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The output torque delivered by a dental implant toggle-style torque wrench is known to be affected by activation rate. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) established the ISO 6789-1 standard to provide guidance on activation rates relative to desired output torque in the Nm torque range. Whether the ISO 6789-1 standard applies at the relatively lower dental torque ranges is not known, and little information is available on the activation rates that clinicians use and how this may affect output torque.The purpose of this in vitro study was to determine how output torque values vary with the activation rates used by clinicians at dental implant-relevant target torque values.To determine clinically relevant activation rates, a new adjustable dental implant toggle-style torque wrench was activated from 0 to 25 Ncm target torque by 5 prosthodontists by using a custom mandibular and maxillary typodont model containing implants and abutments with screws. This provided a baseline of activation rates (mm/sec). Data were transferred to a computerized numerical control model incorporating a variable speed linear motor, which was used to drive a dental implant toggle-style torque wrench attached to an electronic torque measuring device. Constant speed and a regulated dual-speed-assigned 80/20 rate group, where 80% of target torque value was delivered first, then a pause, and the final 20% at different speeds as suggested by the ISO 6789-1 standard, were evaluated. Fast, medium, and slow rates were categorized and applied with target torque values of 10, 25, and 35 Ncm, respectively, for n=12 activations. The output torque values were recorded for both constant and 80/20 groups and compared with the desired target torque values. Data were statistically analyzed with 1-way ANOVA and the Scheffé post hoc paired t test (α=.05).The clinicians' activation rates from 0 to 25 Ncm on the typodont model converted into linear speeds resulted in fast =24.19 mm/sec, medium =14.5 mm/sec, and slow =7.25 mm/sec. When actioned at a constant rate, the mean output torque values were generally in the order of slowmediumfast in activation rates. Generally, precision output torque decreased as target torque increased, especially when slow and medium rates, either constant or regulated 80/20 were used. All mean output torque for slow, medium, and their 80/20 variants were greater than target torque. Fast and 80/20 fast produced the lowest mean output torque values for all torque settings, and at the 35 Ncm setting, the dental implant toggle-style torque wrench output torque mean values were lower than target torque. Statistically significant differences (P.05) were found among groups, most notably in the 80/20 dual-speed groups, especially in comparisons with the 80/20 fast rate group. When the target torque value was 10 Ncm with the 80/20 fast rate, the output torque value deviated from the maximum ISO limit by more than 6%.The rate of actioning a dental implant toggle-style torque wrench influenced the delivered torque value, with fast rate actioning producing lower and less precise output torque values.

For each of (i) arbitrary stochastic reset, (ii) deterministic reset with arbitrary period, (iii) reset at arbitrary constant rate, and then in the sense of either (a) first-order stochastic dominance or (b) expectation (i.e. for each of the six possible combinations of the preceding), those laws of random times are precisely characterized that are rendered no bigger [rendered no smaller; left invariant] by all possible restart laws (within the classes (i), (ii), (iii), as the case may be). Partial results in the same vein for reset with branching are obtained. In particular it is found that deterministic and arbitrary stochastic restart lead to the same characterizations, but this equivalence fails to persist for exponential (constant-rate) reset.

In conventional forensic science, blood and urine have been used for drug testing. However, hair has recently attracted attention as a new source of biological information in this milieu. Drugs and biomolecules taken up by the hair from the capillaries of the scalp are retained in the hair without being degraded by enzymes, migrating toward the tip of the hair as the hair grows at a constant rate. As a result, drug residues are stored in the hair in chronological order. In recent years, mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) has been developed to visualize the history of drug use in hair samples, making use of this unique property. Advances in this drug testing technique are expected to create a powerful deterrent for drug abuse and doping. In this paper, we introduce the history of hair research using MSI and the evolution of instruments, matrices, and methods.

A high rate of rise of fine-grained mine tailings slurry on disposal in a tailings storage facility (TSF) may maintain their condition as underconsolidated. The proper simulation of such field deposition of tailings in conventional laboratory consolidation testing is challenging. A slurry consolidation test using a high constant rate of loading (CRL) simulates a faster rate of tailings disposal in a TSF. A better simulation is achieved, however, by applying accelerated loading in a slurry consolidometer to allow for the increased drainage path length as tailings are built up in the TSF. CRL and accelerated loading were used in a purpose-built, large, instrumented, stress-controlled slurry consolidometer to examine and compare the consolidation behaviour of coal tailings, red mud and gold tailings. At the end of the CRL and accelerated loading tests, the excess pore water pressures had not fully dissipated and the maximum applied stress was maintained to achieve full primary consolidation. The findings of this study showed that the consolidation behaviour of the tailings studied varied with the nature of the tailings and with the loading applied.

The Internet is nowadays suffering dramatically serious attacks, with the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks being the representative and dominant ones. It is seen that, to stabilize the buffer queue length around a given target under DDoS attacks in the relevant routes is vitally important and helpful to mitigate the attacks and to improve the quality of service (QoS) for normal users. In the current paper, a stochastic queue dynamic model with L e ´ vy jump noise, which is affected by the continuous Brownian motion and the discontinuous Poisson process, is worked out to develop a novel and accurate mathematical framework for the stability of a route queue that deals with constant-rate DDoS attacks. This article proposes a security defensive mechanism in the network for solving the network collapse that can possibly be caused by DDoS attacks, otherwise. Particularly, based on the formulation of a stochastic queue dynamic with L e ´ vy jump noise, the mechanism that characterizes the behavior of the queue at routers is presented for stabilizing the queue length under constant-rate DDoS attacks. By applying the stochastic control theory into analyzing the performance of queue dynamic under constant-rate DDoS attacks, some explicit conditions are established under which the instantaneous queue length converges to any given target in a route. Simulation results demonstrate the satisfaction of the proposed defense mechanism with sharp contrast to the state of the art active queue management (AQM) schemes.

Limited knowledge exists regarding the use of lidocaine as a prokinetic in ruminants and camelids to treat gastrointestinal ileus. In this retrospective study, ruminant and camelid cases diagnosed with ileus and treated with a lidocaine constant rate of infusion were assessed for adverse reactions and medical outcomes. A review of medical records was performed to identify cases in which lidocaine was administered as a prokinetic. Ten cases were identified consisting of 8 cattle, 1 goat, and 1 alpaca. Nine animals improved with a lidocaine treatment. No adverse effects were reported during lidocaine administration. Nine animals were discharged, and 1 was euthanized.

The udders were followed by monthly observation and measurement starting from the day of mating (Dm = 0d) in 13 pregnant Maghrebi she-camels. They were classified according to the multiple parities into three classes (1-2 parities), (3-4 parities) and (5-6 parities). These measurements included: udder length, udder horizontal circumference, udder semi-vertical circumference, udder depth, udder size, udder height, teat length, teat diameter, and distance between teats. In all different udder measurements, the differences were ascending, from (1-2 parities) to (5-6 parities). Those differences varied between significant and non-significant according to the convergence between the multiple parities classes. The measurements did not agree with each other on a constant rate of increase in growth rates. Each measure differed from the rest of the measurements in its rates of increase between multiple parities classes. The differences were very clear in some of the measurements, while they diminished in others. No significant increase was observed in udder measurements during gestation, which were divided into five stages. The results of the study indicated that the effect the multiple parities in the Maghrebi she-camels had a significant impact on the udder measurements of all Types, much greater than the effect of the stages of one gestation on those measurements.

Violation of industries in discharging their effluents into rivers leads to river pollution, which endangers the environment and human health. Appropriate tools are needed to deal with violations and protect rivers. The backward probability method (BPM) is one of the most recommended tools identifying the release time and location of the pollutant source. However, the BPM generally was developed for groundwater and spill injection. Since most industries inject their effluents with a constant rate for a finite duration, the use of prevailing models will have some errors. In this study, a numerical model was developed that could simulate a source with either a finite-duration or spill injection. This model is verified for two hypothetical cases and one real case. The results show that the model can accurately identify the release time and location of the pollutant source.

In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of a system in which both prey and predator are harvested with constant rate. Our main objective is to find the effects of harvesting on equilibria, stability, and bifurcations in the system, which may be useful for biological management. The existence and stability of equilibrium points of the model are further investigated. A thorough qualitative analysis has been carried out based on bifurcation theory in dynamical systems and to validate our analytical findings, a large scale numerical simulation has been performed by using plausible values of parameters involved. It is shown that the model can exhibit Hopf bifurcation. The first Lyapunov coefficient is calculated to determine the direction of limit cycle of Hopf bifurcation. Also, it has been proven analytically that the system exhibits Bogdanov–Takens bifurcation of codimension 2. Moreover, discrete-time delay effect has been included due to gestation of the predator species on the same system and observed Hopf bifurcation with respect to the delay parameter. This study renders important tools for investigations of the dynamics of biotic organisms for the management and control of over harvesting. Some phase plane analysis has been carried out to support our analytical results.

In the simplest phylogenetic diversification model (the pure-birth Yule process), lineages split independently at a constant rate λ for time t. The length of a randomly chosen edge (either interior or pendant) in the resulting tree has an expected value that rapidly converges to as t grows, and thus is essentially independent of t. However, the behaviour of the length L of the longest pendant edge reveals remarkably different behaviour: L converges to t/2 as the expected number of leaves grows. Extending this model to allow an extinction rate μ (where μ < λ), we also establish a similar result for birth-death trees, except that t/2 is replaced by t/2 · (1 – μ/λ). This ‘complete’ tree may contain subtrees that have died out before time t; for the ‘reduced tree’ that just involves the leaves present at time t and their direct ancestors, the longest pendant edge length L again converges to t/2. Thus, there is likely to be at least one extant species whose associated pendant branch attaches to the tree approximately half-way back in time to the origin of the entire clade. We also briefly consider the length of the shortest edges. Our results are relevant to phylogenetic diversity indices in biodiversity conservation, and to quantifying the length of aligned sequences required to correctly infer a tree. We compare our theoretical results with simulations, and with the branch lengths from a recent phylogenetic tree of all mammals.

Classical theory of consolidation was conceived considering loads instantaneously applied. Since then, researchers have addressed this issue by suggesting graphical and/or analytical solutions to incorporate different time-depending load schemes. The simplest alternative is to assume a linearly increasing load. Another approach to predict the average degree of consolidation caused by a constant rate loading is based on instantaneous excess pore pressures during and at the end of construction. This technical note explains why and how this approach leads to substantial errors after the end of construction. A corrected solution is then proposed, based on the concept of superposition of effects. The final set of equations agree with the theoretical ones. A new simple approximate methodology is also presented. Numerical examples using the proposed approach showed an excellent agreement with the analytical solution. The validity of this new approach was also proven by reproducing oedometer test results with a good agreement.

In a two-sector model with circulating capital, Laibman (1982) shows that a capital-using and labor-saving technical change in the consumption goods sector lowers the rate of profit under the assumption of constant rate of exploitation. This paper generalizes his finding in a two-department multi-sector model that considers the capital advanced. JEL Classification: B51, C67

Zero-order drug release that releases drugs at a constant rate is beneficial to prolong the therapeutic effect and avoid the side effects of drugs. However, due to the weak interaction between the drug and the carrier, it is particularly challenging to achieve zero-order release of water-soluble drugs. Inspired by the marker pen, which stores the water-based ink in the sponge core and releases a constant amount of ink from the tip for writing, we explore the marker pen as a drug delivery platform to achieve zero-order release of water-soluble drugs. Through the capillary interaction between the material and water, the pen core can absorb the aqueous drug solution to encapsulate and store the water-soluble drug model sodium fluorescein (SF) and can release the encapsulated SF by moving the pen tip across the surface. The results show that the marker pen can release a constant amount of SF at the nanogram level per unit length of the line drawn with the pen, and the cumulative SF release amount has a linear relationship with the length of the line. In addition, the amount of released SF is linear with respect to the SF concentration in the aqueous solution. Moreover, the SF-filled marker pen has excellent long-term stability as evidenced by that the amount of SF released from the pen remains constant within two weeks after filling.

Astronomy has always been propelled by the discovery of new phenomena lacking precedent, often followed by new theories to explain their existence and properties. In the modern era of large surveys tiling the sky at ever high precision and sampling rates, these serendipitous discoveries look set to continue, with recent examples including Boyajian's Star, Fast Radio Bursts and `Oumuamua. Accordingly, we here look ahead and aim to provide a statistical framework for interpreting such events and providing guidance to future observations, under the basic premise that the phenomenon in question stochastically repeat at some unknown, constant rate, $\lambda$. Specifically, expressions are derived for 1) the a-posteriori distribution for $\lambda$, 2) the a-posteriori distribution for the recurrence time, and, 3) the benefit-to-cost ratio of further observations relative to that of the inaugural event. Some rule-of-thumb results for each of these are found to be 1) $\lambda < \{0.7, 2.3, 4.6\}\,t_1^{-1}$ to $\{50, 90, 95\}\%$ confidence (where $t_1=$ time to obtain the first detection), 2) the recurrence time is $t_2 < \{1, 9, 99\}\,t_1$ to $\{50, 90, 95\}\%$ confidence, with a lack of repetition by time $t_2$ yielding a $p$-value of $1/[1+(t_2/t_1)]$, and, 3) follow-up for $\lesssim 10\,t_1$ is expected to be scientifically worthwhile under an array of differing assumptions about the object's intrinsic scientific value. We apply these methods to the Breakthrough Listen Candidate 1 signal and tidal disruption events observed by TESS., Comment: Accepted to MNRAS

Fifteen constant rate of strain consolidation tests were performed on Wenzhou clay specimens under various strain rates and initial water contents using an advanced oedometer to investigate the rem...

In several applications, the industrial and protective fabrics might be subjected to punching by the rigid sharp spikes. Fabric resistance to the penetration of the puncher at a constant rate was studied. The analysis of the factors influencing the resistance of the fabric and an explanation of the puncture mechanism were generated. Punching force-displacement curves were obtained and four noticeable fabric failure modes were observed. A special setup was designed so that the fabric sample can be subjected to the biaxial stresses during the puncture tests. This paper studies the puncture behaviors of the plain, twill 1/3, and twill 2/2 woven fabric designs. It was found that the increase in the number of fabric layers from one to three and the number of picks/cm from 17.6 to 27.2 would elevate the punching resistance and the punching energy by 354% and 333%, respectively, with the insignificant change in the values of specific punching force and energy. Plain weave design proved to have higher values than twill design. A high correlation was observed between fabric tensile strength, fabric Young’s modulus, fabric failure energy and its punching force and punching energy.

A method and a system for automatic regulation of the basal insulin administration rate for maintenance of glycemia in the target range are proposed. The method is based on proportional regulation of the infusion rate using feedback. It suspends the insulin delivery when the glucose level falls below a threshold value. According to the modeling results, the proposed method can be used to compensate hyperglycemia of different etiologies with reduction of the settling time in comparison with constant rate insulin infusion.

Compartmental ordinary differential equation (ODE) models are used extensively in mathematical biology. When transit between compartments occurs at a constant rate, the well-known linear chain trick can be used to show that the ODE model is equivalent to an Erlang distributed delay differential equation (DDE). Here, we demonstrate that compartmental models with non-linear transit rates and possibly delayed arguments are also equivalent to a scalar distributed delay differential equation. To illustrate the utility of these equivalences, we calculate the equilibria of the scalar DDE, and compute the characteristic function-- without calculating a determinant. We derive the equivalent scalar DDE for two examples of models in mathematical biology and use the DDE formulation to identify physiological processes that were otherwise hidden by the compartmental structure of the ODE model.

Sediment accumulation rates and age of sediments were determined using 210Pb dating method by applying constant rate of supply model of six bottom sediment cores, collected from various locations (Rehri Creek, Ghizri Creek, Korangi Creek, Manora Picnic Point, Sandspit and Sunairi Point) of Karachi coastal area of Pakistan. The results showed that an increase in accumulation rate was observed in the recent years in all the sediment cores which may be attributed to human activities and changes in patterns of water circulation. The mean values of sediment accumulation rates varied between 0.43 and 1.45 kg m−2 y−1 and the highest accumulation rates were observed in recent sediments of Manora Picnic Point (3.40 kg m−2 y−1), Korangi creek (2.88 kg m−2 y−1) and Ghizri creek (2.13 kg m−2 y−1), which may owe to the anthropogenic inputs (direct discharge of massive amount of industrial and domestic wastewaters into the sea) and addition of sediment loads by river run off during monsoon season. It was also inferred from the study that the bottom most layers of different sediment cores were estimated to be accumulated between 1889 and 1911.

Coalbed methane co-production is an efficient technique for producing gas from multiple coal reservoirs. In this study, four large-scale specimens were connected in parallel to model a system of coalbed methane production. The results revealed that a low-pressure coal reservoir is disrupted owing to the pressure equilibrium, causing the cross-formational flow of gas through the wellbore. The production and productivity contribution rates were positively correlated with the initial reservoir pressure over a stable production period, forming a “dynamic supply” state among the coal reservoirs. The intensity of the interlayer interference was negatively correlated with reservoir pressure such that with significant interlayer interference, reverse gas flow or a halt in production could occur in the low-pressure coal reservoir. The constant-rate production value and the effect of interlayer interference had an inverse relationship in terms of production; the smaller the former, the greater was the latter. Increasing the constant-rate value can restrict large-scale production from the high-pressure coal reservoir and improve the productivity recovery rate and production distribution of the low-pressure coal reservoir.

SN 2009kf is an exceptionally bright Type IIP Supernova (SN IIP) discovered by the Pan-STARRS 1 survey. The $V$-band magnitude at the plateau phase is $M_{V} = -18.4$ mag, which is much brighter than typical SNe IIP. We propose that its unusual properties can be naturally explained, if we assume that there was an super-Eddington energy injection into the envelope in the last few years of the evolution before the SN explosion. Using a progenitor model with such an pre-SN energy injection, we can fit the observational data of SN 2009kf with the reasonable explosion energy of $E_{\mathrm{exp}} = 2.8 \times 10^{51}$ erg and the $^{56}$Ni mass of $0.25 M_{\odot}$. Specifically, we injected the energy into the envelope at a constant rate of $3.0 \times 10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$ in the last 3.0 years of evolution before the core collapse. We propose that some of the unusually bright SNe IIP might result from the pre-SN energy injection to the envelope., Comment: Comments: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

Band-shaped prefabricated vertical drains in the combination of surcharge preloading have been widely applied in the soft ground improvement cases in Vietnam to eliminate the post-construction settlement of the ground. However, the method of the settlement prediction has remained incorrect on the comparison between the field and calculation. A new procedure for consolidation analysis is proposed to determine the ground settlement more accurately in the routine design of the soft ground improvement. Two case studies are presented to study the ground performance under consolidation with surcharge preloading. The consolidation analysis of the soft ground deposits with the application of the constant rate of strain (CRS) consolidation tests is performed. In addition to that, the input parameters as the coefficient of consolidation and compression indices of the soft ground are characterized based on the CRS tests under the strain rate of 0.02%/min. on undisturbed soil samples that are taken at the two sites by stationary piston sampler. On the comparison of calculated and field monitored data of surface settlement, layered settlement, dissipation of the excess pore water pressure, and undrained strength gain, this analysis is also to confirm the appropriate strain rate for CRS tests, which are utilized in the determination of consolidation parameters.

Ancient Lake Ohrid is the oldest and biologically most diverse freshwater lake in Europe. The recent deep-drilling campaign SCOPSCO provided detailed insights into the lake’s limnological history over the past 1.36 my. However, it remains unclear what factors triggered the onset of radiations and whether diversification rates remained constant throughout their evolution. We therefore inferred time-calibrated molecular phylogenies for eight invertebrate groups endemic to Lake Ohrid and performed diversification-rate analyses for the four most species-rich groups. The molecular-clock analyses indicate that few groups possibly originated in springs or rivers in the ‘proto-Balkans’ during the pre-lake phase. The onset of all other radiations, however, can be correlated to one of the three limnological phases in the Ohrid Graben and in Lake Ohrid since 1.9 mya. We therefore assume that the onset of radiations was triggered by an increased ecological opportunity arising from massive environmental changes in the course of the lake deepening. The diversification-rate analyses further indicate that the groups examined diversified with a constant rate. Although the reconstruction of the early evolutionary history of these groups remains challenging, our data suggest that the relatively stable conditions in Lake Ohrid together with its high buffer capacity likely prevented significant changes in diversification rates over time.

Over the past decade, exotic animal anesthesia and analgesia has drastically improved corresponding to the development of new technologies and the advancement in research. The use of drug administration via constant rate infusion (CRIs) has become a common method of enhancing operative and postoperative outcomes, allowing for better administration of multimodal anesthesia and analgesia, and improving the treatment of hypotension in exotic patients . CRIs allow practitioners precise control over the intravenous administration of medications by maintaining stable drug plasma concentrations and preventing transient subtherapeutic drug levels.

In Schoener’s model of intraguild-predation a prey–predator interaction is mixed with the competition of the prey and the predator for food resource supplied to a system with a constant rate. In this work the model is extended to examine the impact of indirect prey taxis which counts for the movement of predator towards the odor released by prey rather than directly towards gradient of prey density (prey taxis) and indirect predator taxis which refers to prey movement opposite to the gradient of a chemical released by predator. The constant coexistence steady state in the model was shown earlier to be globally stable when Schoener’s O.D.E. model is generalized to reaction–diffusion or even prey taxis system. Existence of global-in-time solutions to Schoener’s model with indirect prey taxis is proved for any space dimension while for the case of indirect predator taxis only in 1D. This study reveals that sufficiently large value of taxis sensitivity parameter disturbs the stability of the coexistence steady state giving rise to pattern formation governed by the Hopf bifurcation. Numerical simulations illustrate emergence of taxis driven spatio-temporal periodic patterns.

The present study investigates the increasing in ultimate pile capacity and studied the soil plugging phenomenon and the incremental filing ratio for a modified type of open-ended pipe pile. The modification performed by adding steel plates as wings with special dimensions and fixed on the exterior face of the pipe pile wall at a location near the pile tip with specified dimensions. Five wings have used for each new model of pipe pile. These wings distributed in equal spacing along with the circumstances of the exterior wall of the open-ended pipe piles. The efficiency of the proposed type studied by modelling and manufacturing twelve piles (40 mm diameter, L/D = 15 and L/D = 20). Complete setup manufactured for installing and loading the piles in a constant rate of penetration. The model piles installed in poorly graded loose dry sand. The obtained results show that the proposed type has a higher ultimate bearing capacity. The percentage of increase reaches more than 50%. The development of the load capacity is due to the three effects. The first is increases of the exterior shaft friction, and the second effect creates a new end-bearing capacity under the constrained soil between the exterior wings. And the third effect is developing the end-bearing capacity under the soil plug inside open-ended pipe pile due to the first and the second effects.

Desiccated coconut is one of the diversification of coconut products which is cut into pieces or grated into small pieces and dried, white, sweet taste and distinctive odor. The purpose of this study was to determine the drying characteristics of desiccated coconut using a cylindrical dryer. Eight trays, each containing 350 grams of grated coconut, were arranged on a tray and measured the air temperature in the drying chamber, the temperature of the material, as well as the moisture content of the material during drying both on the top rack, middle rack and bottom rack. The results showed that the air temperature in the drying chamber and the temperature of the material were significant, and moisture content during drying of materials both on the top rack, middle rack and bottom are relatively significant. The constant rate of drying of grated coconut on the upper rack, middle rack and lower rack is 0.1306 - 1338 minutes-1. The predicted value of grated coconut water content shows that it is almost close to the observed water content value, which is marked by a coefficient of determination that is close to 1.

A novel sliding mode observer (SMO) with optimized constant rate reaching law for speed estimation in sensorless induction motor drives is proposed in this article to balance the dilemma between the requirement of fast reaching transient and the chattering reduction on sliding mode surface. By considering the reaching way to the sliding mode surface, a widely used reaching law called constant rate reaching law (CRRL) is introduced into SMO. However, SMO with CRRL cannot satisfy the rapidity of transient performance and the low chattering level simultaneously. To solve this problem, an optimized constant rate reaching law (OCRRL), which is based on the options of an exponential term that adapts to the variations of sliding mode surface and system states, is introduced into SMO. The proposed SMO with OCRRL is able to decrease the reaching time and suppress the chattering problem simultaneously. Simulation and experimental results both show the validity of the proposed approach.

Background: The 3-minute constant-rate stair stepping (3-min CRSST) and constant-speed shuttle tests (3-min CSST) were developed to assess breathlessness in response to a standardized exercise stimulus. Estimating the rate of oxygen consumption (V'O2) during these tests would assist clinicians to relate the stepping/shuttle speeds that elicit breathlessness to daily physical activities with a similar metabolic demand. This study: (I) developed equations to estimate the V'O2 of these tests in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); and (II) compared the newly developed and American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) metabolic equations for estimating the V'O2 of these tests. Methods: This study was a retrospective analysis of people with COPD who completed a 3-min CRSST (n=98) or 3-min CSST (n=69). Multivariate linear regression estimated predictors (alpha

Uniaxial ratcheting behavior of a weather-resistant rail steel belonging to 60 kg/m 90-UTS variety was studied in true stress control mode with varying mean stress (σm) and stress amplitude (σa) at constant σa and σm, respectively. In all the loading conditions, the ratcheting strain (er) increased almost monotonically and accumulation of ratcheting strain was found to increase at higher magnitude of σm or σa, perhaps due to the increase in remnant dislocation density in the substructure of the investigated steel. After the initial sharp fall in ratcheting strain rate with elapsed cycles in all the cases, a constant ratcheting rate was attained very soon; thereafter, the ratcheting strain kept on accumulating in the specimen at this constant rate till the failure of the specimen occurred. It was quite interesting to see that on increasing the mean stress level at a fixed stress amplitude, after the initial decrease, fatigue life of the steel improved marginally owing to the effect of mean stress-induced hardening. In absolute contrast, under the influence of stress amplitude at a fixed mean stress, fatigue life of the rail steel deteriorated gradually but to a significant extent. Finally, stress amplitude was found to have more severe effect than that offered by the mean stress in terms of` ratcheting strain accumulation and fatigue life of the investigated rail steel.

The be like quotative emerged rapidly around the English-speaking world and has quickly saturated the quotative systems of young speakers in multiple countries. We study be like (and its covariants) in two communities – Toronto, Canada, and York, United Kingdom – in apparent time and at two separate points in real time. We trace the apparent-time trajectory of be like and its covariants from inception to saturation. We take advantage of the prodigious size of our dataset to examine understudied aspects of the linguistic factors that condition quotative variation. Building on earlier suggestions (Cukor-Avila 2002; Durham et al.2012) that be like might show patterning over time consistent with the Constant Rate Effect (or CRE, Kroch 1989), we argue that the CRE does indeed apply to the rise of be like, but needs to be handled with care. Logistic modelling assumes that the top of the S-curve is located at 100 per cent of a given variable context. In the case of be like, the saturation point is nearer 75–85 per cent, with minor variants retaining small semantic footholds in the system. In conjunction with our analysis, we suggest how to adapt the predictions of the CRE to changes likely to lead to saturation but not categorical use.

Large-eddy simulations of the onset of dynamic stall for a NACA 0012 airfoil, pitching at a constant rate, are performed for a chord Reynolds number of 1.0×106. Using four simulations, spanning M∞=...

Specialty crops, such as apples, are vulnerable to insects and pathogens, and require higher pesticide input than row crops, a significant fraction of which is off-target loss, causing adverse environmental and socio-economic impacts. An advanced laser-guided variable-rate sprayer (VRS) could improve spray deposition uniformity and minimize pesticide waste, while maintaining efficacy against insects and pathogens. Despite these merits, retrofitting a conventional sprayer with laser-guided variable-rate spraying functions adds to its cost. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyze the techno-economics of a conventional pesticide sprayer retrofitted with VRS, in comparison to a conventional constant-rate sprayer (CRS) for pesticide application during apple production. A techno-economic model was developed for the apple orchards covering areas of 4 and 20 ha, which are common orchard sizes in the USA. The model incorporated cost for operation, equipment, fuel use and labor during pesticide application. The data were obtained from field tests in orchards in Ohio, USA in years 2016 and 2017, literature, and the original VRS development team at USDA-ARS and Ohio State University. The results indicated that VRS can reduce pesticide costs by 60–67%, pesticide application time by 27–32% and labor and fuel by 28% compared to CRS. For larger orchards, VRS also reduced equipment requirement. Compared to CRS, overall annual pesticide application cost savings by using VRS were between $1420 and $1750 ha−1. The payback time for using VRS was estimated to be between 1.1 and 3.8 years for apple orchards between 4 and 20 ha, respectively, in Ohio.

This paper defends the relevance of Austrian Business Cycle theory (ABCT) within a fiat money regime, by providing an answer to whether a constant rate of credit expansion necessarily leads to a boom-bust cycle. We claim that this scenario has two potential outcomes, (1) a change in money demand brings the economy back towards equilibrium or (2) the economy will shift to a sub-optimal but still sustainable path. We identify capital heterogeneity effects and the Ricardo effect as distinctly Austrian explanations for an upper turning point, even in a fiat money regime.

It was found that copper is susceptible to the accelerated high-temperature corrosion induced by TeO2 at 650°C in air, which occurs at a constant rate. The calculated corrosion rate constant is 4.5 × 10−4 kg·m−2·s−1 and does not depend on the specific mass of tellurium oxide. Based on the results of the analysis of the microstructure (scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy) and the phase composition (x-ray diffraction) of two formed corrosion layers, the phase distribution in the corrosion product has been ascertained. It was shown that during the corrosion process at 650°С, the inner corrosion layer containing Cu2O and Cu2Te and the outer corrosion layer mainly containing CuTe2O5 and Cu2O were formed. The inner layer provides a high copper ion conductivity due to Cu2Te, while the outer layer possesses a high oxygen ion conductivity due to the oxide melt. The mechanism of the overall corrosion process has been proposed.

In this paper, we discuss optimal ordering strategy in inventory model with worsening materials in fuzzy environment with the help of centroid of centroid ranking method. The merchant optimal quantity was resolute with decline at a constant rate. The objective of this paper is to maximize the merchant total profit per unit time where the parameters are fuzzy numbers. It is simple to implement, and our approach is illustrated through some numerical examples.

Materials that release drugs with a constant, zero-order rate are of great importance to improve therapeutic efficacy and reduce toxic side effects. The development of such materials is challenging, particularly the development of versatile platforms of which the release rate can be tuned. Here, we report a platform that comprises active oil-droplets with a tunable lifetime embedded in a hydrogel. The oil droplets are a type of dissipative (dynamic) assembly that is formed by a fuel-driven chemical reaction cycle. Once the fuel is depleted, the oil droplets decay following zero-order reaction kinetics due to a unique self-protection mechanism. We entrap hydrophobic drugs in the oil-phase, and we use the zero-order decay to dictate the release profiles of the entrapped drugs. The drug release has a constant rate over most of the release period, which is unique for drug delivery vehicles, particularly when considering the simplicity of the design. Moreover, we can tune the rate of the drug release and the length of the release period.

Introduction The increasing number of patients with end-stage renal disease and the cost of their treatment may potentially place a large burden on overall healthcare spending and human resources for health. We projected the number of patients with end-stage renal disease to better estimate arrangements needed in the future. Materials and Methods We used a dataset containing information about patients who registered with the three modalities of the renal replacement therapy (RRT) program from 2009 to 2017: continuous automated peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), hemodialysis (HD) and kidney transplant (KT). An autoregressive integrated moving average model was used to predict the number of patients who would enroll in the RRT program from 2018 to 2027. Results From 2009 to 2017, there was a constant increase in the volume of CAPD patients, although a slight drop in some periods was observed. HD patients outnumbered CAPD patients during the inception period of the program. After mid-2013, the trend in HD patients accelerated to the same pace as CAPD patients. By the end of 2017, the number of patients increased to 20,000 for CAPD and 15,000 for HD. The number of KT patients was extremely small relative to CAPD and HD patients. The program enrolled patients receiving a kidney transplant at a constant rate of approximately 200 per year after 2013. The predicted numbers of patients on RRT corresponded to an annual growth rate of 7.2-7.4% for CAPD and HD and 4.8% for KT. Conclusion Despite the expected increased volume of patients, the year-by-year growth rate of patients in all RRT modalities seemed to diminish over time. This phenomenon is likely explained by the intensive implementation of policies to address risk factors of non-communicable diseases among Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) beneficiaries.

Locally decodable codes (LDCs) and locally correctable codes (LCCs) are error-correcting codes in which individual bits of the message and codeword, respectively, can be recovered by querying only few bits from a noisy codeword. These codes have found numerous applications both in theory and in practice. A natural relaxation of LDCs, introduced by Ben-Sasson et al. (SICOMP, 2006), allows the decoder to reject (i.e., refuse to answer) in case it detects that the codeword is corrupt. They call such a decoder a relaxed decoder and construct a constant-query relaxed LDC with almost-linear blocklength, which is sub-exponentially better than what is known for (full-fledged) LDCs in the constant-query regime. We consider an analogous relaxation for local correction. Thus, a relaxed local corrector reads only few bits from a (possibly) corrupt codeword and either recovers the desired bit of the codeword, or rejects in case it detects a corruption. We give two constructions of relaxed LCCs in two regimes, where the first optimizes the query complexity and the second optimizes the rate: 1. Constant Query Complexity: A relaxed LCC with polynomial blocklength whose corrector only reads a constant number of bits of the codeword. This is a sub-exponential improvement over the best constant query (full-fledged) LCCs that are known. 2. Constant Rate: A relaxed LCC with constant rate (i.e., linear blocklength) with quasi-polylogarithmic query complexity. This is a nearly sub-exponential improvement over the query complexity of a recent (full-fledged) constant-rate LCC of Kopparty et al. (STOC, 2016).

We consider the threshold dividend strategy where a company’s surplus process is described by the dual Levy risk model. Namely, the company chooses to pay dividends at a constant rate only when the surplus is above some nonnegative threshold. Classically, such a company is referred to be ruined immediately when the surplus level becomes negative. Recently, researchers investigate the Parisian ruin problem where the company is allowed to operate under negative surplus for a predetermined period known as the Parisian delay. With the help of the fluctuation identities of spectrally negative Levy processes, we obtain an explicit expression of the expected discounted dividends until Parisian ruin in terms of the relevant scale functions and certain probabilities that need to be evaluated for each specific Levy process. The optimal threshold level under such a threshold dividend strategy is deduced. Applications and numerical examples are given to illustrate the theoretical results and examine how the expected discounted aggregate dividends and the optimal threshold level change in response to different Parisian delays.

Non-malleable codes (NMCs), introduced by Dziembowski, Pietrzak and Wichs (ITCS 2010), provide a powerful guarantee in scenarios where the classical notion of error-correcting codes cannot provide any guarantee: a decoded message is either the same or completely independent of the underlying message, regardless of the number of errors introduced into the codeword. Informally, NMCs are defined with respect to a family of tampering functions $$\mathcal {F}$$ and guarantee that any tampered codeword decodes either to the same message or to an independent message, so long as it is tampered using a function $$f \in \mathcal {F}$$. One of the well-studied tampering families for NMCs is the t-split-state family, where the adversary tampers each of the t“states” of a codeword, arbitrarily but independently. Cheraghchi and Guruswami (TCC 2014) obtain a rate-1 non-malleable code for the case where $$t = \mathcal {O}(n)$$ with n being the codeword length and, in (ITCS 2014), show an upper bound of $$1-1/t$$ on the best achievable rate for any t-split state NMC. For $$t=10$$, Chattopadhyay and Zuckerman (FOCS 2014) achieve a constant-rate construction where the constant is unknown. In summary, there is no known construction of an NMC with an explicit constant rate for any $$t= o(n)$$, let alone one that comes close to matching Cheraghchi and Guruswami’s lowerbound! In this work, we construct an efficient non-malleable code in the t-split-state model, for $$t=4$$, that achieves a constant rate of $$\frac{1}{3+\zeta }$$, for any constant $$\zeta > 0$$, and error $$2^{-\varOmega (\ell / log^{c+1} \ell )}$$, where $$\ell $$ is the length of the message and $$c > 0$$ is a constant.

Funder: University of Cambridge, Research Question: How did the use of diversion from prosecution and criminal sentencing change in Victoria, Australia, in the 10 years to 2016/2017, with what estimated effects on repeat offending? Data: We tracked 1,163,113 criminal cases brought against both juveniles and adults by police in the state of Victoria, Australia, including 181,836 diversions, during the 10-year time period from the fiscal year of 2007/2008 through 2016/2017. Methods: Taking the percentage of all cases diverted in the first year (25.6%), we calculated for each of the study years how many more cases would have been diverted from prosecution across the subsequent 9 years if the diversion rate had stayed the same (“missed opportunities”). We multiplied the estimated number of these “missed opportunities” by the reduced frequency of repeat offences that the prosecuted offenders were likely to have committed, after adjusting for the time at risk by the number of years left in the study period. Then, based on a systematic review of diversion experiments (Petrosino et al. 2010), we applied the standardised effect size of diversion in those studies to Farrington’s (1992) annualised crime frequency per 100 offenders aged 25, multiplying that effect across all of the person-years after a case was prosecuted rather than diverted, using both population-based rates and rates based only on detected offenders at that age. Findings: The diversion rate in Victoria dropped in half over 10 years, from 25.6% to 12.5%. The total missed opportunities for diversion, compared to the counterfactual of applying diversion at a constant rate of 25% over that time period, totalled 115,885 cases over the 10 years. Taking an average effect size (d = − 0.232) across seven experiments with a mean follow-up time of 12–13 months, as derived from a systematic review of diversion experiment outcomes, our illustrative estimate is that at least 8 crimes per year per 100 offenders could have been prevented among the missed opportunity cases. Using a population rate of offending, the estimate equals 1474 crimes that could have been prevented. Using the offending population rate, we estimate that 37,050 offences could have been prevented. Conclusions: While the exact amount of crime prevented remains speculative, the application of best evidence to the missed opportunity cases suggests that more diversion could have resulted in substantially less repeat offending, and hence less total crime.

There is a large error in characterizing the pore structure of tight reservoirs in a single test. Based on this, the present study selected five samples of tight sandstone, and a multiscale comprehensive study was performed on the pore structure of tight sandstone reservoirs by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), casting thin sections (CTS), high-pressure mercury injection (HPMI), and constant-rate mercury injection (CMI) tests. The combined nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and HPMI test was performed to calculate the connectivity ratio of different samples, and evaluate the connectivity of tight sandstone reservoirs. Furthermore, the combined NMR and CMI test was performed to recalculate the pore throat radius of the sample, from quantitative characterization to qualitative analysis. This not only solves the shortcomings of the HPMI and NMR test, in which the throat could not be distinguished from the pore, but also solves the shortcomings of the CMI test, in which the pore radius calculated is larger than actual one and does not correspond to the CTS. On this basis, the lower limit of the movable fluid pore throat radius of tight sandstone reservoirs was investigated, and the results revealed that the lower limit of the movable fluid pore throat radius was not a constant value, in which the T 2 cutoff value corresponded to the pore throat radius, but a range that was determined through the saturation water curve and centrifugal curve. The upper and lower bounds of this range were r 1 and r 2 , respectively. According to r 1 and r 2 , the fluid state can be divided into three regions on the T 2 spectrum: irreducible region, transition region, and movable region. These results revealed that as the reservoir became tight, the r 1 and r 2 increased, and the proportion of irreducible fluid in the pores gradually increased.

Although trade-offs are expected to play an essential role in shaping the diversity in a community, their effects remain relatively nebulous and notoriously difficult to assess. This is especially true when multiple trade-offs of different classes interact, a situation here designated by multidimensional trade-offs. When dealing with single trade-offs, some information can be predicted solely based on their curvature. Does this generalize to when dealing with multidimensional trade-offs? What happens if the trade-offs have opposing curvatures? To address these issues, we develop a resource-based model that encompasses multiple trade-offs mediated by the acquisition and processing of resources. Two distinct classes of trade-offs are assumed: (1) a trade-off among resource uptake rates, (2) a trade-off between the resource uptake rate and yield of the process of conversion of resource into energy. The model considers a spatially structured population of microbial organisms that grow on an arbitrary number of resources. These resources flow into the system at a constant rate and diffuse through the environment. The individuals can adopt a variety of strategies through mutation constrained by trade-offs, which renders the model adaptive. We assess population sizes and levels of ecological specialization. The analysis of the results reveals that when multidimensional trade-offs are considered the classical intuition stemming from single trade-offs does not hold. The outcome can depend significantly not only on the curvature of the trade-offs but also on resource availability.

To determine the effect of the hormones estrogen and progesterone on the biomechanical properties of porcine corneas. Thirty fresh porcine corneas were acquired from an abattoir. The corneas were equally divided into three groups. Groups were incubated for 1 week in Eusol-C solution containing supra-physiologic concentrations of estrogen, progesterone, or control (no added hormone). After incubation, the central corneal thickness (CCT) of each cornea was measured using an electronic caliper, and then the corneas were cut into strips. The strips were then clamped in the pneumatic jaws of a computer-controlled biomaterial tester (Instron 4502, USA) and stretched at a constant rate of 1 mm/min until tissue rupture while constantly recording the stress and strain of the tissue. Stress–strain curves were plotted and Young’s modulus was calculated for each corneal strip. Average corneal thickness was 873.5 ± 143.1 μm for the control group, 928.0 ± 97.7 μm for the estrogen group, and 922.0 ± 116.7 μm for the progesterone group (data presented as mean ± SD). There was no statistically significant difference between the groups regarding the CCT (p = 0.89). The average Young’s modulus was 17.00 ± 3.46 MPa for the control group, 16.95 ± 6.83 MPa for the progesterone group, and 12.33 ± 3.24 MPa for the estrogen group. The difference between the control and estrogen groups was statistically significant (p = 0.018) while the difference between the control and progesterone groups was not (p = 0.72). Estrogen has a relaxing effect on the porcine cornea, resulting in reduced stiffness of the tissue. Progesterone has no significant effect on the biomechanical properties of porcine corneas. Estrogen and progesterone do not significantly affect CCT.