Office task effects on comfort and body dynamics in five dynamic office chairs

In the present study, we investigated the effect of office tasks on posture and movements in field settings, and the comfort rating for chair characteristics and correlation with type of task. The tasks studied were: computer work, telephoning, desk work and conversation. Postures, movements, chair part inclinations and comfort rating data were collected from 12 subjects. Computer work showed the lowest physical activity, together with upright trunk and head position and low backrest inclination. Conversation shows the highest activity of head legs and low back together with the highest cervical spine extension. In contrast, desk work provoked the most cervical spine flexion and showed the second lowest activity. The telephoning tasks showed medium activity and the highest kyphosis. Conversation showed the highest backrest inclination. Positive comfort relations were found for computer work and a "swing system" chair, for telephoning and an active longitudinal seat rotation, and for desk work and a chair with a three-dimensionally moveable seat.     

Near surface flaw detection by ultrasonic critical angle imaging

Acoustic critical angle measurements usually involve broad beam or global isonification of a water-solid interface. In order to obtain local interface data, it is convenient to use a focused acoustic source with lens axis at incident angle and point-receiver at specular reflection angle . By scanning this combination at various critical angles (=_crit), interface waves are generated locally near the lens focus. These waves penetrate the solid to a depth of approximately one shear wavelength _T and are modulated by discontinuities such as flaws, inclusions, and debonds that may be present there. A radiated longitudinal wave in water accompanies these modulated interface waves and carries information on subsurface flaws to the point-detector along the direction of a specularly reflected wave. By scanning the focus-receiver combination along the interface, the receiver output may be used to form images of local subsurface detail. We show that in anisotropic materials, such as crystals, there are generally two different _crit where a radiating interface wave provides subsurface information. We also discuss special problems associated with the use of a focused acoustic source including nonlinear effects (generation of harmonics) in the water.     

Moduli and canonical forms for linear dynamical systems II: The topological case

In this paper we study real linear dynamical systems \(\dot x = Fx + Gu,y = Hx,x \in R^n \) = state space,u ∈ R ^m = input space,y ∈ R ^p = output space, under the equivalence relation induced by base change in state space; or in other words we study triples of matrices with real coefficients (F, G, H) of sizesn × n, n × m, p × n respectively, under the action(F, G, H.) →(TFT ^?1,TG, HT ^?1) ofGL _n (R), the group of invertible realn × n matrices. One of the central questions studied is: “do there exist continuous canonical forms for this equivalence relation?”. After various trivial obstructions to the existence of such forms have been removed the answer is very roughly: no ifm ≥ 2, p ≥ 2, yes ifm = 1, orp = 1. For a precise statement cf. theorem 1.7. Existence or nonexistence of continuous canonical forms is related to the existence of a universal family of real linear dynamical systems. More precisely continuous canonical forms exist if such a universal family exists and if the underlying vector bundle of this family is the trivial vector bundle. In the case studied we show that a universal family in the appropriate sense does exist. The methods used are purely (differential) topological and in particular do not involve any algebraic geometry. There is a corresponding algebraic theory over any fieldk instead ofR which is the subject of part III of this series of papers.     

Initiation of tantalum oxide pores grown on tantalum by potentiodynamic anodic oxidation

The initiation and growth of porous oxide on Ta was investigated in mixed H₂SO₄/HF electrolytes. Under selected potentiodynamic anodic oxidation conditions the formation of nearly uniform porous Ta₂O₅ layer was observed. The porous Ta₂O₅ layers consist of self-organized pore arrays with single pore diameters ranging from 2 to 10 nm. The morphology and the thickness of the layer depend strongly on the applied potential, the scan rate and on HF presence. The composition of the porous oxide layer is Ta₂O₅.     

Generation of classes of robust periodic railway timetables

In this paper we discuss the problem of randomly sampling classes of fixed-interval railway timetables from a so-called timetable structure. Using a standard model for the timetable structure, we introduce a natural partitioning of the set of feasible timetables into classes. We then define a new probability distribution where the probability of each class depends on the robustness of the timetables in that class. Due to the difficulty of sampling directly from this distribution, we propose a heuristic sampling method and illustrate using practical data that our method indeed favors classes containing robust timetables over others.     

A review on assessment of fatigue strength in welded studs

Welding is one of the most important and highly developed joining methods; nevertheless unwanted side effects occur like thermal strains and altering of certain material properties induced by heating and melting. These effects lead to distortions and high residual stresses which should be kept to a minimum. To minimize distortion, various strategies are being developed. Stud welding is widely used in steel structures, power plants, and ship buildings due to the significantly technology including highest quality of production processes by continuous electrical control and the efficiency of such a process. Therefore, varying the heat input typically will affect the material properties including yield strength, tensile strength, hardness, and notch toughness in the stud arc welding. Well-defined heat sources offer a reproduced heat input into a highly localized area. The fatigue strength of stud welding has been investigated by performing welding process and microstructural observations. This paper is going to discuss the influence of heat input on the structural changes in stud arc welding.     

Turning wine (waste) into water: Toward technological advances in the use of constructed wetlands for winery effluent treatment

The research presented in this article describes an investigation into the use of vegetated submerged reedbeds (VSR) as a practicable alternative for effluent treatment for small‐scale wine producers. In this study, we found that the hydraulic processes occurring within the VSR display significantly nonideal behavior. If the feed to the VSR was located on the surface the dead volume accounted for approximately 25% of the nonideal behavior of the system and bypass accounted for a further 6%. A preferential flow pattern was found within the VSR with the greatest flow occurring closest the surface and in the center, and the least at the sidewalls. We propose that the flow profile can be conceptualized as being hull shaped and found that this profile was the same for irregularly shaped gravel and for spherically shaped gelatinous beads. We, therefore, hypothesize that it is not dependent on the geometry of the VSR or the packing medium. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J 60: 420–431, 2014     

Chromatographische Untersuchungen zur Polydispersität von Hydroxyethylstärke

Chromatographic Studies on the Polydispersity of Hydroxyethyl Starch. A representative sample of clinically used hydroxyethyl starch was separated by semipreparative HPSEC into narrow fractions in the range of approx. 3.000 to 800.000 D. The original sample and selected fractions were characterised by gaschromatographic methylation analysis according to their substitution degrees MS and DS, which were differentiated by the substitution positions at C2, C3 and C6 of the anhydroglucoses and their kind of glycosidic bonding α-1, α-1,4 or α-1,4,6, respectively. Furthermore, polydispersity in relations to the degree of branching was determined. Mark-Houwink and molecular weight distribution parameters determined by multi-detection HPSEC are reported. The presented data demonstrate a extensive homogeneity of the original sample. The clinical relevance is discussed.     

Convective condensation in a stator–rotor–stator spinning disc reactor

Centrifugal intensification of condensation heat transfer in the rotor–stator cavities of a stator–rotor–stator spinning disc reactor (srs‐SDR) is studied, as a function of rotational velocity ω, volumetric throughflow rate , and average temperature driving force . For the current range of ω, heat transfer from the vapor bubbles to the condensate liquid is limiting, due to a relatively low gas–liquid interfacial area a_GL. For rad s^?1, a strong increase of a_GL, results in increasing the reactor‐average condensation heat transfer coefficient h_c from 1600 to 5600 W m^?2 K^?1, for condensation of pure dichloromethane vapor. Condensation heat transfer in the srs‐SDR is enhanced by rotation, independent of the vapor velocity. The intensified condensation comes at the cost of relatively high energy dissipation rates, indicating condensation in the srs‐SDR is more suited as a means to supply heat (e.g. in an intensified reactor‐heat exchanger), rather than for bulk cooling purposes. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 3784–3796, 2016