Determinants of off-road vehicle transmission 'shift quality'

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between factors associated with a tractor transmission shift and the tractor operator's judgement of the quality of the shift. The specific objective was to measure experienced tractor operators' ratings of shift 'acceptability' as peak acceleration, peak jerk and direction of initial acceleration were varied at two levels of background vibration. A six-degree-of-freedom vehicle motion simulator in the Deere & Company Technical Center's human factors laboratory was used to simulate the background vibration and to control the experimental variables. The key results are: (1) The most important factor influencing 'shift quality' is the peak acceleration experienced during the shift. (2) Background vehicle vibration experienced by the tractor operator affects his perception of 'shift quality'. Higher background vibration masks the acceleration experienced during a shift and makes the shift more acceptable than when experienced at a low level of background vibration. (3) Peak jerk experienced during a shift has a negligible effect on 'shift quality'. (4) Upshifts and downshifts of the same peak acceleration, peak jerk, and background vibration receive the same general rating of 'shift quality'.     

Nasal Epithelial Cell-Based Models for Individualized Study in Cystic Fibrosis

The emergence of highly effective CFTR modulator therapy has led to significant improvements in health care for most patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). For some, however, these therapies remain inaccessible due to the rarity of their individual CFTR variants, or due to a lack of biologic activity of the available therapies for certain variants. One proposed method of addressing this gap is the use of primary human cell-based models, which allow preclinical therapeutic testing and physiologic assessment of relevant tissue at the individual level. Nasal cells represent one such tissue source and have emerged as a powerful model for individual disease study. The ex vivo culture of nasal cells has evolved over time, and modern nasal cell models are beginning to be utilized to predict patient outcomes. This review will discuss both historical and current state-of-the art use of nasal cells for study in CF, with a particular focus on the use of such models to inform personalized patient care.     

Unmanned Ground Vehicle Navigation in Coordinate-Free and Localization-Free Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks

We present a set of algorithms for the navigation of Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) towards a set of pre-identified target nodes in coordinate-free and localization-free wireless sensor and actuator networks. The UGVs are equipped with a set of wireless listeners that provide sensing information about the potential field generated by the network of actuators. Two main navigation scenarios are considered: single-UGV, single-destination navigation and multi-UGV, multi-destination navigation. For the single-UGV, single-destination case, we present both centralized and distributed navigation algorithms. Both algorithms share a similar two-phase concept. In the first phase, the system assigns level numbers to individual nodes based on their hop distance from the target nodes. In the second phase, the UGV uses the potential field created by the network of actuators to move towards the target nodes, requiring cooperation between triplets of actuator nodes and the UGV. The hop distance to the target nodes is used to control the main moving direction while the potential field, which can be measured by listeners on the UGV, is used to determine the UGV’s movement. For the multi-UGV, multi-destination case, we present a decentralized allocation algorithm such that multiple UGVs avoid converging to the same destination. After each UGV determines its destination, the proposed navigation scheme is applied. The presented algorithms do not attempt to localize UGVs or sensor nodes and are therefore suitable for operating in GPS-free/denied environments. We also present a study of the communication complexity of the algorithms as well as simulation examples that verify the proposed algorithms and compare their performances.     

Characterization of branched chain fatty acids from subcutaneous triacyglycerols of barley-fed lambs

The fatty acids of subcutaneous triacylglycerols (containing ca. 11% of branched chain components) from lambs fed on barley-rich diets were fractionated by treatment with mercuric acetate and by urea adduct formation to yield concentrates rich in the branched chain components, all of which were saturated. The concentrates were subjected to analysis by high resolution gas liquid chromatography in conjunction with mass spectrometry. The branched chain fatty acids consisted of a complex mixture of mono-, di-, and trimethyl substituted components. The greater part of the mixture comprised monomethyl substituted acids of chain length 10–17 carbon atoms. Within each of these molecular species, a number of positional isomers was identified, notably in respect of methyltetradecanoic acid (methyl substituent on carbon 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12) and methylhexadecanoic acid (methyl substituent on carbon 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, and 14). Homologous series also could be recognized of one of which all eight members from 4-methyldecanoic acid to 4-methylheptadecanoic acid were identified; together they accounted for ca. 39% of the branched chain fatty acids which were sampled for mass spectrometry. The dibranched acids identified consisted of five members of a homologous series, ranging in chain length from 11–15 carbon atoms and with substituent methyl groups at positions 4 and 8. Though the identity of only one tribranched acid (2,6,10-trimethyltetradecanoic acid) was established, others also apparently were present in the mixture. The probable involvement of methylmalonate in the biosynthesis of these branched chain acids is discussed briefly, with particular reference to the availability of vitamin B₁₂ in relation to the activity of methylmalonyl coenzyme A mutase.     

Mechanism of hydrogen adsorption/absorption at thin Pd layers on Au(1 1 1)

Hydrogen adsorption and absorption at thin palladium deposits of 0.8-10 monolayers (ML) on Au(1 1 1) was studied in 0.1 M H₂SO₄ and HClO₄ using cyclic voltammetry, ac voltammetry, and impedance spectroscopy in the absence and in the presence of poison, crystal violet. Hydrogen adsorption on palladium is more reversible in sulfuric acid than in perchloric acid but it occurs at potentials 30 mV more positive in latter. The charge-transfer resistance exhibits a minimum at ∼0.27 V versus RHE and decreases with increasing in Pd deposit thickness in both acids. Adsorption capacitance at 0.8 ML Pd reaches maximum at the same potential. At other deposits the pseudo-capacitance starts to increase at lower overpotentials indicating the beginning of absorption, even at 2 ML Pd. The double layer capacitance is similar for all the deposits in sulfuric acid and it has a sharp maximum at 0.27 V versus RHE. In perchloric acid a broad maximum is observed. Crystal violet inhibits hydrogen adsorption but makes hydrogen absorption more reversible. The results suggest a fast direct hydrogen absorption mechanism that proceeds in parallel with slower hydrogen adsorption and indirect absorption.     

Rapid ethanolysis procedure for jojoba wax analysis by gas liquid chromatography

A rapid ethanolysis procedure for preparing jojoba wax for gas liquid chromatographic analysis is described. The wax esters are hydrolyzed by refluxing 4 drops of jojoba wax in 5% HCl in anhydrous ethanol in a test tube. The resulting fatty acid ethyl esters and fatty alcohols are separated and quantitated by a single gas liquid chromatographic run. Analysis of duplicate samples by this procedure gives essentially the same results as a procedure which requires 10 times more sample and reagents and considerably more time.     

An Investigation of Information Systems Interoperability in UK Universities: Findings and Recommendations

This article reports on the key findings and implications of the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded Online Catalogue and Repository Interoperability Study (OCRIS), a 3-month project which investigated the interoperability of Online Public Access Catalogues (OPACs) and Institutional Repositories (IRs) within UK universities. A series of detailed recommendations enumerate some of the ways in which they might begin to develop and support an interoperable systems landscape to the benefit of all key stakeholders.

The project combined quantitative and qualitative research methods including an online questionnaire distributed to staff within 85 universities, desk research, and two case studies conducted at the Universities of Cambridge and Glasgow.     

Trust management towards service-oriented applications

In service-oriented computing (SOC) environments, service clients interact with service providers for services or transactions. From the point view of service clients, the trust status of a service provider is a critical issue to consider, particularly when the service provider is unknown to them. Typically, the trust evaluation is based on the feedback on the service quality provided by service clients. In this paper, we first present a trust management framework that is event-driven and rule-based. In this framework, trust computation is based on formulae. But rules are defined to determine which formula to use and what arguments to use, according to the event occurred during the transaction or service. In addition, we propose some trust evaluation metrics and a formula for trust computation. The formula is designed to be adaptable to different application domains by setting suitable arguments. Particularly, the proposed model addresses the incremental characteristics of trust establishment process. Furthermore, we propose a fuzzy logic based approach for determining reputation ranks that particularly differentiates new service providers and old (long-existing) ones. This is further incentive to new service providers and penalize poor quality services from service providers. Finally, a set of empirical studies has been conducted to study the properties of the proposed approaches, and the method to control the trust changes in both trust increment and decrement cases. The proposed framework is adaptable for different domains and complex trust evaluation systems.