Embedded supervisory control and output reporting for the oscillating ultrasonic temperature sensors

Ultrasonic temperature sensors can potentially outperform conven-tional sensors because they are capable of very fast sensing across the complete ultrasound pathway, whilst conventional sensors only sense temperature at a single point and have substantial thermal inertia. We report recent develop-ments in electronic instrumentation for oscillating ultrasonic temperature sen-sors with the aim of achieving high accuracy and low scatter at a low cost

Experimental evaluation of ultrasonic oscillating temperature sensors (UOTS) under cyclically changing temperatures

In contrast to most conventional temperature sensors, which need to come to thermal equilibrium with the medium of interest to report its temperature, UOTS interrogate the medium based on the propagation speed of ultrasound, and will return temperature data that are “averaged” for the complete ultrasound pathway. It has been demonstrated that UOTS can provide consistent high-resolution temperature readings under steadily decreasing temperatures using inexpensive ultrasonic transducers and low cost electronic instrumentation

Experimental setup of continuous ultrasonic monitoring for corrosion assessment

The paper is devoted to the ultrasonic monitoring of accelerated corrosion. In order to achieve non-uniform corrosion (high surface roughness), passivation was applied to the corroding surface. A dedicated electronic multiplexed four channel front end was developed in order to feed the amplified waveforms from several transducers to the recording instrument. The experiment was conducted using two 5 MHz and two 10 MHz ultrasonic transducers all operating in the pulse echo mode. The transducers were excited in turn using gated bursts, and the received echoes were multiplexed and amplified before being digitized by a high accuracy ultrasonic instrument. Application of adaptive cross correlation to the recorded data allowed continuous thickness estimation of the non-uniformly corroded surface whilst cross correlation method gave unsatisfactory results

Accurate heat loss evaluation of water-cooled electric motors using a differential ultrasonic calorimeter

Measuring thermal losses of electric motors are important for their design optimization and correct pricing after manufacture. This measurement can be conducted by measuring the temperature difference of the motor coolant (commonly water) between the coolant's inlet and outlet. High speed of measurement facilitates testing various load scenarios and manufacture throughput; high measurement accuracy and resolution enables correct conclusions on efficiency of various design alterations and price bracketing of manufactured pieces. Ultrasonic temperature sensors can fast sense temperature with high resolution and accuracy across the complete ultrasonic pathway. Conventional high resolution ultrasonic sensors are expensive; however, oscillating ultrasonic temperature sensors can be implemented using mass produced transducers and electronic parts which cost a fraction of the price of conventional high resolution ultrasonic measurement equipment. The presented ongoing research focuses on development of a differential ultrasonic oscillating temperature sensor for evaluation of power losses in electrical motors. Computer simulations, electronic and firmware design, and experimental results are presented and discussed

A new model of cosmogenic production of radiocarbon 14C in the atmosphere

We present the results of full new calculation of radiocarbon 14C production in the Earth atmosphere, using a numerical Monte-Carlo model. We provide, for the first time, a tabulated 14C yield function for the energy of primary cosmic ray particles ranging from 0.1 to 1000 GeV/nucleon. We have calculated the global production rate of 14C, which is 1.64 and 1.88 atoms/cm2/s for the modern time and for the pre-industrial epoch, respectively. This is close to the values obtained from the carbon cycle reservoir inventory. We argue that earlier models overestimated the global 14C production rate because of outdated spectra of cosmic ray heavier nuclei. The mean contribution of solar energetic particles to the global 14C is calculated as about 0.25% for the modern epoch. Our model provides a new tool to calculate the 14C production in the Earth's atmosphere, which can be applied, e.g., to reconstructions of solar activity in the past.Comment: Published in EPSL, 337, 114, 201

Constitutivism

A brief explanation and overview of constitutivism

Cross-cultural perspectives of LGBTQ psychology from five different countries: current state and recommendations

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning psychology (LGBTQ psychology) is a branch of psychology that promotes inclusiveness in theory and practice across the science of psychology, affirming the lives of people with different sexual orientations and forms of gender expression in a non-heterosexist and non-genderist perspective. This article highlights the historical development of LGBTQ psychology in the context of different realities for LGBTQ people in five different countries (Russia, Greece, Colombia, South Africa and the province of Quebec, Canada). Key experts on LGBTQ concerns report distinctive challenges they have faced when promoting LGBTQ rights and developing LGBTQ psychology (e.g., the pathologization and criminalization of sexual diversity, neglect on the part of authorities, and rejection from religious groups). Human and mental health sciences have played an important role in the blossoming of LGBTQ psychology. Cross-cultural narratives show that the recognition of lesbian and gay rights comes before the recognition of the rights of bi, trans, queer and questioning people. Various forms of homonegativity and transphobia still coexist even in countries that have established protections and rights recognition for LGBTQ people. We provide 15 strategies to help psychological organizations and psychologists around the world promote the development of LGBTQ psychology

Specific Inhibition of Phosphodiesterase-4B Results in Anxiolysis and Facilitates Memory Acquisition

Cognitive dysfunction is a core feature of dementia and a prominent feature in psychiatric disease. As non-redundant regulators of intracellular cAMP gradients, phosphodiesterases (PDE) mediate fundamental aspects of brain function relevant to learning, memory, and higher cognitive functions. Phosphodiesterase-4B (PDE4B) is an important phosphodiesterase in the hippocampal formation, is a major Disrupted in Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) binding partner and is itself a risk gene for psychiatric illness. To define the effects of specific inhibition of the PDE4B subtype, we generated mice with a catalytic domain mutant form of PDE4B (Y358C) that has decreased ability to hydrolyze cAMP. Structural modelling predictions of decreased function and impaired binding with DISC1 were confirmed in cell assays. Phenotypic characterization of the PDE4BY358C mice revealed facilitated phosphorylation of CREB, decreased binding to DISC1, and upregulation of DISC1 and β-Arrestin in hippocampus and amygdala. In behavioural assays, PDE4BY358C mice displayed decreased anxiety and increased exploration, as well as cognitive enhancement across several tests of learning and memory, consistent with synaptic changes including enhanced long-term potentiation and impaired depotentiation ex vivo. PDE4BY358C mice also demonstrated enhanced neurogenesis. Contextual fear memory, though intact at 24 hours, was decreased at 7 days in PDE4BY358C mice, an effect replicated pharmacologically with a non-selective PDE4 inhibitor, implicating cAMP signalling by PDE4B in a very late phase of consolidation. No effect of the PDE4BY358C mutation was observed in the pre-pulse inhibition and forced swim tests. Our data establish specific inhibition of PDE4B as a promising therapeutic approach for disorders of cognition and anxiety, and a putative target for pathological fear memory

The twilight of the Liberal Social Contract? On the Reception of Rawlsian Political Liberalism

This chapter discusses the Rawlsian project of public reason, or public justification-based 'political' liberalism, and its reception. After a brief philosophical rather than philological reconstruction of the project, the chapter revolves around a distinction between idealist and realist responses to it. Focusing on political liberalism’s critical reception illuminates an overarching question: was Rawls’s revival of a contractualist approach to liberal legitimacy a fruitful move for liberalism and/or the social contract tradition? The last section contains a largely negative answer to that question. Nonetheless the chapter's conclusion shows that the research programme of political liberalism provided and continues to provide illuminating insights into the limitations of liberal contractualism, especially under conditions of persistent and radical diversity. The programme is, however, less receptive to challenges to do with the relative decline of the power of modern states

Involvement in surface antigen expression by a moonlighting FG-repeat nucleoporin in trypanosomes

Components of the nuclear periphery coordinate a multitude of activities, including macromolecular transport, cell-cycle progression, and chromatin organization. Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) mediate nucleocytoplasmic transport, mRNA processing, and transcriptional regulation, and NPC components can define regions of high transcriptional activity in some organisms at the nuclear periphery and nucleoplasm. Lineage-specific features underpin several core nuclear functions and in trypanosomatids, which branched very early from other eukaryotes, unique protein components constitute the lamina, kinetochores, and parts of the NPCs. Here we describe a phenylalanine-glycine (FG)-repeat nucleoporin, TbNup53b, that has dual localizations within the nucleoplasm and NPC. In addition to association with nucleoporins, TbNup53b interacts with a known trans-splicing component, TSR1, and has a role in controlling expression of surface proteins including the nucleolar periphery-located, procyclin genes. Significantly, while several nucleoporins are implicated in intranuclear transcriptional regulation in metazoa, TbNup53b appears orthologous to components of the yeast/human Nup49/Nup58 complex, for which no transcriptional functions are known. These data suggest that FG-Nups are frequently co-opted to transcriptional functions during evolution and extend the presence of FG-repeat nucleoporin control of gene expression to trypanosomes, suggesting that this is a widespread and ancient eukaryotic feature, as well as underscoring once more flexibility within nucleoporin function