A wavelet-based adaptive technique for adsorption problems involving steep gradients

A general, fast wavelet-based adaptive collocation method is formulated for heat and mass transfer problems involving a steep moving profile of the dependent variable. The technique of grid adaptation is based on sparse point representation (SPR). The method is applied and tested for the case of a gas–solid non-catalytic reaction in a porous solid at high Thiele modulus. Accurate and convergent steep profiles are obtained for Thiele modulus as large as 100 for the case of slab and found to match the analytical solution.

The attentional demands of preferred and non-preferred gait patterns

The purpose of this study was to determine the attentional demands of natural and imposed gait, as well as the attentional costs of transitions between the walking and running co-ordination patterns. Seven healthy young men and four healthy young women undertook an auditory probe reaction time task concurrently with self-selected gait (Experiment 1) and imposed walking and running (Experiment 2) at different speeds on a motor-driven treadmill. In Experiment 1, where participants were free to choose their own movement pattern to match the speed of travel of the treadmill, normal gait control was shown to have a significant attentional cost, and hence not be automatic in the classical sense. However, this attentional cost did not differ between the two gait modes or at the transition point. In Experiment 2, where participants were required to maintain specific gait modes regardless of the treadmill speed, the maintenance of walking at speeds normally associated with running was found to have an attentional cost whereas this was not the case for running at normal walking speeds. Collectively the findings support a model of gait control in which the normal switching between gait modes is determined with minimal attention demand and in which it is possible to sustain non-preferred gait modes although, in the case of walking, only at a significant attentional/cognitive cost. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Expertise and the perception of kinematic and situational probability information

Two experiments were conducted on the nature of expert perception in the sport of squash. In the first experiment, ten expert and fifteen novice players attempted to predict the direction and force of squash strokes from either a film display (occluded at variable time periods before and after the opposing player had struck the ball) or a matched point-light display (containing only the basic kinematic features of the opponent's movement pattern). Experts outperformed the novices under both display conditions, and the same basic time windows that characterised expert and novice pick-up of information in the film task also persisted in the point-light task. This suggests that the experts' perceptual advantage is directly related to their superior pick-up of essential kinematic information. In the second experiment, the vision of six expert and six less skilled players was occluded by remotely triggered liquid-crystal spectacles at quasi-random intervals during simulated match play. Players were required to complete their current stroke even when the display was occluded and their prediction performance was assessed with respect to whether they moved to the correct half of the court to match the direction and depth of the opponent's stroke. Consistent with experiment 1, experts were found to be superior in their advance pick-up of both directional and depth information when the display was occluded during the opponent's hitting action. However, experts also remained better than chance, and clearly superior to less skilled players, in their prediction performance under conditions where occlusion occurred before any significant pre-contact preparatory movement by the opposing player was visible. This additional source of expert superiority is attributable to their superior attunement to the information contained in the situational probabilities and sequential dependences within their opponent's pattern of play.

Diagnostics of A Range of Highly Superorbital Carbon Dioxide Flows

Expansion tubes are impulse facilities capable of generating highly energetic hyper-sonic flows. This work surveys a broad range of flow conditions produced in the facility X1 with carbon dioxide test gas, for simulation of spacecraft entry into the Martian atmosphere. Conditions with nominal flow speeds of 7, 9, 11 and 13 km/s were tested. The freestream conditions were calibrated using static/Pitot pressure measurements and advanced optical diagnostics. An extensive set of holographic interferometry experiments was performed on flows over wedges for quantitative study of freestream and post-shock densities, and post-shock ionisation. A one-dimensional code with frozen and equilibrium chemistry capabilities was used to estimate the freestream conditions. An equilibrium chemistry model produced a good match to measured freestream quantities at the high enthalpy conditions which are a major aim of this facility's operation. The freestream in the lower enthalpy conditions was found to be heavily influenced by chemical non-equilibrium. Non-equilibrium in the final unsteady expansion process of flow generation was accounted for by switching from equilibrium to frozen chemistry at a predetermined point. Comparison between the freestream density results of holographic interferometry, pressure measurements and computations shows good agreement.

Timber cross-bracing, Mooloomba House, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island

Detail view of timber cross-bracing with polycarbonate sheeting behind as seen from upper level dining studio.

Mooloomba House, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island

North elevation, deck below and belvedere above, as seen from path to beach.

South elevation edge, Mooloomba House, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island

View along south elevation, stair to belvedere beyond and bedboxes above.

Entrance deck, Mooloomba House, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island

View past kitchen windows and roof overhang to entrance deck to the south-west.

View from Mooloomba House, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island

View of ocean and coastal vegetation

Timber cross-bracing, Mooloomba House, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island

Detail view of timber cross-bracing to dining studio, as seen from upper living area.

Timber cross-bracing, Mooloomba House, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island

Detail view of timber cross-bracing with polycarbonate sheeting behind as seen from upper level dining studio.

Upper circulation deck, Mooloomba House, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island

View along circulation deck to belvedere (deck) beyond.

Lower studio dining room, Mooloomba House, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island

View through courtyard to lower studio dining room, as seen from upper living area.

Lower studio dining room, Mooloomba House, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island

View through courtyard to lower studio dining room, as seen from upper living area.

Mooloomba House, Point Lookout, North Stradbroke Island

North elevation, deck below and belvedere above, as seen from path to beach.