The prevalence and reliability of visibility aid and other risk factor data for uninjured cyclists and pedestrians in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and reliability of risk factors collected on uninjured cyclists-pedestrians in Edmonton, Alberta, and what characteristics predict cyclist-pedestrian visibility. At randomly selected locations from July 2004 to August 2004, two independent observers recorded cyclist-pedestrian characteristics such as age, sex, clothing color, use of reflectors, flags, helmets, and a subjective impression of visibility. Data were collected on 836 individuals; most were either walking/jogging (approximately 63%) or cycling (approximately 33%). For non-cyclists, the prevalence of bright colored clothing on the trunk ranged from 12.7 to 14.7%. Few people used any kind of reflective strips. Inter-observer agreement (Kappa) ranged from 0.37 (visibility assessment) to 0.99 (sex). For cyclists, 17-19% of headgear was brightly colored, and 13-14% was white. Approximately one-fourth had a front light; half had a rear reflector. Few cyclists used a flag and just over half used spoke reflectors. Kappa ranged from 0.35 (observer assessed speed) to 0.95 (head gear and sex). A major trunk color of orange, red, yellow or white resulted in a higher visibility rating for both cyclists and pedestrians. The results indicate a low prevalence of visibility aid use among cyclists and pedestrians, but there appears to be acceptable inter-observer reliability for most data collected. Further work is required before an overall visibility rating can be used in place of component scores.     

Structure-Guided Engineering of a Family IV Cold-Adapted Esterase Expands Its Substrate Range

Cold active esterases have gained great interest in several industries. The recently determined structure of a family IV cold active esterase (EstN7) from Bacillus cohnii strain N1 was used to expand its substrate range and to probe its commercially valuable substrates. Database mining suggested that triacetin was a potential commercially valuable substrate for EstN7, which was subsequently proved experimentally with the final product being a single isomeric product, 1,2-glyceryl diacetate. Enzyme kinetics revealed that EstN7’s activity is restricted to C2 and C4 substrates due to a plug at the end of the acyl binding pocket that blocks access to a buried water-filled cavity. Residues M187, N211 and W206 were identified as key plug forming residues. N211A stabilised EstN7 allowing incorporation of the destabilising M187A mutation. The M187A-N211A double mutant had the broadest substrate range, capable of hydrolysing a C8 substrate. W206A did not appear to have any significant effect on substrate range either alone or when combined with the double mutant. Thus, the enzyme kinetics and engineering together with a recently determined structure of EstN7 provide new insights into substrate specificity and the role of acyl binding pocket plug residues in determining family IV esterase stability and substrate range.     

Exploring the performance of an augmented reality application for construction layout tasks

Multimedia Tools and Applications - While Building Information Modeling (BIM) adoption has increased in the industry, most office-to-site design communication still happens using 2D paper plans....     

Convergence Analysis of Two Numerical Schemes Applied to a Nonlinear Elliptic Problem

For a given nonlinear problem discretized by standard finite elements, we propose two iterative schemes to solve the discrete problem. We prove the well-posedness of the corresponding problems and their convergence. Next, we construct error indicators and prove optimal a posteriori estimates where we treat separately the discretization and linearization errors. Some numerical experiments confirm the validity of the schemes and allow us to compare them.     

Potential of front face fluorescence as a monitoring tool of neoformed compounds in industrially processed carrot baby food

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of using front face fluorescence (FFF) to monitor the impact of industrial process on carrot baby food, and to calibrate their content in neoformed compounds (NFC). Chromatographically measured NFC included furosine, carboxymethyllysine, and furan. The effect of using different raw material, fresh carrots, frozen cubes or pasteurized puree on NFC content in the resultant sterilized puree was also tested. Bidimensional FFF spectra acquired on the samples were decomposed using multiway PARAFAC model and used to predict the chromatographically measured NFC. FFF PARAFAC sample intensities systematically evolved with successive industrial process steps. The levels of NFC increased the most during heat treatment operations. Frozen cubes resulted in the purees with the lowest content in NFC, compared to fresh or pasteurized carrot cubes. Satisfactory calibration models (R² > 0.94) of the chromatographically measured NFC were obtained using FFF PARAFAC sample intensities as predictors. The multivariate regression models root mean square of cross validation for furosine, carboxymethyllysine, and furan were 3.98 mg/kg, 1.38 mg/kg and 5.23 µg/kg, respectively. From these first results we conclude that FFF is a promising tool to monitor fast and easily vegetable processing in a quality control approach.     

Coding-based ultra-wideband digital beamformer with significant hardware reduction

We propose a novel transceiver architecture for cognitive sensing. The architecture supports agile beam forming, jamming mitigation, as well as MIMO communications. An essential aspect of the new architecture is its departure from the traditional digital beamforming approaches. Specifically, a single ADC is assigned to a group of array elements instead of having one ADC per element. To facilitate this approach, code division multiplexing is applied to each received antenna signal prior to combining them for digitization using a single ADC. Thus full signal recovery is possible at digital baseband via decoding. The proposed architecture significantly reduces the number of ADCs and I/O channels and hence drastically improves size, weight, area, power and cost of the system with minimal impact on receiver signal-to-noise ratios.     

Adaptive power control algorithm with stabilization zone for third generation mobile networks

In this paper, we propose an evolution of adaptive power control algorithms for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (Umts). The proposed mechanism uses an adaptive power step to carry out with high fluctuations in the radio interface. Furthermore, we propose the integration of a stabilization zone where the transmitted power is kept constant to reduce oscillations around the target QoS level. In this algorithm, only the interpretation of power control feedback commands is ameliorated by adding some intelligence to mobiles and base stations. Moreover, the standardized radio interface protocol is used without modification. The algorithm can be used in both link directions of the Frequency Division Duplex (Fdd) mode and in the downlink of the Time Division Duplex (Tdd) mode, where closed-loop power control algorithms are used. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm decreases the outage probability and reduces drastically the transmitted power, which are the main objectives of power control algorithms.     

A partially interpenetrated metal-organic framework for selective hysteretic sorption of carbon dioxide

The selective capture of carbon dioxide in porous materials has potential for the storage and purification of fuel and flue gases. However, adsorption capacities under dynamic conditions are often insufficient for practical applications, and strategies to enhance CO(2)-host selectivity are required. The unique partially interpenetrated metal-organic framework NOTT-202 represents a new class of dynamic material that undergoes pronounced framework phase transition on desolvation. We report temperature-dependent adsorption/desorption hysteresis in desolvated NOTT-202a that responds selectively to CO(2). The CO(2) isotherm shows three steps in the adsorption profile at 195?K, and stepwise filling of pores generated within the observed partially interpenetrated structure has been modelled by grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations. Adsorption of N(2), CH(4), O(2), Ar and H(2) exhibits reversible isotherms without hysteresis under the same conditions, and this allows capture of gases at high pressure, but selectively leaves CO(2) trapped in the nanopores at low pressure.