Behavior of soils under impact loading

Experimental soil behavior under impact loadin

On support varieties and tensor products for finite dimensional algebras

It has been asked whether there is a version of the tensor product property for support varieties over finite dimensional algebras defined in terms of Hochschild cohomology. We show that in general no such version can exist. In particular, we show that for certain quantum complete intersections, there are modules and bimodules for which the variety of the tensor product is not even contained in the variety of the one-sided module.Comment: 9 page

Force-penetration characteristics of a sand horizontally penetrated by plates, cones, and spherical segments

Force penetration characteristics of sand horizontally penetrated by various geometrically shaped model

Thermal decomposition of biomass wastes. A kinetic study.

Wastes from brewery, industrial coffee roasting and fiberboard furniture were investigated. Thermogravimetric experiments were carried out with different types of temperature programs. Three models were proposed describing equally well the behavior of the samples. One of the models consisted of three partial reactions with distributed activation energies (DAEM). In this case 12 parameters were sufficient to describe the behavior of a sample in the whole range of observations. The other two models were mathematically simpler, but contained higher numbers of adjustable parameters. The reliability of the models was tested in three ways: (i) the models provided good fit for all experiments; (ii) the evaluation of a narrower subset of the experiments resulted in approximately the same parameters as the evaluation of the whole series of experiments; (iii) the models allowed accurate extrapolations to higher heating rates

A single case study of a family-centred intervention with a young girl with cerebral palsy who is a multimodal communicator

Background - This paper describes the impact of a family-centred intervention that used video to enhance communication in a young girl with cerebral palsy. This single case study describes how the video-based intervention worked in the context of multimodal communication, which included high-tech augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device use. This paper includes the family's perspective of the video intervention and they describe the impact of it on their family. Methods - This single case study was based on the premise that the video interaction guidance intervention would increase attentiveness between participants during communication. It tests a hypothesis that eye gaze is a fundamental prerequisite for all communicative initiatives, regardless of modality in the child. Multimodality is described as the range of communicative behaviours used by the child and these are coded as AAC communication, vocalizations (intelligible and unintelligible), sign communication, nodding and pointing. Change was analysed over time with multiple testing both pre and post intervention. Data were analysed within INTERACT, a computer software to analyse behaviourally observed data. Behaviours were analysed for frequency and duration, contingency and co-occurrence. Results - Results indicated increased duration of mother's and girl's eye gaze, increased frequency and duration in AAC communication by the girl and significant change in frequency [χ2 (5, n = 1) = 13.25, P < 0.05] and duration [χ2 (5, n = 1) = 12.57, P < 0.05] of the girl's multimodal communicative behaviours. Contingency and co-occurrence analysis indicated that mother's eye gaze followed by AAC communication was the most prominent change between the pre- and post-intervention assessments. Conclusions - There was a trend for increased eye gaze in both mum and girl and AAC communication in the girl following the video intervention. The family's perspective concurs with the results

CO2 Gasification of Biomass Chars: A Kinetic Study

The CO2 gasification of pine and birch charcoals was studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) at CO2 partial pressures of 51 and 101 kPa. Linear and stepwise heating programs were employed to increase the information content of the experimental data sets. Low sample masses were used because of the high enthalpy change. Seven experiments with different experimental conditions were evaluated simultaneously for each sample. The method of least-squares was employed. Three reactions appeared in the temperature domain evaluated (600-1000 degrees C). The first and second reactions were due to the devolatilization and did not show a significant dependence upon the CO2 concentration. They were approximated by first-order kinetics. The third reaction corresponded to the gasification. Its modeling was based on an empirical approximation of the change of the reaction surface during the gasification and by a formal reaction order with respect to the CO2 concentration. Very close results were obtained for the two charcoals. The dependence upon the conversion could be well-approximated by power law kinetics. In the next step of the evaluation, the experiments of the two samples (14 experiments combined) were evaluated together, assuming common activation energy values and a common reaction order with respect to the CO2 concentration. This process led to nearly the same fit as the separate evaluation of the two samples. The activation energy of the gasification step was 262 kJ/mol. The reaction order of CO2 was 0.40

A cell autonomous role for the Notch ligand Delta-like 3 in αβ T- cell development

Notch signalling is critical to help direct T-cell lineage commitment in early T-cell progenitors and in the development of αβ T-cells. Epithelial and stromal cell populations in the thymus express the Notch DSL (Delta, Serrate and Lag2) ligands Delta-like 1 (Dll1), Delta-like 4 (Dll4), Jagged 1 and Jagged 2, and induce Notch signalling in thymocytes that express the Notch receptor. At present there is nothing known about the role of the Delta-like 3 (Dll3) ligand in the immune system. Here we describe a novel cell autonomous role for Dll3 in αβ T-cell development. We show that Dll3 cannot activate Notch when expressed in trans but like other Notch ligands it can inhibit Notch signalling when expressed in cis with the receptor. The loss of Dll3 leads to an increase in Hes5 expression in double positive thymocytes and their increased production of mature CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Studies using competitive irradiation chimeras proved that Dll3 acts in a cell autonomous manner to regulate positive selection but not negative selection of autoreactive T cells. Our results indicate that Dll3 has a unique function during T-cell development that is distinct from the role played by the other DSL ligands of Notch and is in keeping with other recent studies indicating that Dll1 and Dll3 ligands have non-overlapping roles during embryonic development