Temperature-dependent resistivity from phonons in cuprate superconductors

The temperature dependence of the resistivity of the cuprate superconductors arising from phonon scattering is considered within standard Bloch-Gruneisen theory allowing for several different shapes of transport spectral functions _tr ² F(). In contrast to often made comments that linear resistivity is not characteristic of electron-phonon scattering, it is shown rather that it is more difficult to get muchnonlinearity from this theory except below 50–100 K, and in this low-T regime better solutions to the Boltzmann equation might be required. The reasons for the linear behavior are clarified, and the variations to be expected from possible coupling functions are explored. Possible origins of the nonlinear resistivity seen in YBa₂Cu₄O₈ and recently in YBa₂Cu₃O₇ are suggested, and effects not included specifically in these calculations are discussed. It is also pointed out that phonon contributions to the energy () dependence of quasiparticles, which is a closely related consequence of electron-phonon coupling, will differ significantly from the simple ² Fermi liquid behavior that is commonly assumed.     

CO2 process intensification of algae oil extraction to biodiesel

Algae-to-biodiesel processes are hindered by high costs and low energy return on investment.^1,2. Herein, three foci in research improve algae-to-biodiesel processes by: (1) reducing high installation and energy costs in the CO₂ sequestration, cultivation, and harvesting stages; (2) improving oil extraction and biodiesel generation; and (3) increasing utilization of the proteins in lipid-extracted biomass (e.g., for animal feed), as well as the omega-3 fatty acids for nutraceuticals and food supplements. A process is introduced that uses carbon dioxide to aid in all three of these foci. CO₂ is used first in the form of microbubbles to lyse algae cell walls, releasing triglyceride oils. CO₂ also aids with transesterification of these triglycerides using methanol. At low temperatures (353.15–368.15 K) and intermediate pressures (5–10 MMPa), carbon dioxide causes methanol to dissolve partially in the triglyceride phase and triglyceride to dissolve partially in the methanol phase, increasing the transesterification reaction rate. Due to the nondestructive nature of these processes, other metabolites can also be harvested providing improvements in both mass and economic efficiency with an overall sharp reduction in the modeled price of biodiesel.     

A New Perspective on Patterns of Aging in Europe by Education and Gender

In this paper, we use the concept of prospective age to illuminate patterns of aging by gender, and education in Europe. We find that, within countries, the patterns of aging of men and women with high education are comparatively similar to one another, but that the patterns of aging are quite dissimilar for men and women in the low education group. Across countries the patterns of aging become more similar as education levels increase. Thus, when we look across educational strata, we find increasing convergence in the pattern of aging both across countries and by gender within countries. The distinctive patterns of aging in the Eastern European countries are largely associated with the comparatively rapid aging of men in the low education category. If aging patterns by education persist, improvements in the education composition of Eastern European countries would result in the patterns of aging there becoming more similar to those in Western European countries.     

Optimum detection of multiple vapor materials with frequency-agile lidar

Differential absorption lidar (DIAL) is a well-established technology for estimating the concentration and its path integral CL of vapor materials using two closely spaced wavelengths. The recent development of frequency-agile lasers (FAL's) with as many as 60 wavelengths that can be rapidly scanned motivates the need for detection and estimation algorithms that are optimal for lidar employing these new sources. I derive detection and multimaterial CL estimation algorithms for FAL applications using the likelihood ratio test methodology of multivariate statistical inference theory. Three model sets of assumptions are considered with regard to the spectral properties of the backscatter from either topographic or aerosol targets. The calculations are illustrated through both simulated and actual lidar data.     

St. Francis Hospice: Medicare and health care reform

The St. Francis Hospice Program is symbolic of more than 100 years of Franciscan dedication to the people of Hawaii. Since Mother Marianne's arrival in November of 1883, the Sisters of the Third Franciscan Order Syracuse, New York have responded to the calling; "the charity of Christ impels us." It is through this calling that care and comfort for the terminally ill is a part of the mission of St. Francis Healthcare System. The magnificent spirit through which Hospice services have been made possible, is a reflection of God's great generosity to us throughout the years.     

A review of stochastic algorithms with continuous value function approximation and some new approximate policy iteration algorithms for multidimensional continuous applications

We review the literature on approximate dynamic programming, with the goal of better understanding the theory behind practical algorithms for solving dynamic programs with continuous and vector-valued states and actions and complex information processes. We build on the literature that has addressed the well-known problem of multidimensional (and possibly continuous) states, and the extensive literature on model-free dynamic programming, which also assumes that the expectation in Bellman’s equation cannot be computed. However, we point out complications that arise when the actions/controls are vector-valued and possibly continuous. We then describe some recent research by the authors on approximate policy iteration algorithms that offer convergence guarantees (with technical assumptions) for both parametric and nonparametric architectures for the value function.     

C-PSA: Constrained Pareto simulated annealing for constrained multi-objective optimization

In recent years, evolutionary algorithms (EAs) have been extensively developed and utilized to solve multi-objective optimization problems. However, some previous studies have shown that for certain problems, an approach which allows for non-greedy or uphill moves (unlike EAs), can be more beneficial. One such approach is simulated annealing (SA). SA is a proven heuristic for solving numerical optimization problems. But owing to its point-to-point nature of search, limited efforts has been made to explore its potential for solving multi-objective problems. The focus of the presented work is to develop a simulated annealing algorithm for constrained multi-objective problems. The performance of the proposed algorithm is reported on a number of difficult constrained benchmark problems. A comparison with other established multi-objective optimization algorithms, such as infeasibility driven evolutionary algorithm (IDEA), Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) and multi-objective Scatter search II (MOSS-II) has been included to highlight the benefits of the proposed approach.     

Free-living inferential modeling of blood glucose level using only noninvasive inputs

The goal of this work is to present a causation modeling methodology with the ability to accurately infer blood glucose levels using a large set of highly correlated noninvasive input variables over an extended period of time. These models can provide insight to improve glucose monitoring, and glucose regulation through advanced model-based control technologies. The efficacy of this approach is demonstrated using real data from a type 2 diabetic (T2D) subject collected under free-living conditions over a period of 25 consecutive days. The model was identified and tested using eleven variables that included three food variables as well as several activity and stress variables. The model was trained using 20 days of data and validated using 5 days of data. This gave a fitted correlation coefficient of 0.70 and an average absolute error (AAE) (i.e., the average of the absolute values for the measured glucose concentration minus modeled glucose concentration) of 13.3 mg/dL for the validation data. This AAE result was significantly better than the subject’s personal glucose meter AAE of 15.3 mg/dL for replicated measurements.