Percolation in soils at Different Bulk Densities: Porosity, Connectivity and Grey Threshold.

To improve percolation modelling on soils the geometrical properties of the pore space must be understood; this includes porosity, particle and pore size distribution and connectivity of the pores. A study was conducted with a soil at different bulk densities based on 3D grey images acquired by X-ray computed tomography. The objective was to analyze the effect in percolation of aspects of pore network geometry and discuss the influence of the grey threshold applied to the images. A model based on random walk algorithms was applied to the images, combining five bulk densities with up to six threshold values per density. This allowed for a dynamical perspective of soil structure in relation to water transport through the inclusion of percolation speed in the analyses. To evaluate separately connectivity and isolate the effect of the grey threshold, a critical value of 35% of porosity was selected for every density. This value was the smallest at which total-percolation walks appeared for the all images of the same porosity and may represent a situation of percolation comparable among bulks densities. This criterion avoided an arbitrary decision in grey thresholds. Besides, a random matrix simulation at 35% of porosity with real images was used to test the existence of pore connectivity as a consequence of a non-random soil structure.

Flexible low-cost system to test batteries and ultracapacitors for electric and hybrid vehicles in real working conditions

Batteries and ultracapacitors for hybrid and electric vehicles must satisfy very demanding working conditions that are not usual in other applications. In this sense, specific tests must be performed in order to draw accurate conclusions about their behaviour. To do so, new advanced test benches are needed. These platforms must allow the study of a wide variety of energy storage systems under conditions similar to the real ones. In this paper, a flexible, low-cost and highly customizable system is presented. This system allows batteries and ultracapacitors to be tested in many and varied ways, effectively emulating the working conditions that they face in an electric vehicle. The platform was specifically designed to study energy storage systems for electric and hybrid vehicles, meaning that it is suitable to test different systems in many different working conditions, including real driving cycles. This flexibility is achieved keeping the cost of the platform low, which makes the proposed test bench a feasible alternative for the industry. As an example of the functionality of the platform, a test consisting of a 17-minute ARTEMIS urban cycle with a NiMH battery pack is presented.

Measuring color differences in automotive samples with lightness flop: a test of the AUDI2000 color-difference formula

From a set of gonioapparent automotive samples from different manufacturers we selected 28 low-chroma color pairs with relatively small color differences predominantly in lightness. These color pairs were visually assessed with a gray scale at six different viewing angles by a panel of 10 observers. Using the Standardized Residual Sum of Squares (STRESS) index, the results of our visual experiment were tested against predictions made by 12 modern color-difference formulas. From a weighted STRESS index accounting for the uncertainty in visual assessments, the best prediction of our whole experiment was achieved using AUDI2000, CAM02-SCD, CAM02-UCS and OSA-GP-Euclidean color-difference formulas, which were no statistically significant different among them. A two-step optimization of the original AUDI2000 color-difference formula resulted in a modified AUDI2000 formula which performed both, significantly better than the original formula and below the experimental inter-observer variability. Nevertheless the proposal of a new revised AUDI2000 color-difference formula requires additional experimental data.

Oxygen and carbon isotope ratios for six planktonic foraminifer species from different water depth, Ontong-Java Plateau, Pacific (Table 2)

Stable isotope analyses and scanning electron micrographs have been carried out on six planktonic forminifera species, Pulleniatina obliquiloculata, Globorotalia tumida, Sphaeroidinella dehiscens, Globigerinoides ruber, Globigerinoides sacculifer and Globigerinoides quadrilobatus from eleven box-cores taken at increasing depths in the equatorial Ontong-Java Plateau (Pacific). This allows us to describe the way dissolution affects the microstructures of the tests of the different species and to quantify the changes of isotopic composition. We may conclude that: 1) dissolution effects on test morphology and stable isotope compositions are species dependent, species with a similar habitat showing a similar trend; 2) the shallow water, thin-shelled species are the first to disappear: scanning electron microscope (SEM) work shows alteration of outer layers. Deep water, thick-shelled species are present in all samples: SEM work shows breakdown and disparition of inner layers; 3) for all species there is a similar trend towards increasing delta18O values with increasing water depths and increasing dissolution. This effect may be as high as 0.6 ? per thousand meters for Globorotalia tumida; 4) below the lysocline, around 3500 m, it appears that 13C/12C ratios slightly increase towards equilibrium values for thick shelled species: G. tumida, P. obliquiloculata and S. dehiscens. 14C dates and isotope stratigraphy of two box-cores show that all samples are recent in age, and exclude upward mixing of glacial deposits as an important factor.

Mean arterial pressure and vasopressor load after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: Associations with one-year neurologic outcome

THE AIM OF THE STUDY There are limited data on blood pressure targets and vasopressor use following cardiac arrest. We hypothesized that hypotension and high vasopressor load are associated with poor neurological outcome following out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). METHODS We included 412 patients with OHCA included in FINNRESUSCI study conducted between 2010 and 2011. Hemodynamic data and vasopressor doses were collected electronically in one, two or five minute intervals. We evaluated thresholds for time-weighted (TW) mean arterial pressure (MAP) and outcome by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and used multivariable analysis adjusting for co-morbidities, factors at resuscitation, an illness severity score, TW MAP and total vasopressor load (VL) to test associations with one-year neurologic outcome, dichotomized into either good (1-2) or poor (3-5) according to the cerebral performance category scale. RESULTS Of 412 patients, 169 patients had good and 243 patients had poor one-year outcomes. The lowest MAP during the first six hours was 58 (inter-quartile range [IQR] 56-61) mmHg in those with a poor outcome and 61 (59-63) mmHg in those with a good outcome (p<0.01), and lowest MAP was independently associated with poor outcome (OR 1.02 per mmHg, 95% CI 1.00-1.04, p=0.03). During the first 48h the median (IQR) of the TW mean MAP was 80 (78-82) mmHg in patients with poor, and 82 (81-83) mmHg in those with good outcomes (p=0.03) but in multivariable analysis TWA MAP was not associated with outcome. Vasopressor load did not predict one-year neurologic outcome. CONCLUSIONS Hypotension occurring during the first six hours after cardiac arrest is an independent predictor of poor one-year neurologic outcome. High vasopressor load was not associated with poor outcome and further randomized trials are needed to define optimal MAP targets in OHCA patients.

Tables of the common logarithms and trigonometrical functions to six places of decimals.

"With an appendix containing a table of natural functions and circular measures of angles to each minute of arc to five places of decimals."

Packard Motor Co. test touring car and three drivers

Photo album title: Three Men in a Six. President H. B. Joy; Chief Engineer Russell Huff; General Superintendent B. F. Roberts

Initiation of evasive manoeuvres during self-motion: a test of three hypotheses

To understand performance of evasive and interceptive actions it is important to know how people decide when to initiate a movement - initiating at the 'right' moment is often essential for successful performance. It has been proposed that initiation is triggered when a perceptually derived quantity reaches an invariant criterion value. Candidate quantities include time-to-collision (TTC), distance, and rate of image expansion ( ROE), all of which have received empirical support. We studied initiation of an evasive manoeuvre in a computer-simulated steering task in which the observer was required to steer through a stationary visual environment and avoid colliding with an obstacle in their path. The results could not be explained by hypotheses which propose that evasive manoeuvre initiation is based on a fixed criterion value of TTC or distance. The overall pattern was, however, consistent with the use of a criterion ROE value. This was further tested by analyses designed to directly evaluate whether the ROE value used to initiate the response was the same across experimental conditions. Only two of the six participants showed evidence for using the ROE strategy.

Is the method of signal analysis and test selection important for measuring standing balance in subjects with persistent whiplash?

Dizziness and or unsteadiness, associated with episodes of loss of balance, are frequent complaints in those suffering from persistent problems following a whiplash injury. Research has been inconclusive with respect to possible aetiology, discriminative tests and analyses used. The aim of this pilot research was to identify the test conditions and the most appropriate method for the analysis of sway that may differentiate subjects with persistent whiplash associated disorders (WAD) from healthy controls. The six conditions of the Clinical Test for Sensory Interaction in Balance was performed in both comfortable and tandem stance in 20 subjects with persistent WAD compared to 20 control subjects. The analyses were carried out using a traditional method of measurement, total sway distance, to results obtained from the use of wavelet analysis. Subjects with WAD were significantly less able to complete the tandem stance tests on a firm surface than controls. In comfortable stance, using wavelet analysis, significant differences between subjects with WAD and the control group were evident in total energy of the trace for all test conditions apart from eyes open on the firm surface. In contrast, the results of the analysis using total sway distance revealed no significant differences between groups across all six conditions. Wavelet analysis may be more appropriate for detecting disturbances in balance in whiplash subjects because the technique allows separation of the noise from the underlying systematic effect of sway. These findings will be used to direct future studies on the aeitiology of balance disturbances in WAD. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of Australia's walk to work day campaign on adults' active commuting and physical activity behavior

Purpose. To determine whether Australia's Walk to Work Day media campaign resulted in behavioural change among targeted groups. Methods. Pre- and postcampaign telephone surveys of a cohort of adults aged 18 to 65 years (n = 1100, 55% response rate) were randomly sampled from Australian major melropolitan areas. Tests for dependent samples were applied (McNemax chi(2) or paired t-test). Results. Among participants who did not usually actively commute to work was a significant decrease in car only use an increase in walking combined with public transport. Among those who were employed was a significant increase in total time walking (+16 min/wk; t [780] = 2.04, p < .05) and in other moderate physical activity (+120 min/wk; t [1087] = 4.76, p < .005), resulting in a significant decrease in the proportion who were inactive (chi(2) (1) = 6.1, p < .05). Conclusion. Although nonexperimental, the Walk to Work Day initiative elicited short-term changes in targeted behaviors among target groups. Reinforcement by integrating worksite health promotion strategies may be required for sustained effects.

Molecular phase space transport in water:non-stationary random walk model

Molecular transport in phase space is crucial for chemical reactions because it defines how pre-reactive molecular configurations are found during the time evolution of the system. Using Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulated atomistic trajectories we test the assumption of the normal diffusion in the phase space for bulk water at ambient conditions by checking the equivalence of the transport to the random walk model. Contrary to common expectations we have found that some statistical features of the transport in the phase space differ from those of the normal diffusion models. This implies a non-random character of the path search process by the reacting complexes in water solutions. Our further numerical experiments show that a significant long period of non-stationarity in the transition probabilities of the segments of molecular trajectories can account for the observed non-uniform filling of the phase space. Surprisingly, the characteristic periods in the model non-stationarity constitute hundreds of nanoseconds, that is much longer time scales compared to typical lifetime of known liquid water molecular structures (several picoseconds).

Pulse oximetry as a screening test for congenital heart defects in newborn infants: a test accuracy study with evaluation of acceptability and cost-effectiveness

Background: Screening for congenital heart defects (CHDs) relies on antenatal ultrasound and postnatal clinical examination; however, life-threatening defects often go undetected. Objective: To determine the accuracy, acceptability and cost-effectiveness of pulse oximetry as a screening test for CHDs in newborn infants. Design: A test accuracy study determined the accuracy of pulse oximetry. Acceptability of testing to parents was evaluated through a questionnaire, and to staff through focus groups. A decision-analytic model was constructed to assess cost-effectiveness. Setting: Six UK maternity units. Participants: These were 20,055 asymptomatic newborns at = 35 weeks’ gestation, their mothers and health-care staff. Interventions: Pulse oximetry was performed prior to discharge from hospital and the results of this index test were compared with a composite reference standard (echocardiography, clinical follow-up and follow-up through interrogation of clinical databases). Main outcome measures: Detection of major CHDs – defined as causing death or requiring invasive intervention up to 12 months of age (subdivided into critical CHDs causing death or intervention before 28 days, and serious CHDs causing death or intervention between 1 and 12 months of age); acceptability of testing to parents and staff; and the cost-effectiveness in terms of cost per timely diagnosis. Results: Fifty-three of the 20,055 babies screened had a major CHD (24 critical and 29 serious), a prevalence of 2.6 per 1000 live births. Pulse oximetry had a sensitivity of 75.0% [95% confidence interval (CI) 53.3% to 90.2%] for critical cases and 49.1% (95% CI 35.1% to 63.2%) for all major CHDs. When 23 cases were excluded, in which a CHD was already suspected following antenatal ultrasound, pulse oximetry had a sensitivity of 58.3% (95% CI 27.7% to 84.8%) for critical cases (12 babies) and 28.6% (95% CI 14.6% to 46.3%) for all major CHDs (35 babies). False-positive (FP) results occurred in 1 in 119 babies (0.84%) without major CHDs (specificity 99.2%, 95% CI 99.0% to 99.3%). However, of the 169 FPs, there were six cases of significant but not major CHDs and 40 cases of respiratory or infective illness requiring medical intervention. The prevalence of major CHDs in babies with normal pulse oximetry was 1.4 (95% CI 0.9 to 2.0) per 1000 live births, as 27 babies with major CHDs (6 critical and 21 serious) were missed. Parent and staff participants were predominantly satisfied with screening, perceiving it as an important test to detect ill babies. There was no evidence that mothers given FP results were more anxious after participating than those given true-negative results, although they were less satisfied with the test. White British/Irish mothers were more likely to participate in the study, and were less anxious and more satisfied than those of other ethnicities. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of pulse oximetry plus clinical examination compared with examination alone is approximately £24,900 per timely diagnosis in a population in which antenatal screening for CHDs already exists. Conclusions: Pulse oximetry is a simple, safe, feasible test that is acceptable to parents and staff and adds value to existing screening. It is likely to identify cases of critical CHDs that would otherwise go undetected. It is also likely to be cost-effective given current acceptable thresholds. The detection of other pathologies, such as significant CHDs and respiratory and infective illnesses, is an additional advantage. Other pulse oximetry techniques, such as perfusion index, may enhance detection of aortic obstructive lesions.

Are guanxi-type supervisor-subordinate relationships culture-general? An eight-nation test of measurement invariance

Three dimensions of subordinate-supervisor relations (affective attachment, deference to supervisor, and personal-life inclusion) that had been found by Y. Chen, Friedman, Yu, Fang, and Lu to be characteristic of a guanxi relationship between subordinates and their supervisors in China were surveyed in Taiwan, Singapore, and six non-Chinese cultural contexts. The Affective Attachment and Deference subscales demonstrated full metric invariance whereas the Personal-Life Inclusion subscale was found to have partial metric invariance across all eight samples. Structural equation modeling revealed that the affective attachment dimension had a cross-nationally invariant positive relationship to affective organizational commitment and a negative relationship to turnover intention. The deference to the supervisor dimension had invariant positive relationships with both affective and normative organizational commitment. The personal-life inclusion dimension was unrelated to all outcomes. These results indicate the relevance of aspects of guanxi to superior-subordinate relations in non-Chinese cultures. Studies of indigenous concepts can contribute to a broader understanding of organizational behavior. © The Author(s) 2014.

(Table 1) Sample characteristics, test consolidations and calculated elastic parameters of ODP Sites 194-1193 and 194-1196

This study is based on rock mechanical tests of samples from platform carbonate strata to document their petrophysical properties and determine their potential for porosity loss by mechanical compaction. Sixteen core-plug samples, including eleven limestones and five dolostones, from Miocene carbonate platforms on the Marion Plateau, offshore northeast Australia, were tested at vertical effective stress, sigma1', of 0-70 MPa, as lateral strain was kept equal to zero. The samples were deposited as bioclastic facies in platform-top settings having paleo-water depths of <10-90 m. They were variably cemented with low-Mg calcite and five of the samples were dolomitized before burial to present depths of 39-635 m below sea floor with porosities of 8-46%. Ten samples tested under dry conditions had up to 0.22% strain at sigma1' = 50 MPa, whereas six samples tested saturated with brine, under drained conditions, had up to 0.33% strain. The yield strength was reached in five of the plugs. The measured strains show an overall positive correlation with porosity. Vp ranges from 3640 to 5660 m/s and Vs from 1840 to 3530 m/s. Poisson coefficient is 0.20-0.33 and Young's modulus at 30 MPa ranged between 5 and 40 GPa. Water saturated samples had lower shear moduli and slightly higher P- to S-wave velocity ratios. Creep at constant stress was observed only in samples affected by pore collapse, indicating propagation of microcracks. Although deposited as loose carbonate sand and mud, the studied carbonates acquired reef-like petrophysical properties by early calcite and dolomite cementation. The small strains observed experimentally at 50 MPa indicate that little mechanical compaction would occur at deeper burial. However, as these rocks are unlikely to preserve their present high porosities to 4-5 km depth, further porosity loss would proceed mainly by chemical compaction and cementation.

TEST BINARY IMPORT

Der Müller und die fünf Räuber, Überfall²³