Changes In Rules Research Articles

Votes Can Be Confidently Bought in Some Ranked Ballot Elections, and What to Do about It

Abstract We show that, in some ranked ballot elections, it may be possible to violate the secret vote. There are so many ways to rank even a handful of candidates that many possible rankings might not be cast by any voter. So, a vote buyer could pay someone to rank the candidates a certain way and then use the announced election results to verify that the voter followed through. We examine the feasibility of this attack both theoretically and empirically, focusing on instant runoff voting (IRV). Although many IRV elections have few enough candidates that this scheme is not feasible, we use data from San Francisco and a proposed election rule change in Oakland to show that some important IRV elections can have large numbers of unused rankings. There is no evidence that this vote-buying scheme has ever been used. However, its existence has implications for the administration and security of IRV elections. This scheme is more feasible when more candidates can be ranked in the election and when the election results report all the ways that candidates were ranked.

Research on Prediction Methods for Eccentric Wear of the Slipper Pair in Axial Piston Pumps and Lubrication Performance Analysis

Abstract The axial piston pump (APP) is the core power component of hydraulic systems. Its friction pair wear can cause the degradation of piston pump performance until the function is completely lost or the service life is terminated. The slipper pair, prone to wear failure, is selected as the research object in this paper. The prediction method for the eccentric wear of the slipper pair is established, and the gradual change rules of the performance with wear accumulation are explored. The micro-surface rough peak contact and the stress state of the slipper pair are analyzed, and the mixed lubrication model of the slipper pair is established based on the elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) model of the slipper pair. Grid discretization of a sealing belt of the slipper pair is carried out based on two-body abrasive wear and Archard adhesive wear models to improve the prediction method for eccentric wear of the slipper pair. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by a surface morphology analysis of the worn slipper. The results showed that the wear depth and wear width of the outer edge of the slipper bottom surface are positively correlated with the oil discharge pressure and the inclination angle of the swashplate, and negatively correlated with the rotational speed and the dynamic oil viscosity. The outer edge of the slipper is wedged after eccentric wear, and the hydrodynamic effect of the lubricating oil film of the slipper pair is enhanced. Hence, proper wear can improve the lubrication performance of the slipper pair.

Traffic Violation Detection System

Travel convenience is impacted by a number of factors, including the condition of the road, traffic, length of trip, accidents, speed, etc. The daily increase in accident rates poses the biggest concern in Sri Lanka. These events not only result in fatalities but also increase the nation's financial losses. Traffic congestion is brought on by road users' lack of discipline and sentiments, which may result in traffic offenses. The goals of this research are to curb any traffic infractions as well as reduce corruption and nepotism on the road. This system was developed as separate three models namely edge server, fine management system and centralized server. Edge server developed in python is to detect traffic violations such as parking, single line cutting, double line cutting, one way and u turn in real time according to the changing rules and constraints configured by the traffic police admin via the fine management system which supports a configurable platform designed using canvas designing tools. Upon edger server identifying violations, the functions in the centralized server responsible to recognize the number plate of the violated vehicle will be triggered and send a sms to driver for further fine management and payment supported by the fine management system. The mobile application controlling server is responsible to track and inform the violations to nearest police officer in any case the system could not rectify the vehicle number plate.

The effects of repeat mild traumatic brain injuries on choroid plexus endothelial cells in-vitro

Chronic Traumatic Encephalitis (CTE) is a degenerative brain disorder seen in college and professional football players, and those that play other contact sports like hockey and soccer. It is characterized by a dementia-like phenotype and declination in memory, executive dysfunction, and mood and is associated with repetitive head trauma, as seen in those contact sports. Even with rule changes to protect the players, it is predicted that, on average, college football players experience 1,400-1,500 head impact exposures per year, or roughly 14 per game (Crisco et al., 2010). This is significant because existing literature provides evidence that it is the accumulation of repetitive head trauma, even mild, that eventually leads to lasting and irreparable damage seen in CTE. This study sought to characterize cytokine signaling in repeat mild traumatic brain injuries (rTBI) in choroid plexus endothelial cells (CPECs), the endothelial barrier of the blood-CSF barrier (BCSFB). We hypothesized that regulatory and pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines play a role in exacerbating post-rTBI symptomology even days after initial injury. Identifying key cytokines and their respective timepoints post-injury is important to allow us to better treat TBIs, while also preventing subsequent damage that might progress to CTE. To study this hypothesis, primary human CPECs were subjected to a 12% repetitive mechanical elongation strain using the FlexCell Tension system to mimic mild axonal stretching injury. The elongation mechanical strain was repeated 14 times over a 1-hour period, which is roughly the average number of impacts experienced by players during a one-hour college football game. We collected supernatant over 24-, 48-, 72-, and 96-hours post-injury and examined 36 different cytokines using RND microarrays following manufacturer’s instructions. Controls included cells subjected to no mechanical strain and cells that only received one total mechanical strain. Several notable cytokines and chemokines were altered during this period, including RANTES (CCL5), CXCL12, and macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF). RANTES is highly correlated with Alzheimer’s disease, a neurodegenerative disease and CTE relative, and CXCL12 and MIF are highly correlated with inflammatory processes. Many cytokine changes were more pronounced in the period between 24- and 48-hours after injury. However, there were lasting changes compared to the controls up to 96-hours later. These findings can be used to begin to understand the complexity of human CPEC cytokine signaling at the BCSFB when these cells react to the strain forces of repeat mild TBIs like those seen in college football players. This also gives us further insight into the lasting effects of rTBIs and the possible relation to CTE. With these results in mind, we plan to continue to monitor cytokines and chemokines up to two weeks post injury to determine if, and when, cytokine values return to baseline values post-injury. This project was funded by a Senior Research Grant from the Indiana Academy of Science and from a Faculty Research Development Grant from Marian University College of Osteopathic Medicine. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Chemogenetic inactivation of the nucleus reuniens and its projections to the orbital cortex produce deficits on discrete measures of behavioral flexibility in the attentional set-shifting task

The nucleus reuniens (RE) of the ventral midline thalamus is a critical node in the communication between the orbitomedial prefrontal cortex (OFC) and the hippocampus (HF). While RE has been shown to directly participate in memory-associated functions through its connections with the medial prefrontal cortex and HF, less is known regarding the role of RE in executive functioning. Here, we examined the involvement of RE and its projections to the orbital cortex (ORB) in attention and behavioral flexibility in male rats using the attentional set shifting task (AST). Rats expressing the hM4Di DREADD receptor in RE were implanted with indwelling cannulas in either RE or the ventromedial ORB to pharmacologically inhibit RE or its projections to the ORB with intracranial infusions of clozapine-N-oxide hydrochloride (CNO). Chemogenetic-induced suppression of RE resulted in impairments in reversal learning and set-shifting. This supports a vital role for RE in behavioral flexibility – or the ability to adapt behavior to changing reward or rule contingencies. Interestingly, CNO suppression of RE projections to the ventromedial ORB produced impairments in rule abstraction – or dissociable effects elicited with direct RE suppression. In summary, the present findings indicate that RE, mediated in part by actions on the ORB, serves a critical role in the flexible use of rules to drive goal directed behavior. The cognitive deficits of various neurological disorders with impaired communication between the HF and OFC, may be partly attributed to alterations of RE -- as an established intermediary between these cortical structures.

Study on flow behavior of fresh concrete in elbow using the dense discrete phase approach

The presence of an elbow in the pipe during pumping can cause serious problems such as separation and clogging of the concrete. It is difficult to accurately and intuitively observe the internal information of the pump tube. This work used the Dense Discrete Phase Model (DDPM) to investigate the flow behavior of fresh concrete in the elbow. Firstly, the accuracy of the simulation model is verified. Then, the DDPM is used to research the flow behavior of fresh concrete in the elbow at different inlet velocities, and the changing rules of flow velocity, pressure loss, and particle migration are revealed. This work provides a solution to ensure the normal pumping process and effectively predict the pump pressure loss.

Modelling and Impact Analysis of Combined Dam Failure of Small Tandem Reservoir Groups in Hilly Areas

Numerous small reservoirs in hilly areas play a significant role in flood control and profit-making in the basin, but there is also a risk of dam failure when encountering special circumstances such as excessive flooding, which may cause large losses downstream. In this paper, we take the small reservoirs in Shandong Province as the research object, analyze the hydraulic topology of three types of tandem reservoirs, generalize the shape of the breach by using the transient lateral local one-break to the end, calculate the dam-break flooding process by using the quadratic parabolic method, and simulate the dam-break by using the MIKE21 model based on the principle of the two-dimensional incompressible Reynolds mean stress equation for the incompressible fluid, and analyze the peak flow under various combinations of dam-break flow by setting various combinations of the number of dam-breaks and the timing of dam-break simulation. By setting various combinations of dam failure numbers and timing, we analyzed the changing rules of peak dam failure flow, inundation area and other elements under various combinations, and sought the most unfavorable combinations and parameters such as the timing of dam failure, and the results of the analyses can provide technical support for the assessment of the risk of dam failure in the tandem reservoirs in the hilly area and the risk correspondence.

Design of van der Waals heterostructures composed of g-C3N4 and III-V materials for solar cell

As society develops, people pay more attention to the application of solar cell to harvest inexhaustible solar power, which has a benefit of greenness and cleanness. In this paper, we construct 14 heterostructures composed of g-C3N4 and Ⅲ-Ⅴ materials based on first-principles calculations. We systematically analyse their stability property and find a periodic rule of binding energy change about the atomic number of Ⅲ-Ⅴ material. We select 9 stable van der Waals (vdWs) heterostructures and further analyse their band alignment and power conversion efficiency (PCE). We find GaAs-D is a type-Ⅱ heterostructure with indirect band gap of 1.38 eV and the PCE reaches 15.2%. The construction of GaAs-D effectively promotes the optical absorption in visible-spectrum compared with two monolayers. This paper systematically analyses the stability of constructed vdWs heterostructures composed of g-C3N4 and Ⅲ-Ⅴ materials, electronic band structures and their potential application as solar cell.

Can Bank Density Provide Insights on the Appropriation of Disaster Relief Funds? Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress in conjunction with the Small Business Administration (SBA) created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to help small business owners retain employees. We improve on previous literature exploring the relationship between bank density and PPP loan dispersion by implementing precisely geocoded data to map loans to commuting zones. Revisiting results in Deming and Weiler (2023), we confirm the statistically significant relationship between bank density and PPP loans per small business. We consider three distinct periods of lending to analyze how changes in the PPP loan program rules might have impacted dispersion. The coefficient in the regression of loans per small business on bank density is largest in the final wave of lending, and in commuting zones with high loan densities. This suggests that having additional bank branches in the commuting zone may have helped facilitate rapid dispersion of relief funds to high demand areas during the program.

Supply chain network optimization for emergency materials considering demand satisfaction

AbstractIn order to effectively guarantee the smooth supply of emergency materials under public health emergencies, first, we predict the number of daily infected people based on the modified SEIRD infectious disease dynamics model and accordingly construct the dynamic demand prediction model of emergency materials so as to catch the change rule of the demand for emergency materials with greater precision. Subsequently, under the premise of demand satisfaction, we optimize the supply chain network of emergency materials and embed two insurance strategies in the supply system in advance: multi‐source purchase and buffer production capacity, to enhance the stability of supply chain by sacrificing part of the cost. Next, a bi‐objective linear programming model based on minimizing system cost and maximizing demand satisfaction is proposed with the intention of realizing the design of emergency materials supply chain network, which balances the risk and cost. Finally, through the analysis of the example, we find that compared with the traditional supply chain network of emergency materials, the total satisfaction rate of the supply chain network optimized by balancing cost and risk is increased by 11.70%, while the cost is increased by only 2.04%, which fully verifies the validity of the optimized design of supply chain network of emergency materials.

Analisis Tingkat Kepuasan Pasien terhadap Pelayanan Poli Rawat Jalan di RSUD dr. Abdoer Rahem Situbondo Menggunakan Metode Algoritma C4.5

The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a real impact in all areas of life, especially in the health sector. Therefore, there are consequences of this phenomenon, namely changes in rules and services in the health sector, especially in hospitals. With this change, patients feel different services and rules in the hospital, this has an impact on the hospital, namely the assessment of patient satisfaction with the hospital. The purpose of this study is to measure the accuracy, precision, and recall of the patient satisfaction level grouping. In addition, it also analyzes the shortcomings of hospital services. The method used to build a patient satisfaction classification model is the C4.5 algorithm. C4.5 algorithm is one method that can solve cases that are often used in classification technique problems. The result of the C4.5 algorithm is in the form of a decision tree as in other classification techniques. Based on the results of 3 tests conducted for patient satisfaction at RSUD dr. Abdoer Rahem Situbondo using rapid miner and with the decision tree, the greatest accuracy is 95.38%.

More on methadone take‐home changes in SAMHSA final rule

The American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (AATOD) hosted two webinars on the final rule for opioid treatment programs, both of which we covered (see tk and tk). One of the key provisions is changes in take‐homes. The changes incorporate flexibilities of the COVID‐19 era, in which more take‐homes were allowed to limit the exposure of patients and staff to the virus. The new rule allows for up to seven days of take home doses during the first 14 days of treatments, and up to 14 doses up from 15 days of treatment and 28 take home doses from 31 days in treatment.” This month AATOD president Mark Parrino commented on various aspects of the rule, which he supports in general, to clarify the role of the OTP. Always the undercurrent exists that the OTP has full liability for any mishaps. And this is codified in the rule, which states: “The requirement that OTPs maintain procedures to protect take home from theft and diversion is finalized as well as patient education on safe transport and storage of take home doses, including documentation of the provision of this education and the patient's clinical record.” Parrino says: “To be clear, the OTP clinician makes the final determinations of who is eligible to receive take home medication. While toxicology reports should not be used punitively, they should be employed in providing objective information to the clinician within the OTP as to best ascertain who is most capable of handling take home medication at such early stages of treatment. We have stated this throughout our commentary on regulatory oversight of take home medication. There must be a balance in providing flexibility to the patients in order to retain the patients in treatment against the safety of providing such take home medication to an unsupervised individual. While we have learned that there is increased safety in providing such take home to patients as a result of the COVID‐19 experience, it does not relieve the OTP using careful balancing standards in order to provide safety and flexibility.”

How to resolve the contradiction between driving safety and lighting energy conservation in a highway tunnel? − An experiment on linear guiding system

High rates of traffic accidents and lighting energy consumption are significant problems in highway tunnels. To address these problems, this study proposes a linear guiding system that uses line-shaped visual guiding facilities to improve the local luminance and contrast, and outlines the tunnel contour and road alignment. In addition, the principle, function, setting method, and composition of the linear guiding system are discussed. Using the existing highway tunnels as prototypes, we built simulation scenarios with different luminance and conducted driving simulation experiments and questionnaire surveys. We analysed the human factor demands of tunnel driving, studied the change rule of various human factor indicators under different luminance levels, and comprehensively evaluated the impact of linear guiding system on driving safety from multiple perspectives of the driver’s vision, psychology, and behaviour. We introduce the concept of equivalent luminance, quantify the impact of linear guiding system on the driver, and explore the role of linear guiding system in energy conservation. The results showed that the linear guiding system has a positive effect on driver vision, psychology, and behaviour, particularly in low-luminance environments. A linear guiding system can optimise a driver’s visual reference frame, enhance driver visual perception in a tunnel environment, and alleviate driver tension. It helps drivers to accurately perceive their own spatial position and speed, providing a good sense of position, speed, and comfort. A 2.3 cd/m2 luminance highway tunnel with a linear guiding system is equivalent to a 4 cd/m2 luminance traditional tunnel. For highway tunnels with luminance values of 4, 5, 6, and 7 cd/m2, the equivalent luminance values of the linear guiding system are 1.7, 1.8, 1.8, and 2.1 cd/m2 respectively, which can reduce the energy consumption by 30–42 %.

Bilateral synchronization control of networked teleoperation robot system

AbstractBilateral synchronization control for Network Teleoperation Robot System (NTRS) in discrete domain is discussed in this paper, where time delay, data loss and disorder, and quantization error coexist. Firstly, it is assumed that time delay and data loss are asymmetric and randomly vary in the master–slave channel and slave–master channel according to different Markov jump change rules. By introducing the virtual variables, a clever normalization method is proposed for time delay or data loss. It not only uniforms time delay and data loss into a same framework, but also effectively handles the problem of data disorder. And then, a logarithmic quantizer is designed to dispose quantization error. Meanwhile, utilize the sector bound method to describe the quantization error and transform the quantization feedback control problem into a robust control problem, so the familiar robust control methods can be adopted to solve quantization problem. In addition, human and environmental forces are treated as external disturbances and processed using neural network techniques. Subsequently, stochastic stability and synchronization control property are guaranteed by the designed analogous PD controller that consists of proportion, derivative, and uncertainty estimation items. Finally, validity of the proposed method is certified by some simulation examples.

Dynamic Changes of Environment and Gut Microbial Community of Litopenaeus vannamei in Greenhouse Farming and Potential Mechanism of Gut Microbial Community Construction

The aim of this study was to investigate the dynamic changes in the microbial communities of both the environment and gut of Litopenaeus vannamei, as well as to elucidate the mechanisms underlying microbial community assembly in greenhouse farming. 16S rDNA high-throughput sequencing and bioinformatics methods were used to carry out the research on the community structure of the microorganisms under greenhouse culture conditions in water, sediment, and gut microorganisms; correlations pertaining to environmental factors; the feasibility of using Source Tracker; and the mechanisms of community construction. The results show that the dominant microorganisms in water, sediment, and gut farming in a greenhouse environment varied and were subject to dynamic change. A variety of beneficial microbiota such as Bacillus were found in the gut, whereas a variety of microorganisms such as Marivita and Pseudomonas, which function as nitrogen and phosphorus removers, were present in water. Source Tracker and environmental correlation analyses showed that changes in the gut were associated with eutrophication indicators (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, ammonia nitrogen) and changes in environmental microorganisms (in water and sediment). The results of the community-building mechanism analysis show that stochastic processes determine the community-building directions of environmental and gut microorganisms. These findings will help us to understand the microbiota characteristics of shrimp ponds under greenhouse farming conditions, and the complex interactions between the shrimp gut and the environmental microbiota and environmental variables, as well as revealing the changing rules of the gut microbiota.

Simulation on metal-rubber contact behavior based on a reconstructed 3D topography of rough surfaces

A contact model with refined surface topography is important to the frictional wear study of rubber seal. But the traditional modeling method relies on the measurement of surface characteristics of rubber material, which increases the cost due to high-precision instruments and complex data processing. In the paper, a new modeling method on reconstructing the 3D surface topography is proposed. The coordinate cloud of the surface is generated based on the random distribution of asperity height, which is established according to the initiate parameters of the surface roughness. The metal-rubber assembly model with 3D topography of rough surfaces are built. The simulation on metal-rubber contact behavior is conducted in ANSYS. The result shows a power-exponent relation is between the real contact area and the external pressure, and three contact states of no contact, adhesion and slippage are defined to describe the dynamic distribution of real contact area. The authors proved the reliability of the topography reconstruction method by an indentation experiment on rubber material. The area ratio reflects not only the change rule of contact area under an increasing pressure, but also the difference of contact behavior of the contact pairs under different surface roughness.

Characterization of rotary valve control vibration system for vibration stress relief applications

To enhance the vibration system characteristic distortion and pressure loss, we propose a novel rotary valve control vibration system. The paper presents the designed structural composition and generation mechanism of the rotary valve control vibration system. It also derives the mathematical model for the rotary valve distribution process and the overall system. The flow field inside the rotary valve is dynamically simulated using the multiple reference frame model, allowing for the determination of the change rule of the rotary valve’s output characteristics. An AMESim model was developed to analyze the vibration characteristics of the rotary valve control system. The effects of parameters such as inlet pressure, motor speed, and oil supply pump displacement were investigated. A rotary valve control vibration system experimental bench was constructed to experimentally verify the output characteristics of the rotary valve and the vibration characteristics of the system. The results indicate that the characteristic curve of the designed vibration system closely resembles a sinusoidal wave. Additionally, the rotary valve exhibits low pressure loss, making it more suitable for vibration stress relief applications. By appropriately increasing the inlet pressure and decreasing the motor speed, the vibration characteristics of the system can be improved.

Powerball: Somebody's Gotta Win!

The case evolves around the Powerball lottery and the rule changes implemented in 2015, which, among other things, changed the chances of winning the jackpot from 1 in 175 million to 1 in 292 million. What is the impact of such rules on lottery revenues? The expected value rule is unable to explain why people play in the first place and fails to give the appropriate weight to the factors that explain the attractiveness of a lottery. This case is ideal to introduce the notion of decision weights as put forward by Kahneman and Tversky's prospect theory. By calculating decision weights, we obtain a reasonable prediction for the willingness to pay for the lottery as a function of different jackpot amounts. Using past data, we can correlate lottery revenues with predicted willingness to pay for a ticket. Quantitative-inclined audiences can then develop a simulation model of how likely it is that the jackpot grows, which, coupled with the prediction of revenues as a function of the jackpot, would give the evolution of the revenues under the new rule. The accompanying spreadsheet provides data for students to work out various scenarios to narrow objectives and maximize revenue from Powerball tickets.

Evaluation of Dynamic Changes of Volatile Organic Components for Fishmeal during Storage by HS-SPME-GC-MS with PLS-DA.

Headspace solid-phase microextraction, combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and partial least squares discriminant analysis, was adopted to study the rule of change in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for domestic and imported fishmeal during storage with different freshness grades. The results showed that 318 kinds of VOCs were detected in domestic fishmeal, while 194 VOCs were detected in imported fishmeal. The total relative content of VOCs increased with storage time, among which acids and nitrogen-containing compounds increased significantly, esters and ketones increased slightly, and phenolic and ether compounds were detected only in domestic fishmeal. Regarding the volatile base nitrogen, acid value, pH value, and mold counts as freshness indexes, the freshness indexes were significantly correlated with nine kinds of VOCs (p < 0.05) through the correlation analysis. Among them, volatile base nitrogen had a significant correlation with VOCs containing nitrogen, acid value with VOCs containing carboxyl group and hydrocarbons, pH value with acids which could be used to adjust pH value, and mold counts with part of acids adjusting pH value and VOCs containing nitrogen. Due to the fact that the value of all freshness indexes increased with freshness degradation during storage, based on volatile base nitrogen and acid value, the fishmeal was divided into three freshness grades, superior freshness, corrupting, and completely corrupted. By using partial least squares discriminant analysis, this study revealed the differences in flavor of the domestic and imported fishmeal during storage with different freshness grades, and it identified four common characteristic VOCs, namely ethoxyquinoline, 6,7,8,9-tetrahydro-3H-benzo[e]indole-1,2-dione, hexadecanoic acid, and heptadecane, produced by the fishmeal samples during storage, as well as the characteristic VOCs of fishmeal at each freshness grade.

Effect of chloride salt migration at interfaces on asphalt-aggregate adhesion: A molecular dynamics study

Asphalt pavements can be damaged by moisture and salt, and the bond strength between asphalt and aggregate is related to the erosion of the salt solution. In this study, considering the migration and diffusion of the solution at the interface, a molecular dynamics modeling method was used to simulate the process where the salt solution erodes the asphalt-aggregate interface, and results show that the solution invades the asphalt-aggregate interface, gradually squeezing the asphalt away from the aggregate surface in a wedge shape, and the interaction force between the asphalt and the aggregate is gradually reduced to 0. The diffusion rate of the solution at the interface is related to the position of the solution. If the solution is farther away from the aggregate, it will be less restricted by the aggregate. NaCl affects the diffusion of water molecules. The greater the concentration of NaCl solution, the lower the height of the wedge formed by the solution at the interface. Compared to quartz, calcite has a stronger limiting effect on the solution, which is manifested by a greater resistance to water damage. Under the attraction of NaCl solution, the polar components are more likely to move toward the solution surface, while the less polar components show different distribution and diffusion states. In this study, we observed the conformational changes in the erosion process of different concentrations of NaCl solutions and calculated the change rule of interaction force, which helps understand the erosion process of salt solutions and provides a new idea for the study of chloride on asphalt pavement spalling.