An Ecological Momentary Assessment of Relapse Crises in Dieting.

Much of the research on relapse crises in dieting has focused on isolated lapse events and relied heavily on retrospective self-report data. The present study sought to overcome these limitations by using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) techniques to examine situations of dietary temptation and lapse with a sample of obese, formerly sedentary, postmenopausal women (N = 37) during the final week of a weight-loss intervention. Mood was associated with reports of dietary lapse. Abstinence-violation effects were more strongly associated with dietary lapses than temptations. Finally, coping responses distinguished dietary temptations from lapses. Education on the factors associated with relapse crises in dieting may be imperative for weight loss success and maintenance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of beam limiting aperture and collector potential on multi-element focused ion beams

A compact microwave driven plasma based multi-element focused ion beam system has been developed. In the present work, the effect of reduced beam limiter (BL) aperture on the focused ion beam parameters, such as current and spot size, and a method of controlling beam energy independently by introducing a biased collector at focal point (FP) are investigated. It is found that the location of FP does not change due to the reduction of BL aperture. The location of FP and beam size are found to be weakly dependent on the collector potential in the range from -8 kV to -18 kV.     

Failure Investigation of Boiler Water Wall Tubes of a Thermal Power Station

Failure investigation was carried out on boiler water wall tubes of a thermal power plant through visual inspection, chemical analysis, and metallurgical analysis. Failure was in the form of thin/micro cracks along the length of the tubes which were located at the girth welding joint of tubes. Experimental results revealed that the cracking was from inward to outward of the tube thickness. Discontinuities/cavities were observed in the welded region which might have occurred due to lack of fusion of base metal and the weld metal. Cracks were initiated from the sharp corner/crack tip of the cavities/discontinuities present at the welded region under the action of hoop/thermal stress existed during the operation. Nature of the crack propagation indicates the case of typical hydrogen-induced cracking. Moreover, the presence of the cavities/discontinuities reduced the cross-sectional area of tubes resulting increased stress intensity. Increased stress beyond the flow stress of the material assisted by hydrogen-induced effect resulted the cracking of the tubes. In order to mitigate the problem, proper welding of tubes joints should be carried out followed by proper inspection after weld. Secondly, hydrogen dissolution during welding should be prevented and treatment for its removal after welding should be carried out.     

Mixed convective heat transfer enhancement in a ventilated cavity by flow modulation via rotating plate

The present study numerically explores the mixed convection phenomena in a differentially heated ventilated square cavity with active flow modulation via a rotating plate. Forced convection flow in the cavity is attained by maintaining external fluid flow through an opening at the bottom of the left cavity wall while leaving it through another opening at the right cavity wall. A counter-clockwise rotating plate at the center of the cavity acts as an active flow modulator. Moving mesh approach is used for the rotation of the plate and the numerical solution is achieved using arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian finite element formulation with a quadrilateral discretization scheme. Transient parametric simulations have been performed for various frequency of the rotating plate for a fixed Reynolds number (Re) of 100 based on maximum inlet flow velocity while the Richardson number (Ri) is maintained at unity. Heat transfer performance has been evaluated in terms of spatially averaged Nusselt number and time-averaged Nusselt number along the heated wall. Power spectrum analysis in the frequency domain obtained from the fast Fourier transform analysis indicates that thermal frequency and plate frequency start to deviate from each other at higher values of velocity ratio (>4).     

Quantification and source characterization of volatile organic compounds from exercising and application of chlorine-based cleaning products in a university athletic center

Humans spend approximately 90% of their time indoors, impacting their own air quality through occupancy and activities. Human VOC emissions indoors from exercise are still relatively uncertain, and questions remain about emissions from chlorine-based cleaners. To investigate these and other issues, the ATHLETic center study of Indoor Chemistry (ATHLETIC) campaign was conducted in the weight room of the Dal Ward Athletic Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. Using a Vocus Proton-Transfer-Reaction Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (Vocus PTR-TOF), an Aerodyne Gas Chromatograph (GC), an Iodide-Chemical Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (I-CIMS), and Picarro cavity ringdown spectrometers, we alternated measurements between the weight room and supply air, allowing for determination of VOC, NH₃, H₂O, and CO₂ emission rates per person (emission factors). Human-derived emission factors were higher than previous studies of measuring indoor air quality in rooms with individuals at rest and correlated with increased CO₂ emission factors. Emission factors from personal care products (PCPs) were consistent with previous studies and typically decreased throughout the day. In addition, N-chloraldimines were observed in the gas phase after the exercise equipment was cleaned with a dichlor solution. The chloraldimines likely originated from reactions of free amino acids with HOCl on gym surfaces.     

Aggregate nonparametric safety analysis of traffic zones

Exploring the significant variables related to specific types of crashes is vitally important in the planning stage of a transportation network. This paper aims to identify and examine important variables associated with total crashes and severe crashes per traffic analysis zone (TAZ) in four counties of the state of Florida by applying nonparametric statistical techniques such as data mining and random forest. The intention of investigating these factors in such aggregate level analysis is to incorporate proactive safety measures in transportation planning. Total and severe crashes per TAZ were modeled to provide predictive decision trees. The variables which carried higher weight of importance for total crashes per TAZ were – total number of intersections per TAZ, airport trip productions, light truck productions, and total roadway segment length with 35 mph posted speed limit. The other significant variables identified for total crashes were total roadway length with 15 mph posted speed limit, total roadway length with 65 mph posted speed limit, and non-home based work productions. For severe crashes, total number of intersections per TAZ, light truck productions, total roadway length with 35 mph posted speed limit, and total roadway length with 65 mph posted speed limit were among the significant variables. These variables were further verified and supported by the random forest results.     

Effect of gamma irradiation on structural,morphological and optical properties of thermal spray pyrolysis deposited CuO thin film

This study reports the influences of gamma irradiation (GI) in the range of 20–100 kGy on CuO thin films via thermal spray pyrolysis technique on the glass substrates. The results demonstrate significant influences of GI on the crystallographic, microstructural and optical characteristics of CuO thin films. The obtained XRD results showed that the crystallinity of the films deteriorates by gradually decreasing crystallite size (from 59.13 to 46 nm) as applied gamma doses increases. However, the basic monoclinic crystal structure remains same. The dislocation density and lattice strain increased with the rise of GI absorbed dose due to the creation of defects. The values of number of crystallites per unit surface area increased as dose increased indicating the abundance of crystallization of nano CuO thin films. A UV–Vis–NIR spectrophotometer was utilized to determine the optical properties and obtained results indicated that the optical energy band gap (OBG) energies reduced from 2.00 to 1.72 eV as the doses increased from 0 to 100 kGy. No distinctions of the monoclinic phase of virgin CuO thin film have been perceived under applied absorbed doses, notwithstanding the slight deterioration of the crystallinity and narrowing the OBG.     

A Jitter Injection Signal Generation and Extraction System for Embedded Test of High-Speed Data I/O

An instrument for on-chip measurement of transceiver transmission capability is described that is fully realizable in CMOS technology and embeddable within an SoC. The instrument can be used to inject and extract the timing and voltage information associated with signals in high-speed transceiver circuits that are commonly found in data communication applications. At the core of this work is the use of ΣΔ amplitude- and phase-encoding techniques to generate both the voltage and timing (phase) references, or strobes used for high-speed sampling. The same technique is also used for generating the test stimulant for the device-under-test.