with Curved Plasma Channels

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, J.; Chen, M.; Wu, W. Y.; Weng, S. M.; Sheng, Z. M.; Schroeder, C. B.; Jaroszynski, D. A.; Esarey, E.; Leemans, W. P.; Mori, W. B.; Zhang, J.

2018-04-01

Multistage coupling of laser-wakefield accelerators is essential to overcome laser energy depletion for high-energy applications such as TeV-level electron-positron colliders. Current staging schemes feed subsequent laser pulses into stages using plasma mirrors while controlling electron beam focusing with plasma lenses. Here a more compact and efficient scheme is proposed to realize the simultaneous coupling of the electron beam and the laser pulse into a second stage. A partly curved channel, integrating a straight acceleration stage with a curved transition segment, is used to guide a fresh laser pulse into a subsequent straight channel, while the electrons continue straight. This scheme benefits from a shorter coupling distance and continuous guiding of the electrons in plasma while suppressing transverse beam dispersion. Particle-in-cell simulations demonstrate that the electron beam from a previous stage can be efficiently injected into a subsequent stage for further acceleration while maintaining high capture efficiency, stability, and beam quality.

Translation-coupling systems

Science.gov (United States)

Pfleger, Brian; Mendez-Perez, Daniel

2013-11-05

Disclosed are systems and methods for coupling translation of a target gene to a detectable response gene. A version of the invention includes a translation-coupling cassette. The translation-coupling cassette includes a target gene, a response gene, a response-gene translation control element, and a secondary structure-forming sequence that reversibly forms a secondary structure masking the response-gene translation control element. Masking of the response-gene translation control element inhibits translation of the response gene. Full translation of the target gene results in unfolding of the secondary structure and consequent translation of the response gene. Translation of the target gene is determined by detecting presence of the response-gene protein product. The invention further includes RNA transcripts of the translation-coupling cassettes, vectors comprising the translation-coupling cassettes, hosts comprising the translation-coupling cassettes, methods of using the translation-coupling cassettes, and gene products produced with the translation-coupling cassettes.

Late Miocene Pacific plate kinematic change explained with coupled global models of mantle and lithosphere dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Stotz, I. L.; Iaffaldano, G.; Davies, D. R.

2017-07-01

The timing and magnitude of a Pacific plate motion change within the past 10 Ma remains enigmatic, due to the noise associated with finite-rotation data. Nonetheless, it has been hypothesized that this change was driven by the arrival of the Ontong Java Plateau (OJP) at the Melanesian arc and the consequent subduction polarity reversal. The uncertainties associated with the timing of this event, however, make it difficult to quantitatively demonstrate a dynamical association. Here, we first reconstruct the Pacific plate's absolute motion since the mid-Miocene (15 Ma), at high-temporal resolution, building on previous efforts to mitigate the impact of finite-rotation data noise. We find that the largest change in Pacific plate-motion direction occurred between 10 and 5 Ma, with the plate rotating clockwise. We subsequently develop and use coupled global numerical models of the mantle/lithosphere system to test hypotheses on the dynamics driving this change. These indicate that the arrival of the OJP at the Melanesian arc, between 10 and 5 Ma, followed by a subduction polarity reversal that marked the initiation of subduction of the Australian plate underneath the Pacific realm, were the key drivers of this kinematic change.

Participation in multilateral effort to develop high performance integrated CPC evacuated collectors

Science.gov (United States)

Winston, R.; Ogallagher, J. J.

1992-05-01

The University of Chicago Solar Energy Group has had a continuing program and commitment to develop an advanced evacuated solar collector integrating nonimaging concentration into its design. During the period from 1985-1987, some of our efforts were directed toward designing and prototyping a manufacturable version of an Integrated Compound Parabolic Concentrator (ICPC) evacuated collector tube as part of an international cooperative effort involving six organizations in four different countries. This 'multilateral' project made considerable progress towards a commercially practical collector. One of two basic designs considered employed a heat pipe and an internal metal reflector CPC. We fabricated and tested two large diameter (125 mm) borosilicate glass collector tubes to explore this concept. The other design also used a large diameter (125 mm) glass tube but with a specially configured internal shaped mirror CPC coupled to a U-tube absorber. Performance projections in a variety of systems applications using the computer design tools developed by the International Energy Agency (IEA) task on evacuated collectors were used to optimize the optical and thermal design. The long-term goal of this work continues to be the development of a high efficiency, low cost solar collector to supply solar thermal energy at temperatures up to 250 C. Some experience and perspectives based on our work are presented and reviewed. Despite substantial progress, the stability of research support and the market for commercial solar thermal collectors were such that the project could not be continued. A cooperative path involving university, government, and industrial collaboration remains the most attractive near term option for developing a commercial ICPC.

A new coupled system for BWR nuclear fuel management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castillo, A.; Ortiz-Servin, J.J.; Montes-Tadeo, J.L.; Perusquia, R.; Rizos, R.L.M.

2015-01-01

In this work, a system to solve four stages of the fuel management problem is showed.The system uses different heuristic techniques to solve each stage of that area, and this problem is solved in a coupled way. Considered problems correspond to the following designs: fuel lattice, fuel assembly, fuel reload and control rod patterns. Even though, each stage of the problem can have its own objective function, the complete problem was solved using a multi-objective function. The solution strategy is to solve each stage of design in an iterative process, taking into account previous results for the next stage, until to achieve a complete solution. The solution strategy to solve the coupled problem is the following: the first solved stage is the fuel lattice design, the second one is fuel assembly design, finally an internal loop between both fuel reload design and control rod pattern design is carried out.For this internal loop, a seed reload using Haling principle is generated. The obtained results showed the advantage to solve the whole problem in a coupled way. (author)

Relationship Power, Sociodemographics, and Their Relative Influence on Sexual Agreements Among Gay Male Couples.

Science.gov (United States)

Perry, Nicholas S; Huebner, David M; Baucom, Brian R; Hoff, Colleen C

2016-06-01

Men who have sex with men (MSM) in primary relationships engage in condomless sex both within and outside their relationships and a majority of HIV transmission risk may actually occur within primary relationships. Sexual agreements regarding non-monogamy are a critical component to understanding HIV prevention in male couples. Relationship factors have been associated with how sexual agreements function and power is one dyadic construct likely to affect couple's maintenance of non-monogamy agreements. Multilevel modeling was used in a cross-sectional study of gay male couples (N = 566 couples) to examine associations between partners' demographic characteristics traditionally used to define relationship power, a scale of decision-making power, and outcomes related to sexual agreements, including investment, agreement breaks, and break disclosure. Results indicated that decision-making power relative to one's partner was not associated with any agreement outcome, contrary to hypotheses. However, controlling for decision-making power, demographic bases of power were variably associated with sexual agreements' functioning. Younger partners were less invested in and more frequently broke their agreements. Lower-earning partners broke their agreements more frequently, but also disclosed breaks more often. White men in white-minority relationships broke their agreement more often than their partners. Concordant HIV-positive couples were less invested in their agreements and HIV-positive men disclosed breaks more frequently. HIV prevention efforts for same-sex couples must attend to the social, developmental, and cultural influences that affect their agreements around non-monogamy.

Persistent Exposure to Arsenic via Drinking Water in Rural Bangladesh Despite Major Mitigation Efforts

Science.gov (United States)

Gardner, Renee; Hamadani, Jena; Grandér, Margaretha; Tofail, Fahmida; Nermell, Barbro; Palm, Brita; Kippler, Maria

2011-01-01

Objectives. Elevated arsenic levels in tube-well water in Bangladesh have prompted extensive mitigation projects. We evaluated the effectiveness of long-term mitigation efforts by longitudinally measuring arsenic exposure in pregnant women and their children, the most susceptible population groups. Methods. The study was nested in a population-based nutrition intervention in Matlab, Bangladesh. Mother–child pairs (n = 1951) were followed from 2001 to 2003, beginning in early gestation and continuing to 5 years postpartum. We measured arsenic concentrations in urine (U-As) of the 5-year-old children by using high-performance liquid chromatography online with hydride generation and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and compared them with earlier childhood U-As and maternal U-As during pregnancy. Results. Children had elevated U-As at 5 years old (median = 51 μg/L, 5th–95th percentiles = 16–355 μg/L), and U-As distribution was similar to that observed in the mothers during gestation. Children's U-As at 5 years old significantly correlated with their U-As at 1.5 years old and to maternal U-As during early and late gestation. Conclusions. Despite major mitigation efforts, arsenic exposure remains highly elevated in rural Bangladesh. Further mitigation strategies are required and must be rigorously evaluated for long-term efficacy. PMID:21778503

Complete Cubic and Quartic Couplings of 16 and $\\bar{16}$ in SO(10) Unification

CERN Document Server

Syed, R M; Nath, Pran; Syed, Raza M.

2001-01-01

A recently derived basic theorem on the decomposition of SO(2N) vertices is used to obtain a complete analytic determination of all SO(10) invariant cubic superpotential couplings involving $16_{\\pm}$ semispinors of SO(10) chirality $\\pm$ and tensor representations. In addition to the superpotential couplings computed previously using the basic theorem involving the 10, 120 and $\\bar{126}$ tensor representations we compute here couplings involving the 1, 45 and 210 dimensional tensor representations, i.e., we compute the $\\bar{16}_{\\mp}16_{\\pm}1$,$\\bar{16}_{\\mp}16_{\\pm}45$ and $\\bar{16}_{\\mp}16_{\\pm}210$ Higgs couplings in the superpotential. A complete determination of dimension five operators in the superpotential arising from the mediation of the 1, 45 and 210 dimensional representations is also given. The vector couplings $\\bar{16}_{\\pm}16_{\\pm}1$, $\\bar{16}_{\\pm}16_{\\pm}45$ and $\\bar{16}_{\\pm}16_{\\pm}210$ are also analyzed. The role of large tensor representations and the possible application of results ...

Development of a Three-Dimensional Viscous-Inviscid coupling Method for Wind Turbine Computations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ramos García, Néstor; Sørensen, Jens Nørkær; Shen, Wen Zhong

2013-01-01

no penetration condition. Viscous effects inside the boundary layer are taken into account through the coupling with the quasi-3D integral boundary layer solver Q3UIC. A free-wake model is employed to simulate the vorticity released by the blades in the wake. In this paper simulations are presented in an effort...... to validate the code for three different rotor geometries, the MEXICO experiment rotor, the DELFT rotor and the NREL 5MW rotor....

Ro-vibrational averaging of the isotropic hyperfine coupling constant for the methyl radical

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Adam, Ahmad Y.; Jensen, Per, E-mail: jensen@uni-wuppertal.de [Fakultät Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften, Physikalische und Theoretische Chemie, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, D-42097 Wuppertal (Germany); Yachmenev, Andrey; Yurchenko, Sergei N. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT (United Kingdom)

2015-12-28

We present the first variational calculation of the isotropic hyperfine coupling constant of the carbon-13 atom in the CH{sub 3} radical for temperatures T = 0, 96, and 300 K. It is based on a newly calculated high level ab initio potential energy surface and hyperfine coupling constant surface of CH{sub 3} in the ground electronic state. The ro-vibrational energy levels, expectation values for the coupling constant, and its temperature dependence were calculated variationally by using the methods implemented in the computer program TROVE. Vibrational energies and vibrational and temperature effects for coupling constant are found to be in very good agreement with the available experimental data. We found, in agreement with previous studies, that the vibrational effects constitute about 44% of the constant’s equilibrium value, originating mainly from the large amplitude out-of-plane bending motion and that the temperature effects play a minor role.

Ro-vibrational averaging of the isotropic hyperfine coupling constant for the methyl radical

Science.gov (United States)

Adam, Ahmad Y.; Yachmenev, Andrey; Yurchenko, Sergei N.; Jensen, Per

2015-12-01

We present the first variational calculation of the isotropic hyperfine coupling constant of the carbon-13 atom in the CH3 radical for temperatures T = 0, 96, and 300 K. It is based on a newly calculated high level ab initio potential energy surface and hyperfine coupling constant surface of CH3 in the ground electronic state. The ro-vibrational energy levels, expectation values for the coupling constant, and its temperature dependence were calculated variationally by using the methods implemented in the computer program TROVE. Vibrational energies and vibrational and temperature effects for coupling constant are found to be in very good agreement with the available experimental data. We found, in agreement with previous studies, that the vibrational effects constitute about 44% of the constant's equilibrium value, originating mainly from the large amplitude out-of-plane bending motion and that the temperature effects play a minor role.

Ro-vibrational averaging of the isotropic hyperfine coupling constant for the methyl radical

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adam, Ahmad Y.; Jensen, Per; Yachmenev, Andrey; Yurchenko, Sergei N.

2015-01-01

We present the first variational calculation of the isotropic hyperfine coupling constant of the carbon-13 atom in the CH 3 radical for temperatures T = 0, 96, and 300 K. It is based on a newly calculated high level ab initio potential energy surface and hyperfine coupling constant surface of CH 3 in the ground electronic state. The ro-vibrational energy levels, expectation values for the coupling constant, and its temperature dependence were calculated variationally by using the methods implemented in the computer program TROVE. Vibrational energies and vibrational and temperature effects for coupling constant are found to be in very good agreement with the available experimental data. We found, in agreement with previous studies, that the vibrational effects constitute about 44% of the constant’s equilibrium value, originating mainly from the large amplitude out-of-plane bending motion and that the temperature effects play a minor role

Synchronization of coupled metronomes on two layers

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jing; Yu, Yi-Zhen; Wang, Xin-Gang

2017-12-01

Coupled metronomes serve as a paradigmatic model for exploring the collective behaviors of complex dynamical systems, as well as a classical setup for classroom demonstrations of synchronization phenomena. Whereas previous studies of metronome synchronization have been concentrating on symmetric coupling schemes, here we consider the asymmetric case by adopting the scheme of layered metronomes. Specifically, we place two metronomes on each layer, and couple two layers by placing one on top of the other. By varying the initial conditions of the metronomes and adjusting the friction between the two layers, a variety of synchronous patterns are observed in experiment, including the splay synchronization (SS) state, the generalized splay synchronization (GSS) state, the anti-phase synchronization (APS) state, the in-phase delay synchronization (IPDS) state, and the in-phase synchronization (IPS) state. In particular, the IPDS state, in which the metronomes on each layer are synchronized in phase but are of a constant phase delay to metronomes on the other layer, is observed for the first time. In addition, a new technique based on audio signals is proposed for pattern detection, which is more convenient and easier to apply than the existing acquisition techniques. Furthermore, a theoretical model is developed to explain the experimental observations, and is employed to explore the dynamical properties of the patterns, including the basin distributions and the pattern transitions. Our study sheds new lights on the collective behaviors of coupled metronomes, and the developed setup can be used in the classroom for demonstration purposes.

The role of spin-orbit coupling in the photolysis of methylcobalamin

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andruniów, Tadeusz [Department of Chemistry, Advanced Materials Engineering and Modelling Group, Wroclaw University of Technology, 50-370 Wroclaw (Poland); Lodowski, Piotr; Jaworska, Maria [Department of Theoretical Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of Silesia, Szkolna 9, PL-40 006 Katowice (Poland); Garabato, Brady D. [Department of Chemistry, University of Louisville, 2320 South Brook Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40292 (United States); Kozlowski, Pawel M., E-mail: pawel@louisville.edu [Department of Chemistry, University of Louisville, 2320 South Brook Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40292 (United States); Department of Food Sciences, Medical University of Gdansk, Al. Gen. J. Hallera 107, 80-416 Gdansk (Poland)

2016-03-28

The photolysis of the methylcobalamin cofactor (MeCbl) in its base-off form was investigated by considering the extent of spin-orbit coupling (SOC). Triplet Co–C photodissociation pathways previously invoked at the density functional theory level using Landau-Zener theory were further validated with ab initio calculations that combine SOC based on multi-state second order perturbation theory. It was determined that SOC is feasible between singlet and triplet states at elongated Co–C distances, leading to photodissociation from the state having dominant σ(d{sub z}{sup 2}) character, by either direct coupling with the lowest singlet states or by crossing with SOC mixed triplets.

Tropical interannual variability in a global coupled GCM: Sensitivity to mean climate state

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moore, A.M. [Bureau of Meterology Research Centre, Melbourne, Victoria (Australia)

1995-04-01

A global coupled ocean-atmosphere-sea ice general circulation model is used to study interannual variability in the Tropics. Flux correction is used to control the mean climate of the coupled system, and in one configuration of the coupled model, interannual variability in the tropical Pacific is dominated by westward moving anomalies. Through a series of experiments in which the equatorial ocean wave speeds and ocean-atmosphere coupling strength are varied, it is demonstrated that these westward moving disturbances are probably some manifestation of what Neelin describes as an {open_quotes}SST mode.{close_quotes} By modifying the flux correction procedure, the mean climate of the coupled model can be changed. A fairly modest change in the mean climate is all that is required to excite eastward moving anomalies in place of the westward moving SST modes found previously. The apparent sensitivity of the nature of tropical interannual variability to the mean climate state in a coupled general circulation model such as that used here suggests that caution is advisable if we try to use such models to answer questions relating to changes in ENSO-like variability associated with global climate change. 41 refs., 23 figs., 1 tab.

Personal and couple level risk factors: Maternal and paternal parent-child aggression risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Tucker, Meagan C; Rodriguez, Christina M; Baker, Levi R

2017-07-01

Previous literature examining parent-child aggression (PCA) risk has relied heavily upon mothers, limiting our understanding of paternal risk factors. Moreover, the extent to which factors in the couple relationship work in tandem with personal vulnerabilities to impact PCA risk is unclear. The current study examined whether personal stress and distress predicted PCA risk (child abuse potential, over-reactive discipline style, harsh discipline practices) for fathers as well as mothers and whether couple functioning mediated versus moderated the relation between personal stress and PCA risk in a sample of 81 couples. Additionally, the potential for risk factors in one partner to cross over and affect their partner's PCA risk was considered. Findings indicated higher personal stress predicted elevated maternal and paternal PCA risk. Better couple functioning did not moderate this relationship but partially mediated stress and PCA risk for both mothers and fathers. In addition, maternal stress evidenced a cross-over effect, wherein mothers' personal stress linked to fathers' couple functioning. Findings support the role of stress and couple functioning in maternal and paternal PCA risk, including potential cross-over effects that warrant further inquiry. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

To boost or to CRUNCH? Effect of effortful encoding on episodic memory in older adults is dependent on executive functioning.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Li Fu

Full Text Available It is essential to develop effective interventions aimed at ameliorating age-related cognitive decline. Previous studies found that effortful encoding benefits episodic memory in older adults. However, to date it is unclear whether this benefit is different for individuals with strong versus weak executive functioning (EF. Fifty-one older adults were recruited and divided into low (N = 26 and high (N = 25 functioning groups, based on their EF capacity. All participants performed a semantic and a perceptual incidental encoding task. Each encoding task was performed under four difficulty levels to establish different effort levels. Encoding was followed by a recognition task. Results showed that the high EF group benefitted from increased effort in both tasks. However, the low EF group only showed a beneficial effect under low levels of effort. Results are consistent with the Compensation-Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis (CRUNCH and suggest that future research directed at developing efficient memory strategies to reduce negative cognitive aging effects should take individual cognitive differences among older adults into account, such as differences in EF.

Synchronization as Aggregation: Cluster Kinetics of Pulse-Coupled Oscillators.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Keeffe, Kevin P; Krapivsky, P L; Strogatz, Steven H

2015-08-07

We consider models of identical pulse-coupled oscillators with global interactions. Previous work showed that under certain conditions such systems always end up in sync, but did not quantify how small clusters of synchronized oscillators progressively coalesce into larger ones. Using tools from the study of aggregation phenomena, we obtain exact results for the time-dependent distribution of cluster sizes as the system evolves from disorder to synchrony.

Analytical solution to the coupled evolution of multidimensional NMR data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mueller, Geoffrey A.

2009-01-01

A substantial time savings in the collection of multidimensional NMR data can be achieved by coupling the evolution of nuclei in the indirect dimensions. In order to save time, the sampling of the indirect dimensions is inherently incomplete. Therefore, many algorithms and samplings schemes have been developed aimed at separating the coevolved frequencies into analyzable data with limited artifacts. This paper extends the use of circulant matrices to describe coupled evolution with convolutions. By understanding the data in terms of convolutions, there is an exact solution to the inversion problem of extracting the orthogonal vectors from the coupled dimensions. Previously, this inversion problem has been solved using peak coordinates extracted from spectra. In contrast, the method described here uses spectra directly. This solution suggests a simple sampling scheme of collecting N orthogonal spectra, and N + 1 projections at specific projection angles, however, the theory developed can be extended generally to arbitrary projection angles. The circulant matrix methodology is demonstrated for simulated and real data. Further, an algorithm for separating overlapped signals in the detected dimension is presented. The algorithm involves the forward calculation of the coupled spectra from the orthogonal spectra, followed by back calculation of the orthogonal spectra from the coupled spectra, thus permitting rigorous cross-validation. This algorithm is shown to be robust in that erroneous solutions give rise to large artifacts

Analysis of some coplanar transmission lines: coplanar coupled lines, coplanar coupled striplines, and coplanar coupled lines with rectangular microshield

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Naichang; He, Jianguo; Yao, Demiao; Dai, Qin; Lin, Weigan

1995-06-01

Two types of coplanar transmission lines, rectangular microshield coplanar coupled lines (RMCCL) and coplanar coupled rectangular microshield lines (CCRML), are proposed for MMIC applications. These are developed from coplanar coupled lines (CCL) and coplanar coupled strip lines (CCS). Analytic formulas are presented for calculating the quasistatic TEM parameters of these coupled lines by means of exact conformal mapping techniques. Numerical results are also presented to illustrate the properties of these coplanar transmission lines.

With Iterative and Bosonized Coupling towards Fundamental Particle Properties

CERN Document Server

Binder, B

2003-01-01

Previous results have shown that the linear topological potential-to-phase relationship (well known from Josephson junctions) is the key to iterative coupling and non-perturbative bosonization of the 2 two-spinor Dirac equation. In this paper those results are combined to approach the nature of proton, neutron, and electron via extrapolations from Planck units to the System of Units (SI). The electron acts as a bosonizing bridge between opposite parity topological currents. The resulting potentials and masses are based on a fundamental soliton mass limit and two iteratively obtained coupling constants, where one is the fine structure constant. The simple non-perturbative and relativistic results are within measurement uncertainty and show a very high significance. The deviation for the proton and electron masses are approximately 1 ppb ($10^{-9}$), for the neutron 4 ppb.

Analytical treatment of Coriolis coupling for three-body systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Poirier, Bill

2005-01-31

In a previous article [J. Chem. Phys. 108 (1998) 5216], an efficient method was presented for performing 'exact' quantum calculations for the three-body rovibrational Hamiltonian, within the helicity-conserving approximation. This approach makes use of a certain three-body ''effective potential,'' enabling the same bend angle basis set to be employed for all values of the rotational quantum numbers, J, K and M. In the present work, the method is extended to incorporate Coriolis coupling, for which the relevant matrix elements are derived exactly. These can be used to solve the full three-body rovibrational problem, in the standard Jacobi coordinate vector embedding. Generalization of the method for coupled kinetic energy operators arising from other coordinate systems, embeddings, and/or system sizes, is also discussed.

Heuristics Made Easy: An Effort-Reduction Framework

Science.gov (United States)

Shah, Anuj K.; Oppenheimer, Daniel M.

2008-01-01

In this article, the authors propose a new framework for understanding and studying heuristics. The authors posit that heuristics primarily serve the purpose of reducing the effort associated with a task. As such, the authors propose that heuristics can be classified according to a small set of effort-reduction principles. The authors use this…

Panel report on coupled thermo-mechanical-hydro-chemical processes associated with a nuclear waste repository

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsang, C.F.; Mangold, D.C.

1984-07-01

Four basic physical processes, thermal, hydrological, mechanical and chemical, are likely to occur in 11 different types of coupling during the service life of an underground nuclear waste repository. A great number of coupled processes with various degrees of importance for geological repositories were identified and arranged into these 11 types. A qualitative description of these processes and a tentative evaluation of their significance and the degree of uncertainty in prediction is given. Suggestions for methods of investigation generally include, besides theoretical work, laboratory and large scale field testing. Great efforts of a multidisciplinary nature are needed to elucidate details of several coupled processes under different temperature conditions in different geological formations. It was suggested that by limiting the maximum temperature to 100 0 C in the backfill and in the host rock during the whole service life of the repository the uncertainties in prediction of long-term repository behavior might be considerably reduced

Panel report on coupled thermo-mechanical-hydro-chemical processes associated with a nuclear waste repository

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tsang, C.F.; Mangold, D.C. (eds.)

1984-07-01

Four basic physical processes, thermal, hydrological, mechanical and chemical, are likely to occur in 11 different types of coupling during the service life of an underground nuclear waste repository. A great number of coupled processes with various degrees of importance for geological repositories were identified and arranged into these 11 types. A qualitative description of these processes and a tentative evaluation of their significance and the degree of uncertainty in prediction is given. Suggestions for methods of investigation generally include, besides theoretical work, laboratory and large scale field testing. Great efforts of a multidisciplinary nature are needed to elucidate details of several coupled processes under different temperature conditions in different geological formations. It was suggested that by limiting the maximum temperature to 100{sup 0}C in the backfill and in the host rock during the whole service life of the repository the uncertainties in prediction of long-term repository behavior might be considerably reduced.

Predicting a contact's sensitivity to initial conditions using metrics of frictional coupling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Flicek, Robert C.; Hills, David A.; Brake, Matthew Robert W.

2016-01-01

This paper presents a method for predicting how sensitive a frictional contact’s steady-state behavior is to its initial conditions. Previous research has proven that if a contact is uncoupled, i.e. if slip displacements do not influence the contact pressure distribution, then its steady-state response is independent of initial conditions, but if the contact is coupled, the steady-state response depends on initial conditions. In this paper, two metrics for quantifying coupling in discrete frictional systems are examined. These metrics suggest that coupling is dominated by material dissimilarity due to Dundurs’ composite material parameter β when β ≥ 0.2, but geometric mismatch becomes the dominant source of coupling for smaller values of β. Based on a large set of numerical simulations with different contact geometries, material combinations, and friction coefficients, a contact’s sensitivity to initial conditions is found to be correlated with the product of the coupling metric and the friction coefficient. For cyclic shear loading, this correlation is maintained for simulations with different contact geometries, material combinations, and friction coefficients. Furthermore, for cyclic bulk loading, the correlation is only maintained when the contact edge angle is held constant.

Application of a generalized interface module to the coupling of PARCS with both RELAPS and TRAC-M

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barber, D.A.; Wang, W.; Miller, R.M.; Downar, T.J.; Joo, H.G.; Mousseau, V.A.; Ebert, D.E.

1999-01-01

In an effort to more easily assess various combinations of 3-D neutronic/thermal-hydraulic codes, the USNRC has sponsored the development of a generalized interface module for the coupling of any thermal-hydraulics code to any spatial kinetics code. In this design, the thermal-hydraulics, general interface, and spatial kinetics codes function independently and utilize the Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) software to manage inter-process communication. Using this interface, the USNRC version of the 3D neutron kinetics code, PARCS, has been coupled to the USNRC system analysis codes RELAP5 and TRAC-M. RELAP5/PARCS assessment results are presented for an OECD/NEA main steam line break benchmark problem. The assessment of TRAC-M/PARCS has only recently been initiated; nonetheless, the capabilities of the coupled code are presented for the OECD/NEA main steam line break benchmark problem

Movements and foraging effort of Steller's Eiders and Harlequin Ducks wintering near Dutch Harbor, Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, J.A.; Flint, Paul L.

2007-01-01

We studied the movements and foraging effort of radio-marked Steller's Eiders (Polysticta stelleri) and Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) to evaluate habitat quality in an area impacted by industrial activity near Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Foraging effort was relatively low, with Steller's Eiders foraging only 2.7 ± 0.6 (SE) hours per day and Harlequin Ducks 4.1 ± 0.5 hours per day. Low-foraging effort during periods of high-energetic demand generally suggests high food availability, and high food availability frequently corresponds with reductions in home range size. However, the winter ranges of Harlequin Ducks did not appear to be smaller than usual, with the mean range size in our study (5.5 ± 1.1 km2) similar to that reported by previous investigators. The mean size of the winter ranges of Steller's Eiders was similar (5.1 ± 1.3 km2), but no comparable estimates are available. Eutrophication of the waters near Dutch Harbor caused by seafood processing and municipal sewage effluent may have increased populations of the invertebrate prey of these sea ducks and contributed to their low-foraging effort. The threat of predation by Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) that winter near Dutch Harbor may cause Steller's Eiders and Harlequin Ducks to move further offshore when not foraging, contributing to an increase in range sizes. Thus, the movement patterns and foraging behavior of these ducks likely represent a balance between the cost and benefits of wintering in a human-influenced environment.

Stuttering Frequency, Speech Rate, Speech Naturalness, and Speech Effort During the Production of Voluntary Stuttering.

Science.gov (United States)

Davidow, Jason H; Grossman, Heather L; Edge, Robin L

2018-05-01

Voluntary stuttering techniques involve persons who stutter purposefully interjecting disfluencies into their speech. Little research has been conducted on the impact of these techniques on the speech pattern of persons who stutter. The present study examined whether changes in the frequency of voluntary stuttering accompanied changes in stuttering frequency, articulation rate, speech naturalness, and speech effort. In total, 12 persons who stutter aged 16-34 years participated. Participants read four 300-syllable passages during a control condition, and three voluntary stuttering conditions that involved attempting to produce purposeful, tension-free repetitions of initial sounds or syllables of a word for two or more repetitions (i.e., bouncing). The three voluntary stuttering conditions included bouncing on 5%, 10%, and 15% of syllables read. Friedman tests and follow-up Wilcoxon signed ranks tests were conducted for the statistical analyses. Stuttering frequency, articulation rate, and speech naturalness were significantly different between the voluntary stuttering conditions. Speech effort did not differ between the voluntary stuttering conditions. Stuttering frequency was significantly lower during the three voluntary stuttering conditions compared to the control condition, and speech effort was significantly lower during two of the three voluntary stuttering conditions compared to the control condition. Due to changes in articulation rate across the voluntary stuttering conditions, it is difficult to conclude, as has been suggested previously, that voluntary stuttering is the reason for stuttering reductions found when using voluntary stuttering techniques. Additionally, future investigations should examine different types of voluntary stuttering over an extended period of time to determine their impact on stuttering frequency, speech rate, speech naturalness, and speech effort.

The Effect of Age on Listening Effort

Science.gov (United States)

Degeest, Sofie; Keppler, Hannah; Corthals, Paul

2015-01-01

Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of age on listening effort. Method: A dual-task paradigm was used to evaluate listening effort in different conditions of background noise. Sixty adults ranging in age from 20 to 77 years were included. A primary speech-recognition task and a secondary memory task were performed…

Coupled iterated map models of action potential dynamics in a one-dimensional cable of cardiac cells

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Shihong; Xie Yuanfang; Qu Zhilin

2008-01-01

Low-dimensional iterated map models have been widely used to study action potential dynamics in isolated cardiac cells. Coupled iterated map models have also been widely used to investigate action potential propagation dynamics in one-dimensional (1D) coupled cardiac cells, however, these models are usually empirical and not carefully validated. In this study, we first developed two coupled iterated map models which are the standard forms of diffusively coupled maps and overcome the limitations of the previous models. We then determined the coupling strength and space constant by quantitatively comparing the 1D action potential duration profile from the coupled cardiac cell model described by differential equations with that of the coupled iterated map models. To further validate the coupled iterated map models, we compared the stability conditions of the spatially uniform state of the coupled iterated maps and those of the 1D ionic model and showed that the coupled iterated map model could well recapitulate the stability conditions, i.e. the spatially uniform state is stable unless the state is chaotic. Finally, we combined conduction into the developed coupled iterated map model to study the effects of coupling strength on wave stabilities and showed that the diffusive coupling between cardiac cells tends to suppress instabilities during reentry in a 1D ring and the onset of discordant alternans in a periodically paced 1D cable

Couple Support Schemata in Couples with and without Spinal Cord Injury

Science.gov (United States)

Gilad, Dvorit; Lavee, Yoav

2010-01-01

This article describes the cognitive schemata of couples' support relationships among 65 couples in which the husband had a long-term spinal cord injury and 65 couples without disability. The structure of the support relations schemata were examined by means of smallest-space analysis. Similarities between men and women in couples with and without…

Toward a Rational and Mechanistic Account of Mental Effort.

Science.gov (United States)

Shenhav, Amitai; Musslick, Sebastian; Lieder, Falk; Kool, Wouter; Griffiths, Thomas L; Cohen, Jonathan D; Botvinick, Matthew M

2017-07-25

In spite of its familiar phenomenology, the mechanistic basis for mental effort remains poorly understood. Although most researchers agree that mental effort is aversive and stems from limitations in our capacity to exercise cognitive control, it is unclear what gives rise to those limitations and why they result in an experience of control as costly. The presence of these control costs also raises further questions regarding how best to allocate mental effort to minimize those costs and maximize the attendant benefits. This review explores recent advances in computational modeling and empirical research aimed at addressing these questions at the level of psychological process and neural mechanism, examining both the limitations to mental effort exertion and how we manage those limited cognitive resources. We conclude by identifying remaining challenges for theoretical accounts of mental effort as well as possible applications of the available findings to understanding the causes of and potential solutions for apparent failures to exert the mental effort required of us.

Can previous acid etching increase the bond strength of a self-etching primer adhesive to enamel?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Paula Morales Cobra Carvalho

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Because a greater research effort has been directed to analyzing the adhesive effectiveness of self etch primers to dentin, the aim of this study was to evaluate, by microtensile testing, the bond strength to enamel of a composite resin combined with a conventional adhesive system or with a self-etching primer adhesive, used according to its original prescription or used with previous acid etching. Thirty bovine teeth were divided into 3 groups with 10 teeth each (n= 10. In one of the groups, a self-etching primer (Clearfil SE Bond - Kuraray was applied in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions and, in the other, it was applied after previous acid etching. In the third group, a conventional adhesive system (Scotchbond Multipurpose Plus - 3M-ESPE was applied in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. The results obtained by analysis of variance revealed significant differences between the adhesive systems (F = 22.31. The self-etching primer (Clearfil SE Bond presented lower enamel bond strength values than the conventional adhesive system (Scotchbond Multipurpose Plus (m = 39.70 ± 7.07 MPa both when used according to the original prescription (m = 27.81 ± 2.64 MPa and with previous acid etching (m = 25.08 ± 4.92 MPa.

Atomic fluorescence spectrometry with the inductively coupled plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Omenetto, N.; Winefordner, J.D.

1987-01-01

Atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) is based on the radiational activation of atoms and ions produced in a suitable atomizer (ionizer) and the subsequent measurement of the resulting radiational deactivation, called fluorescence. Atomic fluorescence spectrometry has been of considerable interest to researchers in atomic spectrometry because of its use for both analytical and diagnostic purposes. Unfortunately, the analytical applications of AFS have suffered from the lack of commercial instrumentation until the recent marketing of the Baird multiple-element, hollow cathode lamp-excited inductively coupled plasma system. This chapter is concerned strictly with the use of the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) as a cell and as a source for AFS. Many of the major references concerning the ICP in analytical AFS are categorized in Table 9.1, along with several reviews and diagnostical studies. For more detailed discussions of the fundamental aspects of AFS, the reader is referred to previous reviews

Energy coupling to the plasma in repetitive nanosecond pulse discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adamovich, Igor V.; Nishihara, Munetake; Choi, Inchul; Uddi, Mruthunjaya; Lempert, Walter R.

2009-01-01

A new analytic quasi-one-dimensional model of energy coupling to nanosecond pulse discharge plasmas in plane-to-plane geometry has been developed. The use of a one-dimensional approach is based on images of repetitively pulsed nanosecond discharge plasmas in dry air demonstrating that the plasma remains diffuse and uniform on a nanosecond time scale over a wide range of pressures. The model provides analytic expressions for the time-dependent electric field and electron density in the plasma, electric field in the sheath, sheath boundary location, and coupled pulse energy. The analytic model predictions are in very good agreement with numerical calculations. The model demonstrates that (i) the energy coupled to the plasma during an individual nanosecond discharge pulse is controlled primarily by the capacitance of the dielectric layers and by the breakdown voltage and (ii) the pulse energy coupled to the plasma during a burst of nanosecond pulses decreases as a function of the pulse number in the burst. This occurs primarily because of plasma temperature rise and resultant reduction in breakdown voltage, such that the coupled pulse energy varies approximately proportionally to the number density. Analytic expression for coupled pulse energy scaling has been incorporated into the air plasma chemistry model, validated previously by comparing with atomic oxygen number density measurements in nanosecond pulse discharges. The results of kinetic modeling using the modified air plasma chemistry model are compared with time-resolved temperature measurements in a repetitively pulsed nanosecond discharge in air, by emission spectroscopy, and purely rotational coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy showing good agreement.

S3 HMBC: Spin-State-Selective HMBC for accurate measurement of homonuclear coupling constants. Application to strychnine yielding thirteen hitherto unreported JHH

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kjaerulff, Louise; Benie, Andrew J.; Hoeck, Casper

2016-01-01

A novel method, Spin-State-Selective (S3) HMBC, for accurate measurement of homonuclear coupling constants is introduced. As characteristic for S3 techniques, S3 HMBC yields independent subspectra corresponding to particular passive spin states and thus allows determination of coupling constants ...... are demonstrated by an application to strychnine where thirteen JHH coupling constants not previously reported could be measured....

Coherence and Coupling Functions Reveal Microvascular Impairment in Treated Hypertension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valentina Ticcinelli

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The complex interactions that give rise to heart rate variability (HRV involve coupled physiological oscillators operating over a wide range of different frequencies and length-scales. Based on the premise that interactions are key to the functioning of complex systems, the time-dependent deterministic coupling parameters underlying cardiac, respiratory and vascular regulation have been investigated at both the central and microvascular levels. Hypertension was considered as an example of a globally altered state of the complex dynamics of the cardiovascular system. Its effects were established through analysis of simultaneous recordings of the electrocardiogram (ECG, respiratory effort, and microvascular blood flow [by laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF]. The signals were analyzed by methods developed to capture time-dependent dynamics, including the wavelet transform, wavelet-based phase coherence, non-linear mode decomposition, and dynamical Bayesian inference, all of which can encompass the inherent frequency and coupling variability of living systems. Phases of oscillatory modes corresponding to the cardiac (around 1.0 Hz, respiratory (around 0.25 Hz, and vascular myogenic activities (around 0.1 Hz were extracted and combined into two coupled networks describing the central and peripheral systems, respectively. The corresponding spectral powers and coupling functions were computed. The same measurements and analyses were performed for three groups of subjects: healthy young (Y group, 24.4 ± 3.4 y, healthy aged (A group, 71.1 ± 6.6 y, and aged treated hypertensive patients (ATH group, 70.3 ± 6.7 y. It was established that the degree of coherence between low-frequency oscillations near 0.1 Hz in blood flow and in HRV time series differs markedly between the groups, declining with age and nearly disappearing in treated hypertension. Comparing the two healthy groups it was found that the couplings to the cardiac rhythm from both respiration and

Effects of a partnership support program for couples undergoing fertility treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Asazawa, Kyoko

2015-10-01

The study's purpose was to examine the effects of providing a partnership support program. It was designed to improve Japanese couples' partnership, maintain quality of life, decrease psychological distress, and improve marital relationship satisfaction while they underwent infertility treatment that included the possibility of using assisted reproductive technology. This quasi-experimental study with a two-group pretest-post-test design used purposive sampling and non-random assignment of 318 consenting Japanese patients from previous phases of assisted reproductive technology fertility treatment who were patients from a fertility clinic in Tokyo, Japan. The intervention group of 152 patients (76 couples) participated in the partnership support program. The comparison group of 166 patients (83 couples) received usual care. Recruitment was age matched. The program provided information and used a participatory-interactive approach to enhance understanding and cooperation in couples undergoing fertility treatment. The main outcome measures were: "partnership", FertiQoL, Quality Marriage Index, and "psychological distress". There were 311 participants (intervention group n = 148; comparison group, n = 163). The intervention group showed significant improvement in the couples' partnerships and a significant decrease in women's psychological distress using subgroup analysis. The partnership support program provided effective improvement in partnership for the couples, and reduced psychological distress for the women; however, it had less impact for the men. The program was not effective in improving couples' overall quality of life (QOL); however, it was effective in improving the "mind-body" aspects of the QOL subscale. © 2015 The Author. Japan Journal of Nursing Science © 2015 Japan Academy of Nursing Science.

Role of nuclear couplings in the inelastic excitation of weakly-bound neutron-rich nuclei

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dasso, C.H. [Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen (Denmark); Lenzi, S.M.; Vitturi, A. [Universita di Padova (Italy)

1996-12-31

Much effort is presently devoted to the study of nuclear systems far from the stability line. Particular emphasis has been placed in light systems such as {sup 11}Li, {sup 8}B and others, where the very small binding energy of the last particles causes their density distribution to extend considerably outside of the remaining nuclear core. Some of the properties associated with this feature are expected to characterize also heavier systems in the vicinity of the proton or neutron drip lines. It is by now well established that low-lying concentrations of multipole strength arise from pure configurations in which a peculiar matching between the wavelength of the continuum wavefunction of the particles and the range of the weakly-bound hole states occurs. To this end the authors consider the break-up of a weakly-bound system in a heavy-ion collision and focus attention in the inelastic excitation of the low-lying part of the continuum. They make use of the fact that previous investigations have shown that the multipole response in this region is not of a collective nature and describe their excited states as pure particle-hole configurations. Since the relevant parameter determining the strength distributions is the binding energy of the last bound orbital they find it most convenient to use single-particle wavefunctions generated by a sperical square-well potential with characteristic nuclear dimensions and whose depth has been adjusted to give rise to a situation in which the last occupied neutron orbital is loosely-bound. Spin-orbit couplings are, for the present purpose, ignored. The results of this investigation clearly indicate that nuclear couplings have the predominant role in causing projectile dissociation in many circumstances, even at bombarding energies remarkably below the Coulomb barrier.

The Role of Cognitive Effort in Framing Effects

OpenAIRE

Krzysztof Przybyszewski; Dorota Rutkowska

2013-01-01

Framing effects are a common bias in people making risky decisions. The account for this bias is found in the loss aversion derived from Prospect Theory. Most often in the decision making literature this is the effortful processes that are claimed to reduce framing effects in risky choice tasks i.e. investing of mental effort should de-bias the decision makers. However, in goal framing studies, effortful mental processes may produce those effects. In our experiment participants were primed wi...

Dopamine does double duty in motivating cognitive effort

Science.gov (United States)

Westbrook, Andrew; Braver, Todd S.

2015-01-01

Cognitive control is subjectively costly, suggesting that engagement is modulated in relationship to incentive state. Dopamine appears to play key roles. In particular, dopamine may mediate cognitive effort by two broad classes of functions: 1) modulating the functional parameters of working memory circuits subserving effortful cognition, and 2) mediating value-learning and decision-making about effortful cognitive action. Here we tie together these two lines of research, proposing how dopamine serves “double duty”, translating incentive information into cognitive motivation. PMID:26889810

DataSpaces: An Interaction and Coordination Framework for Coupled Simulation Workflows

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Docan, Ciprian; Klasky, Scott A.; Parashar, Manish

2010-01-01

Emerging high-performance distributed computing environments are enabling new end-to-end formulations in science and engineering that involve multiple interacting processes and data-intensive application workflows. For example, current fusion simulation efforts are exploring coupled models and codes that simultaneously simulate separate application processes, such as the core and the edge turbulence, and run on different high performance computing resources. These components need to interact, at runtime, with each other and with services for data monitoring, data analysis and visualization, and data archiving. As a result, they require efficient support for dynamic and flexible couplings and interactions, which remains a challenge. This paper presents Data-Spaces, a flexible interaction and coordination substrate that addresses this challenge. DataSpaces essentially implements a semantically specialized virtual shared space abstraction that can be associatively accessed by all components and services in the application workflow. It enables live data to be extracted from running simulation components, indexes this data online, and then allows it to be monitored, queried and accessed by other components and services via the space using semantically meaningful operators. The underlying data transport is asynchronous, low-overhead and largely memory-to-memory. The design, implementation, and experimental evaluation of DataSpaces using a coupled fusion simulation workflow is presented.

Coupled Dictionary Learning for the Detail-Enhanced Synthesis of 3-D Facial Expressions.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Haoran; Liang, Ronghua; Song, Mingli; He, Xiaofei

2016-04-01

The desire to reconstruct 3-D face models with expressions from 2-D face images fosters increasing interest in addressing the problem of face modeling. This task is important and challenging in the field of computer animation. Facial contours and wrinkles are essential to generate a face with a certain expression; however, these details are generally ignored or are not seriously considered in previous studies on face model reconstruction. Thus, we employ coupled radius basis function networks to derive an intermediate 3-D face model from a single 2-D face image. To optimize the 3-D face model further through landmarks, a coupled dictionary that is related to 3-D face models and their corresponding 3-D landmarks is learned from the given training set through local coordinate coding. Another coupled dictionary is then constructed to bridge the 2-D and 3-D landmarks for the transfer of vertices on the face model. As a result, the final 3-D face can be generated with the appropriate expression. In the testing phase, the 2-D input faces are converted into 3-D models that display different expressions. Experimental results indicate that the proposed approach to facial expression synthesis can obtain model details more effectively than previous methods can.

Reduced modular symmetries of threshold corrections and gauge coupling unification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bailin, David; Love, Alex [Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Sussex,Brighton, BN1 9QH (United Kingdom)

2015-04-01

We revisit the question of gauge coupling unification at the string scale in orbifold compactifications of the heterotic string for the supersymmetric Standard Model. In the presence of discrete Wilson lines threshold corrections with modular symmetry that is a subgroup of the full modular group arise. We find that reduced modular symmetries not previously reported are possible. We conjecture that the effects of such threshold corrections can be simulated using sums of terms built from Dedekind eta functions to obtain the appropriate modular symmetry. For the cases of the ℤ{sub 8}-I orbifold and the ℤ{sub 3}×ℤ{sub 6} orbifold it is easily possible to obtain gauge coupling unification at the “observed” scale with Kähler moduli T of approximately one.

Experimental test of the flavor independence of the quark-gluon coupling constant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Althoff, M.; Braunschweig, W.; Kirschfink, F.J.; Luebelsmeyer, K.; Martyn, H.U.; Rimkus, J.; Rosskamp, P.; Sander, H.G.; Schmitz, D.; Siebke, H.; Wallraff, W.; Duchovni, E.; Karshon, U.; Mikenberg, G.; Mir, R.; Revel, D.; Ronat, E.; Shapira, A.; Yekutieli, G.; Baranko, G.; Barklow, T.; Caldwell, A.; Cherney, M.; Izen, J.M.; Mermikides, M.; Rudolph, G.; Strom, D.; Takashima, M.; Venkataramania, H.; Wicklund, E.; Sau Lan Wu; Zobernig, G.; Eisenberg, Y.; Eskreys, A.; Gather, K.; Hultschig, H.; Joos, P.; Koetz, U.; Kowalski, H.; Ladage, A.; Loehr, B.; Lueke, D.; Maettig, P.; Maettig, P.; Notz, D.; Nowak, R.J.; Pyrlik, J.; Rushton, M.; Schuette, W.; Trines, D.; Wolf, G.; Xiao, C.

1984-01-01

Reconstruction of charged Dsup(*)'s produced inclusively in e + e - annhilations at c.m. energies near 34.4 GeV is accomplished in the decay modes Dsup(*+) -> D 0 π + -> K - π + π 0 π + and Dsup(*+) -> D 0 π + -> K - π + π - π + π + and their charge conjugates. Using these and previously reported Dsup(*+) -> D 0 π + -> K - π + π + and Dsup(*+) -> D 0 π + -> K - π + π + + missing π 0 channels we present evidence for hard gluon bremsstrahlung from charm quarks and show that the ratio of the quark-gluon coupling constant of charm quarks to the coupling constant obtained in the average hadronic event, αsub(s)sup(c)/αsub(s) = 1.00 +- 0.20 +- 0.20. Our result provides evidence that the quark-gluon coupling constant is independent of flavor. (orig.)

Progress and challenges in the development and qualification of multi-level multi-physics coupled methodologies for reactor analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ivanov, K.; Avramova, M.

2007-01-01

Current trends in nuclear power generation and regulation as well as the design of next generation reactor concepts along with the continuing computer technology progress stimulate the development, qualification and application of multi-physics multi-scale coupled code systems. The efforts have been focused on extending the analysis capabilities by coupling models, which simulate different phenomena or system components, as well as on refining the scale and level of detail of the coupling. This paper reviews the progress made in this area and outlines the remaining challenges. The discussion is illustrated with examples based on neutronics/thermohydraulics coupling in the reactor core modeling. In both fields recent advances and developments are towards more physics-based high-fidelity simulations, which require implementation of improved and flexible coupling methodologies. First, the progresses in coupling of different physics codes along with the advances in multi-level techniques for coupled code simulations are discussed. Second, the issues related to the consistent qualification of coupled multi-physics and multi-scale code systems for design and safety evaluation are presented. The increased importance of uncertainty and sensitivity analysis are discussed along with approaches to propagate the uncertainty quantification between the codes. The incoming OECD LWR Uncertainty Analysis in Modeling (UAM) benchmark is the first international activity to address this issue and it is described in the paper. Finally, the remaining challenges with multi-physics coupling are outlined. (authors)

Progress and challenges in the development and qualification of multi-level multi-physics coupled methodologies for reactor analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ivanov, K.; Avramova, M. [Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)

2007-07-01

Current trends in nuclear power generation and regulation as well as the design of next generation reactor concepts along with the continuing computer technology progress stimulate the development, qualification and application of multi-physics multi-scale coupled code systems. The efforts have been focused on extending the analysis capabilities by coupling models, which simulate different phenomena or system components, as well as on refining the scale and level of detail of the coupling. This paper reviews the progress made in this area and outlines the remaining challenges. The discussion is illustrated with examples based on neutronics/thermohydraulics coupling in the reactor core modeling. In both fields recent advances and developments are towards more physics-based high-fidelity simulations, which require implementation of improved and flexible coupling methodologies. First, the progresses in coupling of different physics codes along with the advances in multi-level techniques for coupled code simulations are discussed. Second, the issues related to the consistent qualification of coupled multi-physics and multi-scale code systems for design and safety evaluation are presented. The increased importance of uncertainty and sensitivity analysis are discussed along with approaches to propagate the uncertainty quantification between the codes. The incoming OECD LWR Uncertainty Analysis in Modeling (UAM) benchmark is the first international activity to address this issue and it is described in the paper. Finally, the remaining challenges with multi-physics coupling are outlined. (authors)

Couples' cultural values, shared parenting, and family emotional climate within Mexican American families.

Science.gov (United States)

Sotomayor-Peterson, Marcela; Figueredo, Aurelio J; Christensen, Donna H; Taylor, Angela R

2012-06-01

This study tested a model of shared parenting as its centerpiece that incorporates cultural values as predictors and family emotional climate as the outcome variable of interest. We aimed to assess the predictive power of the Mexican cultural values of familismo and simpatia over couples' shared parenting practices. We anticipated that higher levels of shared parenting would predict family emotional climate. The participants were 61 Mexican American, low income couples, with at least one child between 3 and 4 years of age, recruited from a home-based Head Start program. The predictive model demonstrated excellent goodness of fit, supporting the hypothesis that a positive emotional climate within the family is fostered when Mexican American couples practice a sufficient level of shared parenting. Empirical evidence was previously scarce on this proposition. The findings also provide evidence for the role of cultural values, highlighting the importance of family solidarity and avoidance of confrontation as a pathway to shared parenting within Mexican American couples. © FPI, Inc.

Improving the Amazonian Hydrologic Cycle in a Coupled Land-Atmosphere, Single Column Model

Science.gov (United States)

Harper, A. B.; Denning, S.; Baker, I.; Prihodko, L.; Branson, M.

2006-12-01

We have coupled a land-surface model, the Simple Biosphere Model (SiB3), to a single column of the Colorado State University General Circulation Model (CSU-GCM) in the Amazon River Basin. This is a preliminary step in the broader goal of improved simulation of Basin-wide hydrology. A previous version of the coupled model (SiB2) showed drought and catastrophic dieback of the Amazon rain forest. SiB3 includes updated soil hydrology and root physiology. Our test area for the coupled single column model is near Santarem, Brazil, where measurements from the km 83 flux tower in the Tapajos National Forest can be used to evaluate model output. The model was run for 2001 using NCEP2 Reanalysis as driver data. Preliminary results show that the updated biosphere model coupled to the GCM produces improved simulations of the seasonal cycle of surface water balance and precipitation. Comparisons of the diurnal and seasonal cycles of surface fluxes are also being made.

The reduction of structural acoustic coupling in car bodies

OpenAIRE

Richards, T. L.

1982-01-01

The nature of sound in cars is discussed in the light of previous experimental and theoretical work, and the major contributions to interior noise are identified. The acoustic field inside a vibrating structure is analysed theoretically in terms of the acoustic cavity modes and the structural modes, and it is shown that'reduction of structural-acoustic coupling could reduce the response for a wide variety of force inputs. Finite element analyses of prismatic acoustic cavi...

Bodily Effort Enhances Learning and Metacognition: Investigating the Relation Between Physical Effort and Cognition Using Dual-Process Models of Embodiment.

Science.gov (United States)

Skulmowski, Alexander; Rey, Günter Daniel

2017-01-01

Recent embodiment research revealed that cognitive processes can be influenced by bodily cues. Some of these cues were found to elicit disparate effects on cognition. For instance, weight sensations can inhibit problem-solving performance, but were shown to increase judgments regarding recall probability (judgments of learning; JOLs) in memory tasks. We investigated the effects of physical effort on learning and metacognition by conducting two studies in which we varied whether a backpack was worn or not while 20 nouns were to be learned. Participants entered a JOL for each word and completed a recall test. Experiment 1 ( N = 18) revealed that exerting physical effort by wearing a backpack led to higher JOLs for easy nouns, without a notable effect on difficult nouns. Participants who wore a backpack reached higher recall scores. Therefore, physical effort may act as a form of desirable difficulty during learning. In Experiment 2 ( N = 30), the influence of physical effort on JOL s and learning disappeared when more difficult nouns were to be learned, implying that a high cognitive load may diminish bodily effects. These findings suggest that physical effort mainly influences superficial modes of thought and raise doubts concerning the explanatory power of metaphor-centered accounts of embodiment for higher-level cognition.

Global Effects of Superparameterization on Hydrothermal Land-Atmosphere Coupling on Multiple Timescales

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Hongchen; Pritchard, Michael S.; Kooperman, Gabriel J.; Parishani, Hossein

2018-02-01

Many conventional General Circulation Models (GCMs) in the Global Land-Atmosphere Coupling Experiment (GLACE) tend to produce what is now recognized as overly strong land-atmosphere (L-A) coupling. We investigate the effects of cloud Superparameterization (SP) on L-A coupling on timescales beyond diurnal where it has been recently shown to have a favorable muting effect hydrologically. Using the Community Atmosphere Model v3.5 (CAM3.5) and its Superparameterized counterpart SPCAM3.5, we conducted soil moisture interference experiments following the GLACE and Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP) protocols. The results show that, on weekly-to-subseasonal timescales, SP also mutes hydrologic L-A coupling. This is detectable globally, and happens through the evapotranspiration-precipitation segment. But on seasonal timescales, SP does not exhibit detectable effects on hydrologic L-A coupling. Two robust regional effects of SP on thermal L-A coupling have also been explored. Over the Arabian Peninsula, SP reduces thermal L-A coupling through a straightforward control by mean rainfall reduction. More counterintuitively, over the Southwestern US and Northern Mexico, SP enhances the thermal L-A coupling in a way that is independent of rainfall and soil moisture. This signal is associated with a systematic and previously unrecognized effect of SP that produces an amplified Bowen ratio, and is detectable in multiple SP model versions and experiment designs. In addition to amplifying the present-day Bowen ratio, SP is found to amplify the climate sensitivity of Bowen ratio as well, which likely plays a role in influencing climate change predictions at the L-A interface.

Dynamics of Time Delay-Induced Multiple Synchronous Behaviors in Inhibitory Coupled Neurons

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Huaguang; Zhao, Zhiguo

2015-01-01

The inhibitory synapse can induce synchronous behaviors different from the anti-phase synchronous behaviors, which have been reported in recent studies. In the present paper, synchronous behaviors are investigated in the motif model composed of reciprocal inhibitory coupled neurons with endogenous bursting and time delay. When coupling strength is weak, synchronous behavior appears at a single interval of time delay within a bursting period. When coupling strength is strong, multiple synchronous behaviors appear at different intervals of time delay within a bursting period. The different bursting patterns of synchronous behaviors, and time delays and coupling strengths that can induce the synchronous bursting patterns can be well interpreted by the dynamics of the endogenous bursting pattern of isolated neuron, which is acquired by the fast-slow dissection method, combined with the inhibitory coupling current. For an isolated neuron, when a negative impulsive current with suitable strength is applied at different phases of the bursting, multiple different bursting patterns can be induced. For a neuron in the motif, the inhibitory coupling current, of which the application time and strength is modulated by time delay and coupling strength, can cause single or multiple synchronous firing patterns like the negative impulsive current when time delay and coupling strength is suitable. The difference compared to the previously reported multiple synchronous behaviors that appear at time delays wider than a period of the endogenous firing is discussed. The results present novel examples of synchronous behaviors in the neuronal network with inhibitory synapses and provide a reasonable explanation. PMID:26394224

Coupling detrended fluctuation analysis for analyzing coupled nonstationary signals

Science.gov (United States)

Hedayatifar, L.; Vahabi, M.; Jafari, G. R.

2011-08-01

When many variables are coupled to each other, a single case study could not give us thorough and precise information. When these time series are stationary, different methods of random matrix analysis and complex networks can be used. But, in nonstationary cases, the multifractal-detrended-cross-correlation-analysis (MF-DXA) method was introduced for just two coupled time series. In this article, we have extended the MF-DXA to the method of coupling detrended fluctuation analysis (CDFA) for the case when more than two series are correlated to each other. Here, we have calculated the multifractal properties of the coupled time series, and by comparing CDFA results of the original series with those of the shuffled and surrogate series, we can estimate the source of multifractality and the extent to which our series are coupled to each other. We illustrate the method by selected examples from air pollution and foreign exchange rates.

On Yang--Mills Theories with Chiral Matter at Strong Coupling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shifman, M.; /Minnesota U., Theor. Phys. Inst. /Saclay, SPhT; Unsal, Mithat; /SLAC /Stanford U., Phys. Dept.

2008-08-20

Strong coupling dynamics of Yang-Mills theories with chiral fermion content remained largely elusive despite much effort over the years. In this work, we propose a dynamical framework in which we can address non-perturbative properties of chiral, non-supersymmetric gauge theories, in particular, chiral quiver theories on S{sub 1} x R{sub 3}. Double-trace deformations are used to stabilize the center-symmetric vacuum. This allows one to smoothly connect smaller(S{sub 1}) to larger(S{sub 1}) physics (R{sub 4} is the limiting case) where the double-trace deformations are switched off. In particular, occurrence of the mass gap in the gauge sector and linear confinement due to bions are analytically demonstrated. We find the pattern of the chiral symmetry realization which depends on the structure of the ring operators, a novel class of topological excitations. The deformed chiral theory, unlike the undeformed one, satisfies volume independence down to arbitrarily small volumes (a working Eguchi-Kawai reduction) in the large N limit. This equivalence, may open new perspectives on strong coupling chiral gauge theories on R{sub 4}.

Seniority zero pair coupled cluster doubles theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stein, Tamar; Henderson, Thomas M.; Scuseria, Gustavo E.

2014-01-01

Coupled cluster theory with single and double excitations accurately describes weak electron correlation but is known to fail in cases of strong static correlation. Fascinatingly, however, pair coupled cluster doubles (p-CCD), a simplified version of the theory limited to pair excitations that preserve the seniority of the reference determinant (i.e., the number of unpaired electrons), has mean field computational cost and is an excellent approximation to the full configuration interaction (FCI) of the paired space provided that the orbital basis defining the pairing scheme is adequately optimized. In previous work, we have shown that optimization of the pairing scheme in the seniority zero FCI leads to a very accurate description of static correlation. The same conclusion extends to p-CCD if the orbitals are optimized to make the p-CCD energy stationary. We here demonstrate these results with numerous examples. We also explore the contributions of different seniority sectors to the coupled cluster doubles (CCD) correlation energy using different orbital bases. We consider both Hartree-Fock and Brueckner orbitals, and the role of orbital localization. We show how one can pair the orbitals so that the role of the Brueckner orbitals at the CCD level is retained at the p-CCD level. Moreover, we explore ways of extending CCD to accurately describe strongly correlated systems

Pandemic Influenza: Domestic Preparedness Efforts

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Lister, Sarah A

2005-01-01

.... Though influenza pandemics occur with some regularity, and the United States has been involved in specific planning efforts since the early 1990s, the H5N1 situation has created a sense of urgency...

Requirements for guidelines systems: implementation challenges and lessons from existing software-engineering efforts.

Science.gov (United States)

Shah, Hemant; Allard, Raymond D; Enberg, Robert; Krishnan, Ganesh; Williams, Patricia; Nadkarni, Prakash M

2012-03-09

A large body of work in the clinical guidelines field has identified requirements for guideline systems, but there are formidable challenges in translating such requirements into production-quality systems that can be used in routine patient care. Detailed analysis of requirements from an implementation perspective can be useful in helping define sub-requirements to the point where they are implementable. Further, additional requirements emerge as a result of such analysis. During such an analysis, study of examples of existing, software-engineering efforts in non-biomedical fields can provide useful signposts to the implementer of a clinical guideline system. In addition to requirements described by guideline-system authors, comparative reviews of such systems, and publications discussing information needs for guideline systems and clinical decision support systems in general, we have incorporated additional requirements related to production-system robustness and functionality from publications in the business workflow domain, in addition to drawing on our own experience in the development of the Proteus guideline system (http://proteme.org). The sub-requirements are discussed by conveniently grouping them into the categories used by the review of Isern and Moreno 2008. We cite previous work under each category and then provide sub-requirements under each category, and provide example of similar work in software-engineering efforts that have addressed a similar problem in a non-biomedical context. When analyzing requirements from the implementation viewpoint, knowledge of successes and failures in related software-engineering efforts can guide implementers in the choice of effective design and development strategies.

Coupled full core neutron transport/CFD simulations of pressurized water reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kochunas, B.; Stimpson, S.; Collins, B.; Downar, T.; Brewster, R.; Baglietto, E.; Yan, J.

2012-01-01

Recently as part of the CASL project, a capability to perform 3D whole-core coupled neutron transport and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations was demonstrated. This work uses the 2D/1D transport code DeCART and the commercial CFD code STAR-CCM+. It builds on previous CASL work demonstrating coupling for smaller spatial domains. The coupling methodology is described along with the problem simulated and results are presented for fresh hot full power conditions. An additional comparison is made to an equivalent model that uses lower order T/H feedback to assess the importance and cost of high fidelity feedback to the neutronics problem. A simulation of a quarter core Combustion Engineering (CE) PWR core was performed with the coupled codes using a Fixed Point Gauss-Seidel iteration technique. The total approximate calculation requirements are nearly 10,000 CPU hours and 1 TB of memory. The problem took 6 coupled iterations to converge. The CFD coupled model and low order T/H feedback model compared well for global solution parameters, with a difference in the critical boron concentration and average outlet temperature of 14 ppm B and 0.94 deg. C, respectively. Differences in the power distribution were more significant with maximum relative differences in the core-wide pin peaking factor (Fq) of 5.37% and average relative differences in flat flux region power of 11.54%. Future work will focus on analyzing problems more relevant to CASL using models with less approximations. (authors)

Knowledge, attitude, and practices of infertility among Saudi couples.

Science.gov (United States)

Abolfotouh, Mostafa A; Alabdrabalnabi, Abdullah A; Albacker, Rehab B; Al-Jughaiman, Umar A; Hassan, Samar N

2013-01-01

Infertility places a huge psychological burden on infertile couples, especially for women. Greater knowledge of the factors affecting fertility may help to decrease the incidence of infertility by allowing couples to avoid certain risk factors. The aim of our study was (1) to assess the knowledge and attitudes of infertile and fertile Saudi participants on infertility, possible risk factors, and social consequences; and (2) to determine the practices of infertile Saudi couples to promote their fertility before having them attend an in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinic. We conducted a cross-sectional study on 277 fertile participants from outpatient clinics and 104 infertile patients from the IVF clinic at King Abdulaziz Medical City between June 24, 2012 and July 4, 2012, using a previously validated interview questionnaire. Descriptive and analytical statistics were applied with a significance threshold of P ≤ 0.05. A generally poor level of knowledge (59%) and a neutral attitude (76%) toward infertility were reported by participants. Mistaken beliefs commonly held by the study participants regarding the causes of infertility were Djinns and supernatural causes (58.8%), black magic (67.5%), intrauterine devices (71.3%), and contraceptive pills (42.9%). The healer/Sheikh was reported as the primary and secondary preference for infertility treatment by 6.7% and 44.2% of IVF patients, respectively. Compared with fertile patients, IVF patients were significantly less likely to favor divorce (38.5% versus 57.6%; P = 0.001) or marriage to a second wife (62.5% versus 86.2%; P < 0.001), if the woman could not have a baby. The patients with infertility had more favorable attitudes toward fertility drugs (87.5% versus 68.4%; P = 0.003) and having a test tube baby (92.4% versus 70.3%; P < 0.001). Child adoption was accepted as an option for treatment by the majority of IVF patients (60.6%) and fertile outpatients (71.5%). Alternative treatments previously practiced by the

Three-mode resonant coupling of collective excitations in a Bose-Einstein condensate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma Yongli; Huang, Guoxiang; Hu Bambi

2005-01-01

We make a systematic study of the resonant mode coupling of the collective excitations at zero temperature in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). (i) Based on the Gross-Pitaevskii equation we derive a set of nonlinearly coupled envelope equations for a three-mode resonant interaction (TMRI) by means of a method of multiple scales. (ii) We calculate the coupling matrix elements for the TMRI and show that the divergence appearing in previous studies can be eliminated completely by using a Fetter-like variational approximation for the ground-state wave function of the condensate. (iii) We provide the selection rules in mode-mode interaction processes [including TMRI and second-harmonic generation (SHG)] according to the symmetry of the excitations. (iv) By solving the nonlinearly coupled envelope equations we obtain divergence-free nonlinear amplitudes for the TMRI and SHG processes and show that our theoretical results on the shape oscillations of the condensate agree well with the experimental ones. We suggest also an experiment to check the theoretical prediction of the present study on the TMRI of collective excitations in a BEC

SAID analysis of meson photoproduction: Determination of neutron and proton EM couplings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Strakovsky Igor

2014-06-01

Full Text Available We present an overview of the GW SAID group effort to analyze on new pion photoproduction on both proton- and neutron-targets. The main database contribution came from the recent CLAS and MAMI unpolarized and polarized measurements. The differential cross section for the processes γn → π−p was extracted from new measurements accounting for Fermi motion effects in the impulse approximation (IA as well as NN- and πN effects beyond the IA. The electromagnetic coupling results are compared to other recent studies.

Job Satisfaction, Effort, and Performance: A Reasoned Action Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Icek Ajzen

2011-12-01

Full Text Available In this article the author takes issue with the recurrent reliance on job satisfaction to explain job-related effort and performance.  The disappointing findings in this tradition are explained by lack of compatibility between job satisfaction–-a very broad attitude–-and the more specific effort and performance criteria.  Moreover, attempts to apply the expectancy-value model of attitude to explore the determinants of effort and performance suffer from reliance on unrepresentative sets of beliefs about the likely consequences of these behaviors.  The theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991, 2012, with its emphasis on the proximal antecedents of job effort and performance, is offered as an alternative.  According to the theory, intentions to exert effort and to attain a certain performance level are determined by attitudes, subjective norms, and perceptions of control in relation to these behaviors; and these variables, in turn, are a function of readily accessible beliefs about the likely outcomes of effort and performance, about the normative expectations of important others, and about factors that facilitate or hinder effective performance.

Temporal coupled mode analysis of one-dimensional magneto-photonic crystals with cavity structures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saghirzadeh Darki, Behnam, E-mail: b.saghirzadeh@ec.iut.ac.ir; Zeidaabadi Nezhad, Abolghasem; Firouzeh, Zaker Hossein

2016-12-01

In this paper, we propose the time-dependent coupled mode analysis of one-dimensional magneto-photonic crystals including one, two or multiple defect layers. The performance of the structures, namely the total transmission, Faraday rotation and ellipticity, is obtained using the proposed method. The results of the developed analytic approach are verified by comparing them to the results of the exact numerical transfer matrix method. Unlike the widely used numerical method, our proposed analytic method seems promising for the synthesis as well as the analysis purposes. Moreover, the proposed method has not the restrictions of the previously examined analytic methods. - Highlights: • A time-dependent coupled mode analysis is proposed for the cavity-type 1D MPCs. • Analytical formalism is presented for the single, double and multiple-defect MPCs. • Transmission, Faraday rotation and ellipticity are gained using the proposed method. • The proposed analytic method has advantages over the previously examined methods.

Developments in coupled solid-phase extraction-capillary electrophoresis 2013-2015.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramautar, Rawi; Somsen, Govert W; de Jong, Gerhardus J

2016-01-01

An overview of the design and application of coupled solid-phase extraction-capillary electrophoresis (SPE-CE) systems reported in the literature between July 2013 and June 2015 is provided in this paper. The present article is a continuation of our previous review papers on this topic which covered the time period 2000-2013 (Electrophoresis 2008, 29, 108-128; Electrophoresis 2010, 31, 44-54; Electrophoresis 2012, 33, 243-250; Electrophoresis 2014, 35, 128-137). The use of in-line and on-line SPE-CE approaches is treated and outlined in this review. Recent advancements, such as, for example, the use of aptamers as affinity material for in-line SPE-CE, the use of a bead string design for in-line fritless SPE-CE, and new interfacing techniques for the on-line coupling of SPE to CE, are outlined. Selected examples demonstrate the applicability of the coupled SPE-CE systems for biomedical, pharmaceutical, environmental, and food studies. A complete overview of the recent SPE-CE studies is given in table format, providing information on sample type, SPE sorbent, coupling mode, detection mode, and LOD. Finally, some general conclusions and perspectives are provided. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Nonlinear mode coupling in rotating stars and the r-mode instability in neutron stars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schenk, A.K.; Arras, P.; Flanagan, E.E.; Teukolsky, S.A.; Wasserman, I.

2002-01-01

We develop the formalism required to study the nonlinear interaction of modes in rotating Newtonian stars, assuming that the mode amplitudes are only mildly nonlinear. The formalism is simpler than previous treatments of mode-mode interactions for spherical stars, and simplifies and corrects previous treatments for rotating stars. At linear order, we elucidate and extend slightly a formalism due to Schutz, show how to decompose a general motion of a rotating star into a sum over modes, and obtain uncoupled equations of motion for the mode amplitudes under the influence of an external force. Nonlinear effects are added perturbatively via three-mode couplings, which suffices for moderate amplitude modal excitations; the formalism is easy to extend to higher order couplings. We describe a new, efficient way to compute the modal coupling coefficients, to zeroth order in the stellar rotation rate, using spin-weighted spherical harmonics. The formalism is general enough to allow computation of the initial trends in the evolution of the spin frequency and differential rotation of the background star. We apply this formalism to derive some properties of the coupling coefficients relevant to the nonlinear interactions of unstable r modes in neutron stars, postponing numerical integrations of the coupled equations of motion to a later paper. First, we clarify some aspects of the expansion in stellar rotation frequency Ω that is often used to compute approximate mode functions. We show that, in zero-buoyancy stars, the rotational modes (those modes whose frequencies vanish as Ω→0) are orthogonal to zeroth order in Ω. From an astrophysical viewpoint, the most interesting result of this paper is that many couplings of r modes to other rotational modes are small: either they vanish altogether because of various selection rules, or they vanish to lowest order in Ω or in compressibility. In particular, in zero-buoyancy stars, the coupling of three r modes is forbidden

Task difficulty, risk, effort and comfort in a simulated driving task--Implications for Risk Allostasis Theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis-Evans, Ben; Rothengatter, Talib

2009-09-01

Risk Allostasis Theory states that drivers seek to maintain a feeling of risk within a preferred range [Fuller, R., 2008. What drives the driver? Surface tensions and hidden consensus. In: Keynote at the 4th International Conference on Traffic and Transport Psychology, Washington, DC, August 31-September 4, 2008]. Risk Allostasis Theory is the latest version of Task-Difficulty Homeostasis theory, and is in part based on the findings of experiments where participants were asked to rate the task difficulty, feeling of risk and chance of collision of scenes shown in digitally altered video clips [Fuller, R., McHugh, C., Pender, S., 2008b. Task difficulty and risk in the determination of driver behaviour. Revue européenne de psychologie appliqée 58, 13-21]. The focus of the current research was to expand upon the previous video based experiments using a driving simulator. This allowed participants to be in control of the vehicle rather than acting as passive observers, as well as providing additional speed cues. The results support previous findings that ratings of task difficulty and feeling of risk are related, and that they are also highly related to ratings of effort and moderately related to ratings of comfort and habit. However, the linearly increasing trend for task difficulty and feeling of risk described by the previous research was not observed: instead the findings of this experiment support a threshold effect where ratings of risk (feeling of and chance of loss of control/collision), difficulty, effort, and comfort go through a period of stability and only start to increase once a certain threshold has been crossed. It is within the period of stability where subjective experience of risk and difficulty is low, or absent, that drivers generally prefer to operate.

Posttraumatic stress disorder and responses to couple conflict: implications for cardiovascular risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Caska, Catherine M; Smith, Timothy W; Renshaw, Keith D; Allen, Steven N; Uchino, Bert N; Birmingham, Wendy; Carlisle, McKenzie

2014-11-01

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and difficulties in intimate relationships. Greater frequency and severity of couple conflict and greater cardiovascular reactivity to such conflict might contribute to CHD risk in those with PTSD, but affective and physiological responses to couple conflict have not been examined previously in this population. In a preliminary test of this hypothesis, 32 male veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars with PTSD and their female partners, and 33 control male veterans without PTSD and their female partners completed relationship quality assessments and a conflict discussion task. PTSD diagnosis was confirmed through diagnostic interviews and questionnaires. State anger, state anxiety, and cardiovascular measures (i.e., blood pressure, heart rate) were recorded during baseline and the conflict discussion. Compared with controls, PTSD couples reported greater couple conflict and less warmth, and displayed pronounced increases in anger and greater increases in systolic blood pressure in response to the conflict task (all ps conflict in veterans with PTSD and their partners. PTSD was associated with greater frequency and severity of couple conflict, and greater anger and cardiovascular reactivity to conflict discussions. Anger and physiological responses to couple discord might contribute to CHD risk in veterans with PTSD, and perhaps their partners, as well. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

The Bekenstein bound in strongly coupled O(N) scalar field theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magalhaes, T. Santos; Svaiter, N.F.; Menezes, G.

2009-09-01

We discuss the O(N) self-interacting scalar field theory, in the strong-coupling regime and also in the limit of large N. Considering that the system is in thermal equilibrium with a reservoir at temperature β -1 , we assume the presence of macroscopic boundaries conning the field in a hypercube of side L. Using the strong-coupling perturbative expansion, we generalize previous results, i.e., we obtain the renormalized mean energy E and entropy S for the system in rst order of the strong-coupling perturbative expansion, presenting an analytical proof that the specific entropy also satisfies in some situations a quantum bound. When considering the low temperature behavior of the specific entropy, the sign of the renormalized zero-point energy can invalidate this quantum bound. If the renormalized zero point-energy is a positive quantity, at intermediate temperatures and in the low temperature limit, there is a quantum bound. (author)

VHTR core modeling: coupling between neutronic and thermal-hydraulics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Limaiem, I.; Damian, F.; Raepsaet, X.; Studer, E.

2005-01-01

Following the present interest in the next generation nuclear power plan (NGNP), Cea is deploying special effort to develop new models and qualify its research tools for this next generation reactors core. In this framework, the Very High Temperature Reactor concept (VHTR) has an increasing place in the actual research program. In such type of core, a strong interaction exists between neutronic and thermal-hydraulics. Consequently, the global core modelling requires accounting for the temperature feedback in the neutronic models. The purpose of this paper is to present the new neutronic and thermal-hydraulics coupling model dedicated to the High Temperature Reactors (HTR). The coupling model integrates a new version of the neutronic scheme calculation developed in collaboration between Cea and Framatome-ANP. The neutronic calculations are performed using a specific calculation processes based on the APOLLO2 transport code and CRONOS2 diffusion code which are part of the French reactor physics code system SAPHYR. The thermal-hydraulics model is characterised by an equivalent porous media and 1-D fluid/3-D thermal model implemented in the CAST3M/ARCTURUS code. The porous media approach involves the definition of both homogenous and heterogeneous models to ensure a correct temperature feedback. This study highlights the sensitivity of the coupling system's parameters (radial/axial meshing and data exchange strategy between neutronic and thermal-hydraulics code). The parameters sensitivity study leads to the definition of an optimal coupling system specification for the VHTR. Besides, this work presents the first physical analysis of the VHTR core in steady-state condition. The analysis gives information about the 3-D power peaking and the temperature coefficient. Indeed, it covers different core configurations with different helium distribution in the core bypass. (authors)

Impact of dispersed coupling strength on the free running periods of circadian rhythms

Science.gov (United States)

Gu, Changgui; Rohling, Jos H. T.; Liang, Xiaoming; Yang, Huijie

2016-03-01

The dominant endogenous clock, named the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), regulates circadian rhythms of behavioral and physiological activity in mammals. One of the main characteristics of the SCN is that the animal maintains a circadian rhythm with a period close to 24 h in the absence of a daily light-dark cycle (called the free running period). The free running period varies among species due to heterogeneity of the SCN network. Previous studies have shown that the heterogeneity in cellular coupling as well as in intrinsic neuronal periods shortens the free running period. Furthermore, as derived from experiments, one neuron's coupling strength is negatively associated with its period. It is unknown what the effects of this association between coupling strength and period are on the free running period and how the heterogeneity in coupling strength influences this free running period. In the present study we found that in the presence of a negative relationship between one neuron's coupling strength and its period, surprisingly, the dispersion of coupling strengths increases the free running period. Our present finding may shed new light on the understanding of the heterogeneous SCN network and provides an alternative explanation for the diversity of free running periods between species.

DECOVALEX - Mathematical models of coupled T-H-M processes for nuclear waste repositories. Executive summary for Phases I,II and III

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jing, L.; Stephansson, O.; Tsang, C.F.; Kautsky, F.

1996-06-01

This executive summary presents the motivation, structure, objectives, methodologies and results of the first stage of the international DECOVALEX project - DECOVALEX I (1992-1995). The acronym stands for Development of Coupled Models and their Validation against Experiment in Nuclear Waste Isolation, and the project is an international effort to develop mathematical models, numerical methods and computer codes for coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical processes in fractured rocks and buffer materials for geological isolation of spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive wastes, and validate them against laboratory and field experiments. 24 refs

With Iterative and Bosonized Coupling towards Fundamental Particle Properties

CERN Document Server

Binder, B

2002-01-01

Previous results have shown that the linear topological potential-to-phase relationship (well known from Josephson junctions) is the key to iterative coupling and non-perturbative bosonization of the 2 two-spinor Dirac equation. In this paper those results are combined to approach the nature of proton, neutron, and electron via extrapolations from the Planck scale to the System of Units (SI). The electron acts as a bosonizing bridge between opposite parity topological currents. The resulting potentials and masses are based on a fundamental soliton mass limit and two iteratively obtained coupling constants where one is the fine structure constant. The simple non-perturbative and relativistic results are within measurement uncertainty and show a very high significance. The deviation for the proton and electron masses are approximately 1 ppb (10^-9), for the neutron 4 ppb.

Nonadiabatic rate constants for proton transfer and proton-coupled electron transfer reactions in solution: Effects of quadratic term in the vibronic coupling expansion.

Science.gov (United States)

Soudackov, Alexander V; Hammes-Schiffer, Sharon

2015-11-21

Rate constant expressions for vibronically nonadiabatic proton transfer and proton-coupled electron transfer reactions are presented and analyzed. The regimes covered include electronically adiabatic and nonadiabatic reactions, as well as high-frequency and low-frequency proton donor-acceptor vibrational modes. These rate constants differ from previous rate constants derived with the cumulant expansion approach in that the logarithmic expansion of the vibronic coupling in terms of the proton donor-acceptor distance includes a quadratic as well as a linear term. The analysis illustrates that inclusion of this quadratic term in the framework of the cumulant expansion framework may significantly impact the rate constants at high temperatures for proton transfer interfaces with soft proton donor-acceptor modes that are associated with small force constants and weak hydrogen bonds. The effects of the quadratic term may also become significant in these regimes when using the vibronic coupling expansion in conjunction with a thermal averaging procedure for calculating the rate constant. In this case, however, the expansion of the coupling can be avoided entirely by calculating the couplings explicitly for the range of proton donor-acceptor distances sampled. The effects of the quadratic term for weak hydrogen-bonding systems are less significant for more physically realistic models that prevent the sampling of unphysical short proton donor-acceptor distances. Additionally, the rigorous relation between the cumulant expansion and thermal averaging approaches is clarified. In particular, the cumulant expansion rate constant includes effects from dynamical interference between the proton donor-acceptor and solvent motions and becomes equivalent to the thermally averaged rate constant when these dynamical effects are neglected. This analysis identifies the regimes in which each rate constant expression is valid and thus will be important for future applications to proton

Nonadiabatic rate constants for proton transfer and proton-coupled electron transfer reactions in solution: Effects of quadratic term in the vibronic coupling expansion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soudackov, Alexander V.; Hammes-Schiffer, Sharon

2015-01-01

Rate constant expressions for vibronically nonadiabatic proton transfer and proton-coupled electron transfer reactions are presented and analyzed. The regimes covered include electronically adiabatic and nonadiabatic reactions, as well as high-frequency and low-frequency proton donor-acceptor vibrational modes. These rate constants differ from previous rate constants derived with the cumulant expansion approach in that the logarithmic expansion of the vibronic coupling in terms of the proton donor-acceptor distance includes a quadratic as well as a linear term. The analysis illustrates that inclusion of this quadratic term in the framework of the cumulant expansion framework may significantly impact the rate constants at high temperatures for proton transfer interfaces with soft proton donor-acceptor modes that are associated with small force constants and weak hydrogen bonds. The effects of the quadratic term may also become significant in these regimes when using the vibronic coupling expansion in conjunction with a thermal averaging procedure for calculating the rate constant. In this case, however, the expansion of the coupling can be avoided entirely by calculating the couplings explicitly for the range of proton donor-acceptor distances sampled. The effects of the quadratic term for weak hydrogen-bonding systems are less significant for more physically realistic models that prevent the sampling of unphysical short proton donor-acceptor distances. Additionally, the rigorous relation between the cumulant expansion and thermal averaging approaches is clarified. In particular, the cumulant expansion rate constant includes effects from dynamical interference between the proton donor-acceptor and solvent motions and becomes equivalent to the thermally averaged rate constant when these dynamical effects are neglected. This analysis identifies the regimes in which each rate constant expression is valid and thus will be important for future applications to proton

Application of a generalized interface module to the coupling of PARCS with both RELAP5 and TRAC-M

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barber, D.A.; Wang, W. [SCIENTECH, Inc. (United States); Miller, R.M.; Downar, T.J. [Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States); Joo, H.G. [Korean Atomic Energy Research Inst., Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Mousseau, V.A. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States); Ebert, D.E. [Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)

1999-04-01

In an effort to more easily assess various combinations of 3-D neutronic/thermal-hydraulic codes, the USNRC has sponsored the development of a generalized interface module for the coupling of any thermal-hydraulics code to any spatial kinetics code. In this design, the thermal-hydraulics, general interface, and spatial kinetics codes function independently and utilize the Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM) software to manage inter-process communication. Using this interface, the USNRC version of the 3D neutron kinetics code, PARCS, has been coupled to the USNRC system analysis codes RELAP5 and TRAC-M. RELAP5/PARCS assessment results are presented for an OECD/NEA main steam line break benchmark problem. The assessment of TRAC-M/PARCS has only recently been initiated; nonetheless, the capabilities of the coupled code are presented for the OECD/NEA main steam line break benchmark problem.

Coupling a Transient Solvent Extraction Module with the Separations and Safeguards Performance Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

de Almeida, Valmor F [ORNL; Birdwell Jr, Joseph F [ORNL; DePaoli, David W [ORNL; Gauld, Ian C [ORNL

2009-10-01

A past difficulty in safeguards design for reprocessing plants is that no code existed for analysis and evaluation of the design. A number of codes have been developed in the past, but many are dated, and no single code is able to cover all aspects of materials accountancy, process monitoring, and diversion scenario analysis. The purpose of this work was to integrate a transient solvent extraction simulation module developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with the SSPM Separations and Safeguards Performance Model, developed at Sandia National Laboratory, as a first step toward creating a more versatile design and evaluation tool. The SSPM was designed for materials accountancy and process monitoring analyses, but previous versions of the code have included limited detail on the chemical processes, including chemical separations. The transient solvent extraction model is based on the ORNL SEPHIS code approach to consider solute build up in a bank of contactors in the PUREX process. Combined, these capabilities yield a much more robust transient separations and safeguards model for evaluating safeguards system design. This coupling and the initial results are presented. In addition, some observations toward further enhancement of separations and safeguards modeling based on this effort are provided, including: items to be addressed in integrating legacy codes, additional improvements needed for a fully functional solvent extraction module, and recommendations for future integration of other chemical process modules.

Anticipation of a mentally effortful task recruits Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex: An fNIRS validation study.

Science.gov (United States)

Vassena, Eliana; Gerrits, Robin; Demanet, Jelle; Verguts, Tom; Siugzdaite, Roma

2018-04-26

Preparing for a mentally demanding task calls upon cognitive and motivational resources. The underlying neural implementation of these mechanisms is receiving growing attention because of its implications for professional, social, and medical contexts. While several fMRI studies converge in assigning a crucial role to a cortico-subcortical network including Anterior Cigulate Cortex (ACC) and striatum, the involvement of Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex (DLPFC) during mental effort anticipation has yet to be replicated. This study was designed to target DLPFC contribution to anticipation of a difficult task using functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), as a more cost-effective tool measuring cortical hemodynamics. We adapted a validated mental effort task, where participants performed easy and difficult mental calculation, and measured DLPFC activity during the anticipation phase. As hypothesized, DLPFC activity increased during anticipation of a hard task as compared to an easy task. Besides replicating previous fMRI work, these results establish fNIRS as an effective tool to investigate cortical contributions to anticipation of effortful behavior. This is especially useful if one requires testing large samples (e.g., to target individual differences), populations with contraindication for functional MRI (e.g., infants or patients with metal implants), or subjects in more naturalistic environments (e.g., work or sport). Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Critical Coupling Between Optical Fibers and WGM Resonators

Science.gov (United States)

Matsko, Andrey; Maleki, Lute; Itchenko, Vladimir; Savchenkov, Anatoliy

2009-01-01

Two recipes for ensuring critical coupling between a single-mode optical fiber and a whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) optical resonator have been devised. The recipes provide for phase matching and aperture matching, both of which are necessary for efficient coupling. There is also a provision for suppressing intermodal coupling, which is detrimental because it drains energy from desired modes into undesired ones. According to one recipe, the tip of the single-mode optical fiber is either tapered in diameter or tapered in effective diameter by virtue of being cleaved at an oblique angle. The effective index of refraction and the phase velocity at a given position along the taper depend on the diameter (or effective diameter) and the index of refraction of the bulk fiber material. As the diameter (or effective diameter) decreases with decreasing distance from the tip, the effective index of refraction also decreases. Critical coupling and phase matching can be achieved by placing the optical fiber and the resonator in contact at the proper point along the taper. This recipe is subject to the limitation that the attainable effective index of refraction lies between the indices of refraction of the bulk fiber material and the atmosphere or vacuum to which the resonator and fiber are exposed. The other recipe involves a refinement of the previously developed technique of prism coupling, in which the light beam from the optical fiber is collimated and focused onto one surface of a prism that has an index of refraction greater than that of the resonator. Another surface of the prism is placed in contact with the resonator. The various components are arranged so that the collimated beam is focused at the prism/resonator contact spot. The recipe includes the following additional provisions:

Themes addressed by couples with advanced cancer during a communication skills training intervention.

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, Laura S; Fish, Laura; Steinhauser, Karen

2018-04-25

Couple-based communication interventions have beneficial effects for patients with cancer and their partners. However, few studies have targeted patients with advanced stages of disease and little is known about how best to assist couples in discussing issues related to life-limiting illness. The purpose of the present study was to identify themes couples addressed during a couple communication skills intervention, and the frequency with which they discussed issues related to end-of-life. Content analyses were conducted on recordings of 72 sessions from 12 couples facing advanced gastrointestinal (GI) cancer. Coding was based six themes identified a priori from the framework for understanding what patients and family value at end of life. The percent of couples addressing each theme was calculated to gauge level of importance and acceptability of these topics. The majority of couples addressed topics previously identified as salient at end-of-life, including clear decision making, affirmation of the whole person, pain and symptom management, contributing to others, and preparation for death. In addition, novel aspects to these themes emerged in the context of couples' conversations, illustrating the importance of the couple relationship in adjusting to life with a life-limiting illness and anticipating the transition to end-of-life. Findings suggest that couples likely would be receptive to an intervention that combines training in communication skills with guidance in focusing on issues related to life completion to assist with transitions at end of life. Such interventions might enhance both individuals' abilities to cope with illness-related symptoms and demands, enjoy the time they have together, and derive meaning from the experience. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Complete cubic and quartic couplings of 16 and 16-bar in SO(10) unification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nath, Pran; Syed, Raza M.

2001-01-01

A recently derived basic theorem on the decomposition of SO(2N) vertices is used to obtain a complete analytic determination of all SO(10)-invariant cubic superpotential couplings involving 16 ± semispinors of SO(10) chirality ± and tensor representations. In addition to the superpotential couplings computed previously using the basic theorem involving the 10, 120 and 126-bar tensor representations we compute here couplings involving the 1-, 45- and 210-dimensional tensor representations, i.e., we compute the 16-bar -+ 16 ± 1, 16-bar -+ 16 ± 45 and 16-bar -+ 16 ± 210 Higgs couplings in the superpotential. A complete determination of dimension five operators in the superpotential arising from the mediation of the 1-, 45- and 210-dimensional representations is also given. The vector couplings 16-bar ± 16 ± 1, 16-bar ± 16 ± 45 and 16-bar ± 16 ± 210 are also analyzed. The role of large tensor representations and the possible application of results derived here in model building are discussed

Analysis on Patterns of Globally Coupled Phase Oscillators with Attractive and Repulsive Interactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Peng-Fei; Xu Zhong-Bin; Ruan Xiao-Dong; Fu Xin

2015-01-01

The Hong–Strogatz (HS) model of globally coupled phase oscillators with attractive and repulsive interactions reflects the fact that each individual (oscillator) has its own attitude (attractive or repulsive) to the same environment (mean field). Previous studies on HS model focused mainly on the stable states on Ott–Antonsen (OA) manifold. In this paper, the eigenvalues of the Jacobi matrix of each fixed point in HS model are explicitly derived, with the aim to understand the local dynamics around each fixed point. Phase transitions are described according to relative population and coupling strength. Besides, the dynamics off OA manifold is studied. (paper)

Parametric model of servo-hydraulic actuator coupled with a nonlinear system: Experimental validation

Science.gov (United States)

Maghareh, Amin; Silva, Christian E.; Dyke, Shirley J.

2018-05-01

Hydraulic actuators play a key role in experimental structural dynamics. In a previous study, a physics-based model for a servo-hydraulic actuator coupled with a nonlinear physical system was developed. Later, this dynamical model was transformed into controllable canonical form for position tracking control purposes. For this study, a nonlinear device is designed and fabricated to exhibit various nonlinear force-displacement profiles depending on the initial condition and the type of materials used as replaceable coupons. Using this nonlinear system, the controllable canonical dynamical model is experimentally validated for a servo-hydraulic actuator coupled with a nonlinear physical system.

Supersymmetric Regularization Two-Loop QCD Amplitudes and Coupling Shifts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dixon, Lance

2002-03-08

We present a definition of the four-dimensional helicity (FDH) regularization scheme valid for two or more loops. This scheme was previously defined and utilized at one loop. It amounts to a variation on the standard 't Hooft-Veltman scheme and is designed to be compatible with the use of helicity states for ''observed'' particles. It is similar to dimensional reduction in that it maintains an equal number of bosonic and fermionic states, as required for preserving supersymmetry. Supersymmetry Ward identities relate different helicity amplitudes in supersymmetric theories. As a check that the FDH scheme preserves supersymmetry, at least through two loops, we explicitly verify a number of these identities for gluon-gluon scattering (gg {yields} gg) in supersymmetric QCD. These results also cross-check recent non-trivial two-loop calculations in ordinary QCD. Finally, we compute the two-loop shift between the FDH coupling and the standard {bar M}{bar S} coupling, {alpha}{sub s}. The FDH shift is identical to the one for dimensional reduction. The two-loop coupling shifts are then used to obtain the three-loop QCD {beta} function in the FDH and dimensional reduction schemes.

Supersymmetric Regularization Two-Loop QCD Amplitudes and Coupling Shifts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dixon, Lance

2002-01-01

We present a definition of the four-dimensional helicity (FDH) regularization scheme valid for two or more loops. This scheme was previously defined and utilized at one loop. It amounts to a variation on the standard 't Hooft-Veltman scheme and is designed to be compatible with the use of helicity states for ''observed'' particles. It is similar to dimensional reduction in that it maintains an equal number of bosonic and fermionic states, as required for preserving supersymmetry. Supersymmetry Ward identities relate different helicity amplitudes in supersymmetric theories. As a check that the FDH scheme preserves supersymmetry, at least through two loops, we explicitly verify a number of these identities for gluon-gluon scattering (gg → gg) in supersymmetric QCD. These results also cross-check recent non-trivial two-loop calculations in ordinary QCD. Finally, we compute the two-loop shift between the FDH coupling and the standard MS coupling, α s . The FDH shift is identical to the one for dimensional reduction. The two-loop coupling shifts are then used to obtain the three-loop QCD β function in the FDH and dimensional reduction schemes

Best-effort Support for a Virtual Seminar Room

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sharp, Robin; Todirica, Edward Alexandru

2002-01-01

This paper describes the RTMM Virtual Seminar Room, an interactive distributed multimedia application based on a platform with a simple middleware architecture, using best effort scheduling and a best effort network service. Emphasis has been placed on achieving low latency in all parts...

Endurance with partnership: a preliminary conceptual framework for couples undergoing in vitro fertilisation treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Ying, Liying; Wu, Lai Har; Wu, Xiangli; Shu, Jing; Loke, Alice Yuen

2018-04-01

Infertility affects both women and men in the physical, emotional, existential, and interpersonal realms. When couples seek in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment, they further suffer from the difficulties of the treatment and the uncertainty of its outcome. The aim of this study was to develop a preliminary conceptual framework for couples undergoing IVF treatment to give health professionals a better understanding of the experiences of such couples, and to guide the development of an intervention. The process of identifying frameworks adopted in intervention studies confirmed that there is no established framework for infertile couples undergoing IVF treatment. A skeletal framework identified from previous studies provides an internal structure for the proposed framework for couples undergoing IVF treatment, filled out with concepts drawn from a concept analysis and a qualitative study, knitting the structure together. This preliminary framework is the Endurance with Partnership Conceptual Framework (P-EPCF). It consists of four domains: the impacts of infertility and stressors, dyadic mediators, dyadic moderators and dyadic outcomes. According to the P-EPCF, the impacts of infertility and IVF treatment can be mediated by the couples' partnership and dyadic coping. Improvements in the psychological well-being and marital functioning of IVF couples can then be expected. The P-EPCF would be potentially valuable in guiding the development of a complex, couple-based intervention, which could focus on enhancing the partnership of couples and their coping strategies.

Three-loop SM beta-functions for matrix Yukawa couplings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A.V. Bednyakov

2014-10-01

Full Text Available We present the extension of our previous results for three-loop Yukawa coupling beta-functions to the case of complex Yukawa matrices describing the flavour structure of the SM. The calculation is carried out in the context of unbroken phase of the SM with the help of the MINCER program in a general linear gauge and cross-checked by means of MATAD/BAMBA codes. In addition, ambiguities in Yukawa matrix beta-functions are studied.

Impact of stimulus-related factors and hearing impairment on listening effort as indicated by pupil dilation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ohlenforst, Barbara; Zekveld, Adriana A.; Lunner, Thomas

2017-01-01

Previous research has reported effects of masker type and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) on listening effort, as indicated by the peak pupil dilation (PPD) relative to baseline during speech recognition. At about 50% correct sentence recognition performance, increasing SNRs generally results...... in declining PPDs, indicating reduced effort. However, the decline in PPD over SNRs has been observed to be less pronounced for hearing-impaired (HI) compared to normal-hearing (NH) listeners. The presence of a competing talker during speech recognition generally resulted in larger PPDs as compared......-talker masker) on the PPD during speech perception. Twenty-five HI and 32 age-matched NH participants listened to sentences across a broad range of SNRs, masked with speech from a single talker (-25 dB to +15 dB SNR) or with stationary noise (-12 dB to +16 dB). Correct sentence recognition scores and pupil...

Optimization of mixed quantum-classical dynamics: Time-derivative coupling terms and selected couplings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pittner, Jiri; Lischka, Hans; Barbatti, Mario

2009-01-01

The usage of time-derivative non-adiabatic coupling terms and partially coupled time-dependent equations are investigated to accelerate non-adiabatic dynamics simulations at multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) level. The quality of the results and computational costs are compared against non-adiabatic benchmark dynamics calculations using non-adiabatic coupling vectors. In the comparison between the time-derivative couplings and coupling vectors, deviations in the adiabatic population of individual trajectories were observed in regions of rapid variation of the coupling terms. They, however, affected the average adiabatic population to only about 5%. For small multiconfiguration spaces, dynamics with time-derivative couplings are significantly faster than those with coupling vectors. This relation inverts for larger configuration spaces. The use of the partially coupled equations approach speeds up the simulations significantly while keeping the deviations in the population below few percent. Imidazole and the methaniminium cation are used as test examples

Coupled-resonator optical waveguides

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Raza, Søren; Grgic, Jure; Pedersen, Jesper Goor

2010-01-01

Coupled-resonator optical waveguides hold potential for slow-light propagation of optical pulses. The dispersion properties may adequately be analyzed within the framework of coupled-mode theory. We extend the standard coupled-mode theory for such structures to also include complex-valued paramet......Coupled-resonator optical waveguides hold potential for slow-light propagation of optical pulses. The dispersion properties may adequately be analyzed within the framework of coupled-mode theory. We extend the standard coupled-mode theory for such structures to also include complex...

Coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian transport of large debris by tsunamis

Science.gov (United States)

Conde, Daniel A. S.; Ferreira, Rui M. L.; Sousa Oliveira, Carlos

2016-04-01

Tsunamis are notorious for the large disruption they can cause on coastal environments, not only due to the imparted momentum of the incoming wave but also due to its capacity to transport large quantities of solid debris, either from natural or human-made sources, over great distances. A 2DH numerical model under development at CERIS-IST (Ferreira et al., 2009; Conde, 2013) - STAV2D - capable of simulating solid transport in both Eulerian and Lagrangian paradigms will be used to assess the relevance of Lagrangian-Eulerian coupling when modelling the transport of solid debris by tsunamis. The model has been previously validated and applied to tsunami scenarios (Conde, 2013), being well-suited for overland tsunami propagation and capable of handling morphodynamic changes in estuaries and seashores. The discretization scheme is an explicit Finite Volume technique employing flux-vector splitting and a reviewed Roe-Riemann solver. Source term formulations are employed in a semi-implicit way, including the two-way coupling of the Lagrangian and Eulerian solvers by means of conservative mass and momentum transfers between fluid and solid phases. The model was applied to Sines Port, a major commercial port in Portugal, where two tsunamigenic scenarios are considered: an 8.5 Mw scenario, consistent with the Great Lisbon Earthquake and Tsunami of the 1st November 1755 (Baptista, 2009), and an hypothetical 9.5 Mw worst-case scenario based on the same historical event. Open-ocean propagation of these scenarios were simulated with GeoClaw model from ClawPack (Leveque, 2011). Following previous efforts on the modelling of debris transport by tsunamis in seaports (Conde, 2015), this work discusses the sensitivity of the obtained results with respect to the phenomenological detail of the employed Eulerian-Lagrangian formulation and the resolution of the mesh used in the Eulerian solver. The results have shown that the fluid to debris mass ratio is the key parameter regarding the

Mode coupling of Schwarzschild perturbations: Ringdown frequencies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pazos, Enrique; Brizuela, David; Martin-Garcia, Jose M.; Tiglio, Manuel

2010-01-01

Within linearized perturbation theory, black holes decay to their final stationary state through the well-known spectrum of quasinormal modes. Here we numerically study whether nonlinearities change this picture. For that purpose we study the ringdown frequencies of gauge-invariant second-order gravitational perturbations induced by self-coupling of linearized perturbations of Schwarzschild black holes. We do so through high-accuracy simulations in the time domain of first and second-order Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli type equations, for a variety of initial data sets. We consider first-order even-parity (l=2, m=±2) perturbations and odd-parity (l=2, m=0) ones, and all the multipoles that they generate through self-coupling. For all of them and all the initial data sets considered we find that--in contrast to previous predictions in the literature--the numerical decay frequencies of second-order perturbations are the same ones of linearized theory, and we explain the observed behavior. This would indicate, in particular, that when modeling or searching for ringdown gravitational waves, appropriately including the standard quasinormal modes already takes into account nonlinear effects.

Fabricating and Characterizing the Microfluidic Solid Phase Extraction Module Coupling with Integrated ESI Emitters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hangbin Tang

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Microfluidic chips coupling with mass spectrometry (MS will be of great significance to the development of relevant instruments involving chemical and bio-chemical analysis, drug detection, food and environmental applications and so on. In our previous works, we proposed two types of microfluidic electrospray ionization (ESI chip coupling with MS: the two-phase flow focusing (FF ESI microfluidic chip and the corner-integrated ESI emitter, respectively. However the pretreatment module integrated with these ESI emitters is still a challenging problem. In this paper, we concentrated on integrating the solid phase micro-extraction (SPME module with our previous proposed on-chip ESI emitters; the fabrication processes of such SPME module are fully compatible with our previous proposed ESI emitters based on the multi-layer soft lithography. We optimized the structure of the integrated chip and characterized its performance using standard samples. Furthermore, we verified its abilities of salt removal, extraction of multiple analytes and separation through on-chip elution using mimic biological urine spiked with different drugs. The results indicated that our proposed integrated module with ESI emitters is practical and effective for real biological sample pretreatment and MS detection.

Relationships between body image, sexual satisfaction, and relationship quality in romantic couples.

Science.gov (United States)

van den Brink, Femke; Vollmann, Manja; Smeets, Monique A M; Hessen, David J; Woertman, Liesbeth

2018-03-08

Previous studies found important associations between body image, sexual satisfaction, and perceived romantic relationship quality, but mainly focused on one individual's perceptions rather than both partners. To take the interdependency of romantic partners into account, the present study examined these associations in romantic couples with a dyadic approach. In a cross-sectional design, 151 Dutch heterosexual couples completed an online survey measuring body image, sexual satisfaction, and perceived relationship quality. Hypotheses were tested using the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) and an APIM extended with a mediator (APIMeM), with couple members' body image as predictors, couple members' sexual satisfaction as mediators, and couple members' relationship quality as outcomes. Results indicated that within individuals, a more positive body image was linked to higher perceived romantic relationship quality through greater sexual satisfaction. No gender differences were found, implying that body image and sexual satisfaction are equally strongly associated with perceived relationship quality in women and men. Results revealed no associations of an individual's body image and sexual satisfaction with the partner's perceived relationship quality. These findings implicate that interventions focusing on developing and maintaining a positive body image may be helpful in building on a more satisfying sex life and higher perceived relationship quality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Do Effort and Reward at Work Predict Changes in Cognitive Function? First Longitudinal Results from the Representative German Socio-Economic Panel.

Science.gov (United States)

Riedel, Natalie; Siegrist, Johannes; Wege, Natalia; Loerbroks, Adrian; Angerer, Peter; Li, Jian

2017-11-15

It has been suggested that work characteristics, such as mental demands, job control, and occupational complexity, are prospectively related to cognitive function. However, current evidence on links between psychosocial working conditions and cognitive change over time is inconsistent. In this study, we applied the effort-reward imbalance model that allows to build on previous research on mental demands and to introduce reward-based learning as a principle with beneficial effect on cognitive function. We aimed to investigate whether high effort, high reward, and low over-commitment in 2006 were associated with positive changes in cognitive function in terms of perceptual speed and word fluency (2006-2012), and whether the co-manifestation of high effort and high reward would yield the strongest association. To this end, we used data on 1031 employees who participated in a large and representative study. Multivariate linear regression analyses supported our main hypotheses (separate and combined effects of effort and reward), particularly on changes in perceptual speed, whereas the effects of over-commitment did not reach the level of statistical significance. Our findings extend available knowledge by examining the course of cognitive function over time. If corroborated by further evidence, organization-based measures in the workplace can enrich efforts towards preventing cognitive decline in ageing workforces.

Two new prediction rules for spontaneous pregnancy leading to live birth among subfertile couples, based on the synthesis of three previous models.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

C.C. Hunault; J.D.F. Habbema (Dik); M.J.C. Eijkemans (René); J.A. Collins (John); J.L.H. Evers (Johannes); E.R. te Velde (Egbert)

2004-01-01

textabstractBACKGROUND: Several models have been published for the prediction of spontaneous pregnancy among subfertile patients. The aim of this study was to broaden the empirical basis for these predictions by making a synthesis of three previously published models. METHODS:

Inpo/industry job and task analysis efforts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wigley, W.W.

1985-01-01

One of the goals of INPO is to develop and coordinate industrywide programs to improve the education, training and qualification of nuclear utility personnel. To accomplish this goal, INPO's Training and Education Division: conducts periodic evaluations of industry training programs; provides assistance to the industry in developing training programs; manages the accreditation of utility training programs. These efforts are aimed at satisfying the need for training programs for nuclear utility personnel to be performance-based. Performance-based means that training programs provide an incumbent with the skills and knowledge required to safely perform the job. One of the ways that INPO has provided assistance to the industry is through the industrywide job and task analysis effort. I will discuss the job analysis and task analysis processes, the current status of JTA efforts, JTA products and JTA lessons learned

Food packaging cues influence taste perception and increase effort provision for a recommended snack product in children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura eEnax

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Food marketing research shows that child-directed marketing cues have pronounced effects on food preferences and consumption, but are most often placed on products with low nutritional quality. Effects of child-directed marketing strategies for healthy food products remain to be studied in more detail. Previous research suggests that effort provision explains additional variance in food choice. This study investigated the effects of packaging cues on explicit preferences and effort provision for healthy food items in elementary school children. Each of 179 children rated three, objectively identical, recommended yoghurt-cereal-fruit snacks presented with different packaging cues. Packaging cues included a plain label, a label focusing on health aspects of the product, and a label that additionally included unknown cartoon characters. The children were asked to state the subjective taste-pleasantness of the respective food items. We also used a novel approach to measure effort provision for food items in children, namely handgrip strength. Results show that packaging cues significantly induce a taste-placebo effect in 88% of the children, i.e., differences in taste ratings for objectively identical products. Taste ratings were highest for the child-directed product that included cartoon characters. Also, applied effort to receive the child-directed product was significantly higher. Our results confirm the positive effect of child-directed marketing strategies also for healthy snack food products. Using handgrip strength as a measure to determine the amount of effort children are willing to provide for a product may explain additional variance in food choice and might prove to be a promising additional research tool for field studies and the assessment of public policy interventions.

Food packaging cues influence taste perception and increase effort provision for a recommended snack product in children.

Science.gov (United States)

Enax, Laura; Weber, Bernd; Ahlers, Maren; Kaiser, Ulrike; Diethelm, Katharina; Holtkamp, Dominik; Faupel, Ulya; Holzmüller, Hartmut H; Kersting, Mathilde

2015-01-01

Food marketing research shows that child-directed marketing cues have pronounced effects on food preferences and consumption, but are most often placed on products with low nutritional quality. Effects of child-directed marketing strategies for healthy food products remain to be studied in more detail. Previous research suggests that effort provision explains additional variance in food choice. This study investigated the effects of packaging cues on explicit preferences and effort provision for healthy food items in elementary school children. Each of 179 children rated three, objectively identical, recommended yogurt-cereal-fruit snacks presented with different packaging cues. Packaging cues included a plain label, a label focusing on health aspects of the product, and a label that additionally included unknown cartoon characters. The children were asked to state the subjective taste-pleasantness of the respective food items. We also used a novel approach to measure effort provision for food items in children, namely handgrip strength. Results show that packaging cues significantly induce a taste-placebo effect in 88% of the children, i.e., differences in taste ratings for objectively identical products. Taste ratings were highest for the child-directed product that included cartoon characters. Also, applied effort to receive the child-directed product was significantly higher. Our results confirm the positive effect of child-directed marketing strategies also for healthy snack food products. Using handgrip strength as a measure to determine the amount of effort children are willing to provide for a product may explain additional variance in food choice and might prove to be a promising additional research tool for field studies and the assessment of public policy interventions.

Food packaging cues influence taste perception and increase effort provision for a recommended snack product in children

Science.gov (United States)

Enax, Laura; Weber, Bernd; Ahlers, Maren; Kaiser, Ulrike; Diethelm, Katharina; Holtkamp, Dominik; Faupel, Ulya; Holzmüller, Hartmut H.; Kersting, Mathilde

2015-01-01

Food marketing research shows that child-directed marketing cues have pronounced effects on food preferences and consumption, but are most often placed on products with low nutritional quality. Effects of child-directed marketing strategies for healthy food products remain to be studied in more detail. Previous research suggests that effort provision explains additional variance in food choice. This study investigated the effects of packaging cues on explicit preferences and effort provision for healthy food items in elementary school children. Each of 179 children rated three, objectively identical, recommended yogurt-cereal-fruit snacks presented with different packaging cues. Packaging cues included a plain label, a label focusing on health aspects of the product, and a label that additionally included unknown cartoon characters. The children were asked to state the subjective taste-pleasantness of the respective food items. We also used a novel approach to measure effort provision for food items in children, namely handgrip strength. Results show that packaging cues significantly induce a taste-placebo effect in 88% of the children, i.e., differences in taste ratings for objectively identical products. Taste ratings were highest for the child-directed product that included cartoon characters. Also, applied effort to receive the child-directed product was significantly higher. Our results confirm the positive effect of child-directed marketing strategies also for healthy snack food products. Using handgrip strength as a measure to determine the amount of effort children are willing to provide for a product may explain additional variance in food choice and might prove to be a promising additional research tool for field studies and the assessment of public policy interventions. PMID:26191012

Effort-reward imbalance at work and pre-clinical biological indices of ill-health: the case for salivary immunoglobulin A.

Science.gov (United States)

Bathman, Lauren Marjorie; Almond, Jacinta; Hazi, Agnes; Wright, Bradley James

2013-10-01

Physiological indices of stress and ill-health (cortisol and salivary immunoglobulin A) were assessed to determine if they were predicted by Siegrist's effort-reward imbalance model (ERI) with an aim of identifying employees at risk of illness. Male Australian dairy farmers (N=66) completed the Perceived Stress Scale, Work related Questions II & III, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised--Short and demographic questions and provided morning saliva samples (at awakening and 30 min post awakening) on a working day, which were subsequently analysed for cortisol and salivary immunoglobulin A (sIgA) concentration levels. A high percentage (45.5%) of the sample reported an imbalance between efforts and rewards in the workplace that may place them 'at risk' for ill-health. After controlling for disposition, sIgA scores were more successfully predicted by the ERI than the cortisol assessments. Although both efforts and rewards were significantly associated with sIgA, efforts were most strongly associated. The dispositional trait overcommitment, did not moderate the experience of stress on the physiologic indices. The current investigation supports the continued use of sIgA in studies that use biomarkers to assess occupational stress. ERI ratio scores >1 aligned with previous findings that suggest elevated risk of illness for these employees. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis of current research addressing complementary use of life-cycle assessment and risk assessment for engineered nanomaterials: have lessons been learned from previous experience with chemicals?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grieger, Khara D.; Laurent, Alexis; Miseljic, Mirko; Christensen, Frans; Baun, Anders; Olsen, Stig I.

2012-01-01

While it is generally agreed that successful strategies to address the health and environmental impacts of engineered nanomaterials (NM) should consider the well-established frameworks for conducting life-cycle assessment (LCA) and risk assessment (RA), scientific research, and specific guidance on how to practically apply these methods are still very much under development. This paper evaluates how research efforts have applied LCA and RA together for NM, particularly reflecting on previous experiences with applying these methods to chemicals. Through a literature review and a separate analysis of research focused on applying LCA and RA together for NM, it appears that current research efforts have taken into account some key “lessons learned” from previous experience with chemicals while many key challenges remain for practically applying these methods to NM. We identified two main approaches for using these methods together for NM: “LC-based RA” (traditional RA applied in a life-cycle perspective) and “RA-complemented LCA” (conventional LCA supplemented by RA in specific life-cycle steps). Hence, the latter is the only identified approach which genuinely combines LC- and RA-based methods for NM-risk research efforts to date as the former is rather a continuation of normal RA according to standard assessment procedures (e.g., REACH). Both these approaches along with recommendations for using LCA and RA together for NM are similar to those made previously for chemicals, and thus, there does not appear to be much progress made specific for NM. We have identified one issue in particular that may be specific for NM when applying LCA and RA at this time: the need to establish proper dose metrics within both methods.

Acoustic phonons mediated non-equilibrium spin current in the presence of Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit couplings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hasanirokh, K.; Phirouznia, A.

2013-01-01

Influence of electrons interaction with longitudinal acoustic phonons on magnetoelectric and spin-related transport effects are investigated. The considered system is a two-dimensional electron gas system with both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin–orbit couplings. The works which have previously been performed in this field, have revealed that the Rashba and Dresselhaus couplings cannot be responsible for spin current in the non-equilibrium regime. In the current Letter, a semiclassical method was employed using the Boltzmann approach and it was shown that the spin current of the system, in general, does not go all the way to zero when the electron–phonon coupling is taken into account. It was also shown that spin accumulation of the system could be influenced by electron–phonon coupling.

Money Laundering and International Efforts to Fight It

OpenAIRE

David Scott

1996-01-01

According to one estimate, US$300 billion to US$500 billion in proceeds from serious crime is laundered each year. Left unchecked, money laundering could criminalize the financial system and undermine development efforts in emerging markets. The author reviews efforts by international bodies to fight it.

Ultracold Atoms in a Square Lattice with Spin-Orbit Coupling: Charge Order, Superfluidity, and Topological Signatures

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenberg, Peter; Shi, Hao; Zhang, Shiwei

2017-12-01

We present an ab initio, numerically exact study of attractive fermions in square lattices with Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The ground state of this system is a supersolid, with coexisting charge and superfluid order. The superfluid is composed of both singlet and triplet pairs induced by spin-orbit coupling. We perform large-scale calculations using the auxiliary-field quantum Monte Carlo method to provide the first full, quantitative description of the charge, spin, and pairing properties of the system. In addition to characterizing the exotic physics, our results will serve as essential high-accuracy benchmarks for the intense theoretical and especially experimental efforts in ultracold atoms to realize and understand an expanding variety of quantum Hall and topological superconductor systems.

Economic effort management in multispecies fisheries: the FcubEcon model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoff, Ayoe; Frost, Hans; Ulrich, Clara

2010-01-01

in the development of management tools based on fleets, fisheries, and areas, rather than on unit fish stocks. A natural consequence of this has been to consider effort rather than quota management, a final effort decision being based on fleet-harvest potential and fish-stock-preservation considerations. Effort...... allocation between fleets should not be based on biological considerations alone, but also on the economic behaviour of fishers, because fisheries management has a significant impact on human behaviour as well as on ecosystem development. The FcubEcon management framework for effort allocation between fleets...... the past decade, increased focus on this issue has resulted in the development of management tools based on fleets, fisheries, and areas, rather than on unit fish stocks. A natural consequence of this has been to consider effort rather than quota management, a final effort decision being based on fleet...

ElectroWeak Bosons Couplings

CERN Document Server

Ouraou, Ahmimed; The ATLAS collaboration

2016-01-01

Latest results on the measurement of gauge boson couplings, from ATLAS and CMS at the LHC, are presented. This review starts with an introduction to boson couplings, then the measurements of Triple and Quartic Couplings are described. And finally, limits on anomalous couplings are summarized.

Calculation of nuclear spin-spin coupling constants using frozen density embedding

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Götz, Andreas W., E-mail: agoetz@sdsc.edu [San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr MC 0505, La Jolla, California 92093-0505 (United States); Autschbach, Jochen [Department of Chemistry, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260-3000 (United States); Visscher, Lucas, E-mail: visscher@chem.vu.nl [Amsterdam Center for Multiscale Modeling (ACMM), VU University Amsterdam, Theoretical Chemistry, De Boelelaan 1083, 1081 HV Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2014-03-14

We present a method for a subsystem-based calculation of indirect nuclear spin-spin coupling tensors within the framework of current-spin-density-functional theory. Our approach is based on the frozen-density embedding scheme within density-functional theory and extends a previously reported subsystem-based approach for the calculation of nuclear magnetic resonance shielding tensors to magnetic fields which couple not only to orbital but also spin degrees of freedom. This leads to a formulation in which the electron density, the induced paramagnetic current, and the induced spin-magnetization density are calculated separately for the individual subsystems. This is particularly useful for the inclusion of environmental effects in the calculation of nuclear spin-spin coupling constants. Neglecting the induced paramagnetic current and spin-magnetization density in the environment due to the magnetic moments of the coupled nuclei leads to a very efficient method in which the computationally expensive response calculation has to be performed only for the subsystem of interest. We show that this approach leads to very good results for the calculation of solvent-induced shifts of nuclear spin-spin coupling constants in hydrogen-bonded systems. Also for systems with stronger interactions, frozen-density embedding performs remarkably well, given the approximate nature of currently available functionals for the non-additive kinetic energy. As an example we show results for methylmercury halides which exhibit an exceptionally large shift of the one-bond coupling constants between {sup 199}Hg and {sup 13}C upon coordination of dimethylsulfoxide solvent molecules.

Reproductive effort in viscous populations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pen, Ido

Here I study a kin selection model of reproductive effort, the allocation of resources to fecundity versus survival, in a patch-structured population. Breeding females remain in the same patch for life. Offspring have costly, partial long-distance dispersal and compete for breeding sites, which

Self-Synchronized Phenomena Generated in Rotor-Type Oscillators: On the Influence of Coupling Condition between Oscillators

Science.gov (United States)

Bonkobara, Yasuhiro; Mori, Hiroki; Kondou, Takahiro; Ayabe, Takashi

Self-synchronized phenomena generated in rotor-type oscillators mounted on a straight-line spring-mass system are investigated experimentally and analytically. In the present study, we examine the occurrence region and pattern of self-synchronization in two types of coupled oscillators: rigidly coupled oscillators and elastically coupled oscillators. It is clarified that the existence regions of stable solutions are governed mainly by the linear natural frequency of each spring-mass system. The results of numerical analysis confirm that the self-synchronized solutions of the elastically coupled oscillators correspond to those of the rigidly coupled oscillators. In addition, the results obtained in the present study are compared with the previously reported results for a metronome system and a moving apparatus and the different properties of the phenomena generated in the rotor-type oscillators and the pendulum-type oscillators are shown in terms of the construction of branches of self-synchronized solution and the stability.

Theoretical investigation of phase-controlled bias effect in capacitively coupled plasma discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwon, Deuk-Chul; Yoon, Jung-Sik

2011-01-01

We theoretically investigated the effect of phase difference between powered electrodes in capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) discharges. Previous experimental result has shown that the plasma potential could be controlled by using a phase-shift controller in CCP discharges. In this work, based on the previously developed radio frequency sheath models, we developed a circuit model to self-consistently determine the bias voltage from the plasma parameters. Results show that the present theoretical model explains the experimental results quite well and there is an optimum value of the phase difference for which the V dc /V pp ratio becomes a minimum.

Quantifying commercial catch and effort of monkfish Lophius ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Catch-per-unit-effort (cpue) data of vessels targeting monkfish and sole (the two ... analysed using two different methods to construct indices of abundance. ... in Namibia to all tail-weight classes is not appropriate for the current fishery and needs ... Keywords: catch per unit effort, Generalized Linear Model, Lophius vaillanti, ...

Entrepreneurial Couples

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahl, Michael S.; Van Praag, Mirjam; Thompson, Peter

with a selected set of comparable firms and couples. We find evidence that couples often establish a business together because one spouse – most commonly the female – has limited outside opportunities in the labor market. However, the financial benefits for each of the spouses, and especially the female......We study possible motivations for co-entrepenurial couples to start up a joint firm, using a sample of 1,069 Danish couples that established a joint enterprise between 2001 and 2010. We compare their pre-entry characteristics, firm performance and postdissolution private and financial outcomes......, are larger in co-entrepreneurial firms, both during the life of the business and post-dissolution. The start-up of co-entrepreneurial firms seems therefore a sound investment in the human capital of both spouses as well as in the reduction of income inequality in the household. We find no evidence of non...

Entrepreneurial Couples

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahl, Michael S.; Van Praag, Mirjam; Thompson, Peter

with a selected set of comparable firms and couples. We find evidence that couples often establish a business together because one spouse - most commonly the female - has limited outside opportunities in the labor market. However, the financial benefits for each of the spouses, and especially the female......We study possible motivations for co-entrepenurial couples to start up a joint firm, us-ing a sample of 1,069 Danish couples that established a joint enterprise between 2001 and 2010. We compare their pre-entry characteristics, firm performance and post-dissolution private and financial outcomes......, are larger in co-entrepreneurial firms, both during the life of the business and post-dissolution. The start-up of co-entrepreneurial firms seems therefore a sound in-vestment in the human capital of both spouses as well as in the reduction of income inequality in the household. We find no evidence of non...

Generic strong coupling behavior of Cooper pairs in the surface of superfluid nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pillet, N.; Sandulescu, N.; Schuck, P.

2007-01-01

With realistic HFB calculations, using the D1S Gogny force, we reveal a generic behavior of concentration of small sized Cooper pairs (2-3 fm) in the surface of superfluid nuclei. This study confirms and extends previous results given in the literature that use more schematic approaches. It is shown that the strong concentration of pair probability of small Cooper pairs in the nuclear surface is a quite general and generic feature and that nuclear pairing is much closer to the strong coupling regime than previously assumed

Generic strong coupling behavior of Cooper pairs in the surface of superfluid nuclei

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pillet, N. [DPTA/Service de Physique nucleaire, CEA/DAM Ile de France, BP12, F-91680 Bruyeres-le-Chatel (France); Sandulescu, N. [DPTA/Service de Physique nucleaire, CEA/DAM Ile de France, BP12, F-91680 Bruyeres-le-Chatel (France)]|[Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, 76900 Bucharest (Romania)]|[Institut de Physique Nucleaire, CNRS, UMR 8608, Orsay, F-91406 (France); Schuck, P. [Institut de Physique Nucleaire, CNRS, UMR 8608, Orsay, F-91406 (France)]|[Universite Paris-Sud, Orsay, F-91505 (France)

2007-01-15

With realistic HFB calculations, using the D1S Gogny force, we reveal a generic behavior of concentration of small sized Cooper pairs (2-3 fm) in the surface of superfluid nuclei. This study confirms and extends previous results given in the literature that use more schematic approaches. It is shown that the strong concentration of pair probability of small Cooper pairs in the nuclear surface is a quite general and generic feature and that nuclear pairing is much closer to the strong coupling regime than previously assumed.

Eight previously unidentified mutations found in the OA1 ocular albinism gene

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dufier Jean-Louis

2006-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Ocular albinism type 1 (OA1 is an X-linked ocular disorder characterized by a severe reduction in visual acuity, nystagmus, hypopigmentation of the retinal pigmented epithelium, foveal hypoplasia, macromelanosomes in pigmented skin and eye cells, and misrouting of the optical tracts. This disease is primarily caused by mutations in the OA1 gene. Methods The ophthalmologic phenotype of the patients and their family members was characterized. We screened for mutations in the OA1 gene by direct sequencing of the nine PCR-amplified exons, and for genomic deletions by PCR-amplification of large DNA fragments. Results We sequenced the nine exons of the OA1 gene in 72 individuals and found ten different mutations in seven unrelated families and three sporadic cases. The ten mutations include an amino acid substitution and a premature stop codon previously reported by our team, and eight previously unidentified mutations: three amino acid substitutions, a duplication, a deletion, an insertion and two splice-site mutations. The use of a novel Taq polymerase enabled us to amplify large genomic fragments covering the OA1 gene. and to detect very likely six distinct large deletions. Furthermore, we were able to confirm that there was no deletion in twenty one patients where no mutation had been found. Conclusion The identified mutations affect highly conserved amino acids, cause frameshifts or alternative splicing, thus affecting folding of the OA1 G protein coupled receptor, interactions of OA1 with its G protein and/or binding with its ligand.

Strongly coupled inorganic/nanocarbon hybrid materials for advanced electrocatalysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Yongye; Li, Yanguang; Wang, Hailiang; Dai, Hongjie

2013-02-13

Electrochemical systems, such as fuel cell and water splitting devices, represent some of the most efficient and environmentally friendly technologies for energy conversion and storage. Electrocatalysts play key roles in the chemical processes but often limit the performance of the entire systems due to insufficient activity, lifetime, or high cost. It has been a long-standing challenge to develop efficient and durable electrocatalysts at low cost. In this Perspective, we present our recent efforts in developing strongly coupled inorganic/nanocarbon hybrid materials to improve the electrocatalytic activities and stability of inorganic metal oxides, hydroxides, sulfides, and metal-nitrogen complexes. The hybrid materials are synthesized by direct nucleation, growth, and anchoring of inorganic nanomaterials on the functional groups of oxidized nanocarbon substrates including graphene and carbon nanotubes. This approach affords strong chemical attachment and electrical coupling between the electrocatalytic nanoparticles and nanocarbon, leading to nonprecious metal-based electrocatalysts with improved activity and durability for the oxygen reduction reaction for fuel cells and chlor-alkali catalysis, oxygen evolution reaction, and hydrogen evolution reaction. X-ray absorption near-edge structure and scanning transmission electron microscopy are employed to characterize the hybrids materials and reveal the coupling effects between inorganic nanomaterials and nanocarbon substrates. Z-contrast imaging and electron energy loss spectroscopy at single atom level are performed to investigate the nature of catalytic sites on ultrathin graphene sheets. Nanocarbon-based hybrid materials may present new opportunities for the development of electrocatalysts meeting the requirements of activity, durability, and cost for large-scale electrochemical applications.

Methodological Considerations in Couples' Fertility Intentions: Missing Men and the Viability of Women's Proxy Reports.

Science.gov (United States)

Stykes, J Bart

2018-02-19

Introduction Recent efforts show potential to advance research on unintended childbearing by taking a couple-level approach. However, this work has neither adequately addressed methodological concerns stemming from the challenges associated with male fertility data nor considered the viability of women's proxy reports of fathers intentions. Methods Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) were used to assess the implications of low response rates among men on couples' unintended childbearing. Then, the accuracy of women's proxy reports of fathers intentions was assessed. Weighted logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine how women's characteristics were associated with men's survey participation whereas weighted multinomial logistic regression analyses were applied to determine how women's characteristics were linked with the accuracy of her proxy report. Results Almost half (46%) of women cannot be matched with data from the child's father, and this discrepancy is most problematic for women who are black, foreign-born, less educated, and unmarried at birth. Women's proxy reports appear viable as 75% of women's reports are consistent with men's responses. Yet, proxy reports underestimate disagreement in couples' intentions as mothers who intended the birth are at an increased risk of "inaccurately" reporting that fathers share their intentions. Discussion Direct approaches to couples' intentions yield privileged samples and systematically omit women at the greatest risk of an unintended birth. However, proxies underestimate disagreement in couples' intentions-a key contribution to the couple approach. Accordingly each approach has its own merits which must be considered in light of specified research questions.

Acoustic correlate of vocal effort in spasmodic dysphonia.

Science.gov (United States)