An initial view of subsurface Lagrangian observations in Lake Champlain: General patterns,cross-lake flow and coastal currents

Subsurface free-drifting floats operating in the Main Lake of Lake Champlain in 2002 and 2004 showed the presence of 1) small circular to elliptical motion away from coastal boundaries, 2) linear to curvilinear motion associated with alongshore currents and 3) subsurface westward cross-lake flow located within the base of the epilimnion and upper metalimnion (10–16 m) followed by large displacements up to 48 km by a coastal current. This subsurface westward flow is believed to be driven by linked upwelling and downwelling regimes on either side of the lake. Subsurface moorings deployed for ~ 34 days in 2007 and within 1 km of Whallon Bay's (NY) western shore showed that Kelvin wave dynamics and a high-speed subsurface jet located above the metalimnic core and > 600 m offshore could account for these large southerly transports. This subsurface jet may be linked to the cross-lake flow due to similar vertical positioning. The southern concave shape of Whallon Bay also appears to be the cause of high-speed northward-flowing currents within 400 m of the shore.     

Enterprise knowledge management model based on China’s practice and case study

This study analyzes the situation of enterprise knowledge management in China based on the survey and data in terms of knowledge management recognition, knowledge management stages, knowledge management applications, integration of knowledge, motivation and effect of knowledge management, and finds that the enterprise knowledge management in China is still at the initial stage, therefore it is significant to establish a general knowledge management model for China’s enterprises. This study develops a framework of general knowledge management model from the perspective of organizational competitive advantages, and further discusses the application of enterprise knowledge management model through the case of Landray.     

LOcal Uncertainty Processing (LOUP) method for multidisciplinary robust design optimization

In this paper, we develop an easy-to-implement approximate method to take uncertainties into account during a multidisciplinary optimization. Multidisciplinary robust design usually involves setting up a full uncertainty propagation within the system, requiring major modifications in every discipline and on the shared variables. Uncertainty propagation is an expensive process, but robust solutions can be obtained more easily when the disciplines affected by uncertainties have a significant effect on the objectives of the problem. A heuristic method based on local uncertainty processing (LOUP) is presented here, allowing approximate solving of specific robust optimization problems with minor changes in the initial multidisciplinary system. Uncertainty is processed within the disciplines that it impacts directly, without propagation to the other disciplines. A criterion to verify a posteriori the applicability of the method to a given multidisciplinary system is provided. The LOUP method is applied to an aircraft preliminary design industrial test case, in which it allowed to obtain robust designs whose performance is more stable than the one of deterministic solutions, relatively to uncertain parameter variations.     

Molecular Alterations in Sporadic and SOD1-ALS Immortalized Lymphocytes: Towards a Personalized Therapy

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurological condition where motor neurons (MNs) degenerate. Most of the ALS cases are sporadic (sALS), whereas 10% are hereditarily transmitted (fALS), among which mutations are found in the gene that codes for the enzyme superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1). A central question in ALS field is whether causative mutations display selective alterations not found in sALS patients, or they converge on shared molecular pathways. To identify specific and common mechanisms for designing appropriate therapeutic interventions, we focused on the SOD1-mutated (SOD1-ALS) versus sALS patients. Since ALS pathology involves different cell types other than MNs, we generated lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) from sALS and SOD1-ALS patients and healthy donors and investigated whether they show changes in oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, metabolic disturbances, the antioxidant NRF2 pathway, inflammatory profile, and autophagic flux. Both oxidative phosphorylation and glycolysis appear to be upregulated in lymphoblasts from sALS and SOD1-ALS. Our results indicate significant differences in NRF2/ARE pathway between sALS and SOD1-ALS lymphoblasts. Furthermore, levels of inflammatory cytokines and autophagic flux discriminate between sALS and SOD1-ALS lymphoblasts. Overall, different molecular mechanisms are involved in sALS and SOD1-ALS patients and thus, personalized medicine should be developed for each case.     

Work Setting and Burnout Among Professional Psychologists.

How does work setting relate to burnout among professional psychologists? Five hundred and seventy-one doctoral psychologists responded to a survey about professional activities, work environment, and burnout. Solo and group independent practitioners reported a greater sense of personal accomplishment than agency respondents. However, women experienced higher levels of emotional exhaustion in agency settings than in either solo or group independent practice, whereas men experienced higher exhaustion in group independent practice. Overall, greater emotional exhaustion was associated with less control over work activities, working more hours, spending more time on administrative tasks and paperwork, seeing more managed care clients and fewer direct pay clients, and having to deal with more negative client behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attenuation of a non-parallel beam of gamma radiation by thick shielding—application to the determination of the U enrichment with NaI detectors

The traditional method used to determine the Uranium enrichment by nondestructive analysis is based on the “enrichment meter principle” [1]. It involves measuring the intensity of the 186 keV net peak area of ²³⁵U in “quasi-infinite” samples. A prominent factor, which affects the peak intensity, is the presence of gamma absorbing material (e.g., container wall, detector cover) between the sample and the detector. Its effect is taken into consideration in a commonly called “wall thickness” correction factor. Often calculated on the basis of approximations, its performance is adequate for small attenuation factors applicable to the case of narrow beams. However these approximations do not lead to precise results when wide non-parallel beams are attenuated through thick container walls.

This paper is dedicated to the calculation by numerical integration of the geometrical correction factor (K_wtc) which describes the effective mean path length of the radiation through the absorbing layer. This factor was calculated as a function of various measurement parameters (types and dimensions of the detector, of the collimator and of the shielding) for the most commonly used collimator shapes and detectors. Both coherent scattering (Rayleigh) and incoherent scattering (Compton) are taken into account for the calculation of the radiation interaction within the detector.     

Input devices for web browsing: age and hand effects

The work reported in this paper examined performance on a mixed pointing and data entry task using direct and indirect positioning devices for younger, middle-aged, and older adults (n=72) who were experienced mouse users. Participants used both preferred and non-preferred hands to perform an item selection and text entry task simulating a typical web page interaction. Older adults performed more slowly than middle-aged adults who in turn performed more slowly than young adults. Performance efficiency was superior with the mouse for older adults only on the first two trial blocks. Thereafter mouse and light pen yielded equivalent performance. For other age groups, mouse and light pen were equivalent at all points of practice. Contrary to prior research revealing superior performance with a light pen for pure pointing tasks, these results suggest that older adults may initially perform worse with a light pen than a mouse for mixed tasks.     

French Abstract

To what extent do frame‐building and frame‐setting processes manifest themselves in the interplay between online public discourse and traditional (offline) media discourse? Employing a content analysis of 206 online posts and 114 news reports regarding a sociopolitical incident in China, we test the associations and causal relationships between the salience of opinion frames and media frames. Online public opinion plays an important role in transforming the original local event into a nationally prominent issue. It also exerts a significant frame‐building impact on subsequent media reports but only in the early stage of coverage. However, the media are not passive in this two‐way process and adapt online frames as necessary. Although media coverage is the primary source of information for netizens, it does not set frames for online discourse. Noticeably, significant associations between concurrent opinion frames and media frames lend strong support to frame‐interacting effects. Discussion focuses on governmental influences in the frame‐building process and the potential of netizen autonomy to attenuate frame‐setting effects.     

A Survey of Mobile Transactions

Transaction support is crucial in mobile data management. Specific characteristics of mobile environments (e.g. variable bandwidth, disconnections, limited resources on mobile hosts) make traditional transaction management techniques no longer appropriate. Several models for mobile transactions have been proposed but it is difficult to have an overview of all of them. This paper analyzes and compares several contributions to mobile transactions. The analysis distinguishes two groups of models. The first group includes proposals where transactions are completely or partially executed on mobile hosts. In this group we focus on ACID properties support. The second group considers transactions requested by mobile hosts and executed on the wired network. In this case, ACID properties are not compromised and focus is on supporting mobile host movements during transaction execution. Discussions pointing out limitations, interesting solutions and research perspectives complete this paper.