Listener-based analysis of surface importance for acoustic metrics

Acoustic quality in room acoustics is measured by well defined quantities, like definition, which can be derived from simulated impulse response filters or measured values. These take into account the intensity and phase shift of multiple reflections due to a wave front emanating from a sound source. Definition (D50) and clarity (C50) for example correspond to the fraction of the energy received in total to the energy received in the first 50 ms at a certain listener position. Unfortunately, the impulse response measured at a single point does not provide any information about the direction of reflections, and about the reflection surfaces which contribute to this measure. For the visualization of room acoustics, however, this information is very useful since it allows to discover regions with high contribution and provides insight into the influence of all reflecting surfaces to the quality measure. We use the phonon tracing method to calculate the contribution of the reflection surfaces to the impulse response for different listener positions. This data is used to compute importance values for the geometry taking a certain acoustic metric into account. To get a visual insight into the directional aspect, we map the importance to the reflecting surfaces of the geometry. This visualization indicates which parts of the surfaces need to be changed to enhance the chosen acoustic quality measure.We apply our method to the acoustic improvement of a lecture hall by means of enhancing the overall speech comprehensibility (clarity) and evaluate the results using glyphs to visualize the clarity (C50) values at listener positions throughout the room.     

HDL3-mediated cholesterol efflux from cultured enterocytes: The role of apoproteins A-I and A-II

High density lipoproteins (HDL) were recently demonstrated in an enterocyte model (CaCo-2 cells) to mediate reverse cholesterol transport by retroendocytosis. The present study was carried out to define the role of the major HDL apoproteins (apo) A-I and apo A-II in this pathway. HDL₃ was fractionated by heparin affinity chromatography into the two main fractions containing either apo A-I only (fraction A) or both apo A-I and apo A-II (fraction B). In addition, liposomes were reconstituted from purified apo A-I or apo A-II and dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine. The cell binding properties and cholesterol efflux potential were studied in the lipoprotein fractions and the liposomes. Both fractions exhibited similar maximal binding capacities of 4427 (A) and 5041 (B) ng/mg cell protein, but their dissociation constants differed (40.5 and 167.7 μg/mL, respectively). Fraction A induced cholesterol efflux and stimulated cholesterol synthesis more than did fraction B. Fraction A mobilized both cellular free and esterified cholesterol, whereas fraction B preferentially mobilized cholesteryl esters. Liposomes, containing either apo A-I or apo A-II, showed specific binding, endocytosis and endosomal transport, and were released as intact particles. Apo A-I liposomes also mediated cholesterol efflux. In conclusion, there is evidence that the HDL₃ subfractions A and B, as well as reconstituted liposomes containing either apo A-I or apo A-II, were specifically bound and entered a retroendocytosis pathway which was directly linked to cholesterol efflux. Quantitatively, the apo A-I subfraction appeared to play the dominant role in normal enterocytes. The apo A-II content of fraction B was related to the mobilization of cholesteryl esters.     

Crash costs by body part injured, fracture involvement, and threat-to-life severity. United States, 2000

This paper presents costs per US motor vehicle crash victim differentiated into many more diagnostic categories than prior estimates. These unit costs, which include the first keyed to the 1990 edition of Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) threat-to-life severity scores, are reported by body part, whether a fracture/dislocation was involved, and the maximum AIS score among the victim's injuries. This level of detail allows for a more accurate estimation of the social costs of motor vehicle crashes. It also allows for reliable analyses of interventions targeting narrow ranges of injuries. The paper updates the medical care data underlying the US crash costs from 1979 to 1986 to the mid 1990s and improves on prior productivity cost estimates. In addition to presenting the latest generation of crash victim costs, this paper analyzes the effects of applying injury costs classified by AIS code from the 1985 edition to injury incidence data coded with the 1990 edition of AIS. This long-standing practice results in inaccurate cost-benefit analyses that typically overestimate benefits. This problem is more acute when old published costs adjusted for inflation are used rather than the recent costs.     

Effect of Density and Processing Conditions on Oxide Transformations and Mechanical Properties in Cr–Mo-Alloyed PM steels

To improve the mechanical properties and performances of water-atomized powder metallurgy steels, it is necessary to enhance the density. Consolidating water-atomized steel powders via conventional pressing and sintering to a relative density level > 95 pct involves processing challenges. Consolidation of gas-atomized powders to full density by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) is an established process route but utilizing water-atomized powders in HIP involves challenges that result in the formation of prior particle boundaries due to higher oxygen content. In this study, the effect of density and processing conditions on the oxide transformations and mechanical properties from conventional press and sintering, and HIP are evaluated. Hence, water-atomized Cr–Mo-alloyed powder is used and consolidated into different density levels between 6.8 and 7.3 g cm⁻³ by conventional die pressing and sintering. Fully dense material produced through HIP is evaluated not only of mechanical properties but also for microstructural and fractographic analysis. An empirical model based on power law is fitted to the sintered material properties to estimate and predict the properties up to full density at different sintering conditions. A model describing the mechanism of oxide transformation during sintering and HIP is proposed. The challenges when it comes to the HIP of water-atomized powder are addressed and the requirements for successful HIP processing are discussed.

     

Towards an Unbiased Comparison of CC,BCC, and FCC Lattices in Terms of Prealiasing

In the literature on optimal regular volume sampling, the Body‐Centered Cubic (BCC) lattice has been proven to be optimal for sampling spherically band‐limited signals above the Nyquist limit. On the other hand, if the sampling frequency is below the Nyquist limit, the Face‐Centered Cubic (FCC) lattice was demonstrated to be optimal in reducing the prealiasing effect. In this paper, we confirm that the FCC lattice is indeed optimal in this sense in a certain interval of the sampling frequency. By theoretically estimating the prealiasing error in a realistic range of the sampling frequency, we show that in other frequency intervals, the BCC lattice and even the traditional Cartesian Cubic (CC) lattice are expected to minimize the prealiasing. The BCC lattice is superior over the FCC lattice if the sampling frequency is not significantly below the Nyquist limit. Interestingly, if the original signal is drastically undersampled, the CC lattice is expected to provide the lowest prealiasing error. Additionally, we give a comprehensible clarification that the sampling efficiency of the FCC lattice is lower than that of the BCC lattice. Although this is a well‐known fact, the exact percentage has been erroneously reported in the literature. Furthermore, for the sake of an unbiased comparison, we propose to rotate the Marschner‐Lobb test signal such that an undue advantage is not given to either lattice.     

The formation of Fe–Ga–In nanocomposite particles using mechanochemical interaction of Fe with the Ga–In eutectic

Mechanochemical interaction of Fe powder with the liquid Ga–In eutectic in the Fe-rich concentration corner of the Fe–Ga–In phase diagram was studied and compared with binary Fe–Ga and Fe–In specimens. Slow formation of diluted solid solutions in the Fe–In system was confirmed. In the Fe–Ga system, the dominant concentrated A2 solid solution is formed with H_eff?=?236 kOe, accompanied by ordered D0₃ and L1₂ phases. The Fe–Ga–In system features a stationary equilibrium between the concentrated A2 phase and D0₃ in the iron matrix.     

Variance reduction for fixed-source Monte Carlo calculations in multiplying systems by improving chain-length statistics

For a fixed-source calculation in a multiplying system, the variance in the neutron-chain length can create an unstable calculation and a neutron flux with high variance. In this paper an analytical frame is derived to calculate a priori the variance of the neutron flux in a simple model of a fixed-source calculation. This method is then used to find better variance reduction techniques not only for this simplified problem, but also for general cases.     

The impact of nuclear analysis on ITER design and licensing

The complexity of nuclear analysis on the design components of ITER is discussed. These analyses include the determination of several nuclear responses and it is shown that these results are not only relevant to the component under examination but have implications for the design of many other, often remote, systems. The contribution of nuclear analysis to the licensing process is discussed. An example is given of how this complexity means that the there is a large set of complementary analyses required to address the concerns of the licensing authorities. It also means that the nuclear analysis must be co-ordinated to ensure that the results are self-consistent and provide an integrated solution.