Effects of material thickness and processing method on poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) degradation and mechanical performance

In this study, the effects of material thickness and processing method on the degradation rate and the changes in the mechanical properties of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) material during simulated physiological degradation were investigated. Two types of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) materials were considered: 0.12?mm solvent-cast films and 1?mm compression-moulded plates. The experimental results presented in this study were compared to the experimental results of Shirazi et al. (Acta Biomaterialia 10(11):4695–703, 2014) for 0.25?mm solvent-cast films. These experimental observations were used to validate the computational modelling predictions of Shirazi et al. (J Mech Behav Biomed Mater 54: 48–59, 2016) on critical diffusion length scale and also to refine the model parameters. The specific material processing methods considered here did not have a significant effect on the degradation rate and the changes in mechanical properties during degradation; however, they influenced the initial molecular weight and they determined the stiffness and hardness of the poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) material. The experimental observations strongly supported the computational modelling predictions that showed no significant difference in the degradation rate and the changes in the elastic modulus of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) films for thicknesses larger than 100?μm.     

Latent motion spaces for full-body motion editing

We explore an approach to full-body motion editing with linear motion models, prioritized constraint-based optimization and latent-space interpolation. By exploiting the mathematical connections between linear motion models and prioritized inverse kinematics (PIK), we formulate and solve the motion editing problem as an optimization function whose differential structure is rich enough to efficiently optimize user-specified constraints within the latent motion space. Performing motion editing within latent motion spaces has the advantage of handling pose transitions and consequently motion flow by construction from single key-frame editing. To handle motion adjustments from multiple key-frame and trajectory constraints, we developed a latent-space interpolation technique by exploiting spline functions. Such an approach handles per-frame adjustments generating smooth animations, while avoiding the computational expense of joint space interpolations. We demonstrate the usefulness of this approach by editing and generating full-body reaching and walking jump animations in challenging environment scenarios.     

Profile Scaling of Miniature Centrifugal Fans

This paper addresses issues that relate to downscaling the height of centrifugal fans for application in low profile technologies, such as the cooling of portable power electronics. The parameters studied include flow rate, pressure rise, and power consumption characteristics. The former two of these are measured using a fan characterization rig and the latter by directly measuring the power supplied to the fan. These are studied for fan diameters ranging from 15 to 30 mm with numerous profile heights between 0.3 mm and 15 mm. It is found that all of the phenomena encountered are best described in terms of fan aspect ratio. The results show that the conventional scaling laws cannot be accurately applied when blade profile alone is scaled. Indeed, the only parameter reasonably well predicted was the pressure rise attainable, but that was only accurate for fan aspect ratios greater than 0.17. Below this, the pressure rise generated reduces logarithmically toward zero. The study also reveals that no advantage is gained by using fans of aspect ratio greater than 0.3, as the maximum flow rate attainable decreases slightly above this. Overall, the scaling phenomena reported herein provide invaluable information for the future design of efficient low-profile cooling solutions that are to incorporate such fans.     

Influence of moisture content on the specific methanogenic activity of dry mesophilic municipal solid waste digestate

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of moisture content on the specific methanogenic activity (SMA) of a fresh dry mesophilic digestate from a municipal solid waste digester plant. For this purpose, SMA tests were performed under mesophilic conditions in 500 mL glass bottles of volume used as batch reactors, during a period of 20–25 days. Cellulose, propionate and acetate were used as substrates (5 g_COD kg^?1 digestate) at four different moisture contents, ranging from 65 to 82%. The moisture content strongly influenced the specific methanogenic activity. The highest SMA values were observed at a moisture content of 82% (11.1, 7.8 and 6.0 mg_COD g_VS^?1 d^?1 for cellulose, propionate and acetate spikes, respectively). SMA and moisture content were found to be linearly linked. Dry digestion at low water content is thus detrimental to the biological activity, probably due to physical limitations. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

Technology-aided participative methods in environmental assessment: An international perspective

Provisions for citizen involvement in the assessment of potential environmental effects of certain plans, programmes and projects are present in current legislation. An international survey revealed that public participation is common practice in European and some other countries worldwide. However, a number of issues are observed to affect public involvement in EIA/SEA processes and expert opinion differs when evaluating the effectiveness of existing participative methods.Results suggest that technology-aided methods can improve traditional participation processes. In particular, GIS has the potential to increase community knowledge and enhance involvement by communicating information more effectively. Variable accessibility to technology and data quality remain issues. Combining technology with more conventional ways of gathering, evaluating and presenting data are seen as offering a solution to the need to promote the integration of public perceptions in environmental assessment procedures. Recommendations to improve current public participation methods and measures for making GIS available to the general public are provided.     

Parental reports of coparenting and observed coparenting behavior during the toddler period.

Fifty-two married partners played with their 30-mo-olds in both dyadic (parent–child) and whole family contexts and reported on their own coparenting activities (family integrity-promoting behavior, conflict, disparagement, and reprimand). Coparenting behavior observed in the whole family context was evaluated for antagonism, warmth and cooperation, child–adult centeredness, balance of positive involvement, and management of toddler behavior. Parallel balance and management scores were also formed using dyadic session data. Men's reported family integrity-promoting activities and women's reported conflict and reprimand activities were reliable correlates of family group process in both bivariate and discriminant analyses, with links enduring even after controlling for marital quality. Whole family- and dyad-based estimates of coparenting were altogether unrelated, and reported coparenting was tied only to behavior in family context, not to family measures created from dyad-based data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of a strong magnetic field on the damping of second sound in dilute3He-4He mixtures below 100 mK

We have measured the increase in damping of second sound in 0.1% and 0.05%³He-⁴He solutions upon application of a magnetic field of 10 T. The increase is caused by changes in the thermal conductivity and viscosity of the mixture as the system becomes spin polarized. We show how to fit the data for the viscosity in zero-field to obtain an estimate of the interaction between the³He quasiparticles. It is then possible to predict the viscosity in a field of 10 T using the calculation of Hampson et al. The data agree with the theory to within 2%.     

Combined FRM and GDFT filter bank designs for improved nonuniform DSA channelisation

Multistandard channelisation for base stations is a big application of generalised discrete Fourier transform modulated filter banks (GDFT‐FBs) in digital communications. For technologies such as software‐defined radio and cognitive radio, nonuniform channelisers must be used if frequency bands are shared by different standards. However, GDFT‐FB‐based nonuniform channelisers can suffer from high filter orders when applied to wideband input signals. In this paper, various combinations of GDFT‐FB with the frequency response masking technique are proposed and evaluated for both uniform and nonuniform channelisation applications. Results show that the proposed techniques achieve savings in both the number of filter coefficients and the number of operations per input sample. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chill storage of mushrooms

Degree of whiteness is one of the most important aspects of quality in fresh mushrooms. Tests on the effects of chill storage (1°C) on whiteness of mushrooms showed that both time of putting mushrooms into refrigeration after harvest, and time of removal, had an effect on whiteness both at point of removal and during subsequent storage at ambient temperature. In general, the longer the refrigeration time in a given period of days the whiter the mushrooms. The rate of loss of whiteness at ambient temperature was about the same irrespective of whether mushrooms were stored (1°C) for 0 or 11 days. Mushrooms were placed in six whiteness categories with the aid of a Hunter Colour Difference meter (from excellent L > 93, to very poor L < 69). Mushrooms with L values <80 or <69 were considered as unacceptable from a whiteness point of view at wholesale or consumer levels respectively. These categories confer a degree of objectivity to the results in the chill storage tests.