Zero Rate Research Articles

Three New Requirements for Zero Rating Intra-Community Supplies: Barking Up the Wrong Tree

In this article, the authors challenge the substantive characterization of the three new requirements relating to the zero rate of intra-Community supplies of goods introduced by the “quick fixes” package and address the consequences arising from failure to comply with them.

Does DRO type matter?: Cycle versus resetting contingencies in eliminating responding

Following lever-press training on variable-interval 30-s schedules, rats were exposed to three types of schedules designed to eliminate lever pressing. The first two were variations on what is called a differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior (DRO, “zero rate”, or [target response] omission schedule) schedule. Under both variations, reinforcers were scheduled to occur in different conditions after either fixed or variable inter-reinforcer intervals (IRIs). Under one variation each lever press reset the time interval (i.e., “resetting DRO”) and under the other a reinforcer delivery scheduled at the end of an IRI was cancelled by the first response during the IRI (i.e., “cycle DRO”). In another condition reinforcers were delivered independently of responding after fixed or variable time periods. Each of the DRO procedures reduced response rates quickly and to near zero across ten sessions. The time schedules also reduced responding, albeit at a slower rate. The results extend the analogy of omission training to freeoperant avoidance to shock-deletion avoidance schedules.

Theory of transcription bursting: stochasticity in the transcription rates

Transcription bursting creates variation among the individuals of a given population. Bursting emerges as the consequence of turning on and off the transcription process randomly. There are at least three sub-processes involved in the bursting phenomenon with different timescale regimes viz. flipping across the on–off state channels, microscopic transcription elongation events and the mesoscopic transcription dynamics along with the mRNA recycling. We demonstrate that when the flipping dynamics is coupled with the microscopic elongation events, then the distribution of the resultant transcription rates will be over-dispersed. This in turn reflects as the transcription bursting with over-dispersed non-Poisson type distribution of mRNA numbers. We further show that there exist optimum flipping rates (αC, βC) at which the stationary state Fano factor and variance associated with the mRNA numbers attain maxima. These optimum points are connected via $$ \alpha_{C} = \sqrt {\beta_{C} \left( {\beta_{C} + \gamma_{r} } \right)} $$ . Here α is the rate of flipping from the on-state to the off-state, β is the rate of flipping from the off-state to the on-state and γr is the decay rate of mRNA. When α = β = χ with zero rate in the off-state channel, then there exist optimum flipping rates at which the non-stationary Fano factor and variance attain maxima. Here $$ \chi_{C,v} \simeq {{3k_{r}^{ + } } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{3k_{r}^{ + } } {2\left( {1 + k_{r}^{ + } t} \right)}}} \right. \kern-0pt} {2\left( {1 + k_{r}^{ + } t} \right)}} $$ (here $$ k_{r}^{ + } $$ is the rate of transcription purely through the on-state elongation channel) is the optimum flipping rate at which the variance of mRNA attains a maximum and $$ \chi_{C,\kappa } \simeq {{1.72} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{1.72} t}} \right. \kern-0pt} t} $$ is the optimum flipping rate at which the Fano factor attains a maximum. Close observation of the transcription mechanism reveals that the RNA polymerase performs several rounds of stall-continue type dynamics before generating a complete mRNA. Based on this observation, we model the transcription event as a stochastic trajectory of the transcription machinery across these on–off state elongation channels. Each mRNA transcript follows different trajectory. The total time taken by a given trajectory is the first passage time (FPT). Inverse of this FPT is the resultant transcription rate associated with the particular mRNA. Therefore, the time required to generate a given mRNA transcript will be a random variable. For a stall-continue type dynamics of RNA polymerase, we show that the overall average transcription rate can be expressed as $$ k_{r} \simeq h_{\infty }^{ + } k_{r}^{ + } $$ where $$ k_{r}^{ + } \simeq {{\lambda_{r}^{ + } } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\lambda_{r}^{ + } } L}} \right. \kern-0pt} L} $$ , λ+ is the microscopic transcription elongation rate in the on-state channel and L is the length of a complete mRNA transcript and h∞+ = [β/(α + β)] is the stationary state probability of finding the transcription machinery in the on-state channel.

Absence of nosocomial influenza and respiratory syncytial virus infection in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) era: Implication of universal masking in hospitals.

Universal masking for healthcare workers and patients in hospitals was adopted to combat coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), with compliance rates of 100% and 75.9%, respectively. Zero rates of nosocomial influenza A, influenza B, and respiratory syncytial virus infection were achieved from February to April 2020, which was significantly lower than the corresponding months in 2017-2019.

Studying Resonant Frequencies of a Helical Spring with and Without Axial Loads

This paper presents the resonant frequencies of a helical spring manually calculated in compliance with SAE-11 and also via numerical simulation. In both calculations, a damper rate of zero was utilized to make modeling simpler. Two numerical simulations were run, ranging in frequency from 90 to 590 Hz. The first simulation applied frequencies with no load on the spring, while a second simulation had an axial load on the spring grounded surface, perpendicular to spring centerline. In addition, the second simulation had a constraint added to the opposite grounded surface of the spring and was opposite to the load. Likewise, manual calculation and numerical simulation via COMSOL??? Multiphysics presented very similar results. But, when comparing only the simulations, both revealed high stresses for the same frequencies. However, the second simulation (spring with load applied) had very high stresses, which indicates a high risk of premature failure of the spring.

To Decrease or Not to Decrease: The Impact of Zero and Negative Interest Rates on Investment Decisions

The suggestion to implement a negative monetary policy has divided economists and politicians. The effects of this experiment on the willingness of individuals and financial intermediaries to borrow and spend money and increase their risk are controversial. To provide insight into the debate, we provide experimental evidence revealing two important results. First, zero interest rates are more efficient than negative interest rates in terms of the impact on the willingness of individuals to borrow money and take risks. We suggest two behavioral explanations for this result. Second, we find no statistical difference between the effect that positive and negative interest rates have on the change in the allocation of risky assets in investment portfolios.

Micromachined Rate-Integrating Gyroscopes: Concept, Asymmetry Error Sources and Phenomena

Rate-integrating gyroscope (RIG) operation is an attractive operation scheme for micro gyroscopes, because it can provide direct angle measurement and a high dynamic range. However, its zero rate output (ZRO) has a severe drift issue. This work compared the difference between rate and rate-integrating gyroscope operations, and further modeled the gyroscope with asymmetric error terms. Then the influences of these non-ideal factors were analyzed to abridge the ZRO drift phenomena and the sources. The numerical verification proved the theory that such an oscillation pattern is caused by the stiffness mismatch, and decaying to X/Y axis manner resulted from the damping errors. The conclusions can contribute to aiding engineers to rapidly locate the bottlenecks of RIG operations.

Numerical Analysis of an Isovolumetric Thermal Desorption Experiment

Our research group is currently investigating a new kind of thermal desorption experiment (TDE), which uses a hydrogen isotope by loading-unloading process yielding transport parameters. Safety issues are limiting the hydrogen loading content to 3 % at 105 Pa, while former experiments are using pure hydrogen for the loading process at nearly same pressure e. g. [1]. Especially the thermal elongation coefficient (TDE operating conditions 300° to 500 °C compatibility to stainless steel) forces to think about an alternative material of boron silicate glass for specimen containment, in this paper copper will be discussed. The analysis of TDE concerns the amount of hydrogen stored in the specimen, stored in the time variable gas phase as well as stored in the containment material. These three phases are coupled by phase equilibrium. The here developed analysis procedure can currently only be performed numerically for a two dimensional geometry. However a two dimensional analytical solution regarding the same boundary condition is currently under investigation. One part of the solution results of this problem can be compared to an additional analytical solution with simpler boundary conditions, e.g. a vanishing hydrogen amount inside the specimen containment observed in steady state. The numerical results will be used to check the suitability of several experimental scenarios, for example the usability of a copper based specimen containment. The approach currently practiced in many experiments is to simply subtract the zero rate of hydrogen without considering the phase equilibrium between the three mentioned phases. The main goal of this analysis procedure consists in the solution of the inverse problem, namely the extraction of the transport parameters like Sieverts ́-and diffusion-constant from a measured time dependent desorption pressure increase.

A Cooperative Data Mining Approach for Potential Urban Rail Transit Demand Using Probe Vehicle Trajectories

Promoting the use of public transportation is an important approach to develop sustainable mobility. However, lots of potential users of public transportation chose taxi, a semi-private mode for convenience. In this study, we first define this potential urban rail transit demand based on its spatiotemporal features. Then a novel data mining method is proposed to ascertain the potential urban rail transit demand from taxi trajectory data through considering spatial and temporal constraints simultaneously. Two features of the potential demand, i.e., the zero rates and volatility, are obtained by the combination of statistical and feature extraction (local neighbor descriptive pattern, LNDP) techniques. They are used to classify the urban rail transit stations into different categories which need different improvement measures to promote the attraction to the potential users. The effectiveness of the proposed method is tested using the GPS trajectory data of Shanghai collected from over 10,000 taxis in 12 consecutive days. We find that most urban rail transit stations have the potential to absorb the regular part of taxi ridership. Moreover, obvious imbalances exist between access and egress potential travel demands at these stations. The results show that metro stations can be classified into six groups according to the time-varying laws of potential travel demand, four of which need urgent measures. These findings provide useful insights for developing more effective and targeted strategies to encourage travelers to shift to public transportation. The estimated method of potential demand is the prerequisite for further optimization models.

Coding Analog of Superadditivity Using Entanglement-Assisted Quantum Tensor Product Codes Over $\mathbb {F}_{p^k}$

We provide a procedure to construct entanglement-assisted Calderbank–Shor–Steane (CSS) codes over qudits from the parity check matrices of two classical codes over $\mathbb {F}_q$ , where $q=p^k$ , $p$ is prime, and $k$ is a positive integer. The construction procedure involves the proposed Euclidean Gram–Schmidt orthogonalization algorithm, followed by a procedure to extend the quantum operators to obtain stabilizers of the code. Using this construction, we provide a construction of entanglement-assisted tensor product codes from classical tensor product codes over $\mathbb {F}_q$ . We further show that a nonzero rate entanglement-assisted tensor product code can be obtained from a classical tensor product code whose component codes yield zero rate entanglement-assisted CSS codes. We view this result as the coding analog of superadditivity.

Extended half-life recombinant products in haemophilia clinical practice – Expectations, opportunities and challenges

Extended half-life (EHL) products have shown robust efficacy in clinical trials, whilst allowing for less intense treatment regimens when compared with standard half-life products. Regimen optimisation with EHL products could lead to further improvements in bleeding rates, quality of life and reductions in treatment burden. Patients now expect good efficacy, a lower treatment burden and equivalent safety when compared with standard half-life products. As our knowledge base grows these expectations have evolved and targeting an annualised bleeding rate of zero has become a more realistic clinical goal. Personalised prophylaxis can help patients achieve these goals. However, a number of challenges still remain, including cost, challenges in predicting outcomes for patients and differences in patients' and clinicians' expectations. When switching a patient, comprehensive patient care can reduce the impact of these issues. This review presents in brief the protein therapeutics with an extended half-life, including key trial results, challenges of chronic care that impact on patients' outcomes and how the modified proteins might help address some of these issues. In addition, practical steps for managing the switch to EHL products are presented.

Effect of mechanical ventilation on infiltration rate under stack effect in buildings with multilayer windows

In order to prevent outdoor air pollutants from infiltrating indoors, a positive indoor air pressure (i.e., a zero air infiltration rate) should be maintained. ASHRAE requires a zero air infiltration rate in buildings when the mechanical ventilating system is operating. In fact, when the building is leaky or the rate of mechanical ventilation is low, the air infiltration rate of zero is hardly achieved. This contradiction causes the need for figuring out the required rate of mechanical ventilation in order to achieve a zero infiltration rate in a building. Previous studies have focused on this issue for single rooms or buildings with simple crack distributions on the envelope. There is not enough research on this issue for complex models such as buildings with multilayer windows. This study aims to investigate the effect of mechanical ventilation rate on infiltration rate under stack effect for buildings with multilayer windows. A method providing the mathematics relationship between the two rates is put forward. Then, tests are conducted in an actual large space building to validate the method. The validated method is used to calculate the minimum rate of mechanical ventilation required to achieve a zero infiltration rate for a building with multilayer windows. It is concluded that the minimum ratio between the rates of mechanical ventilation and initial air infiltration to achieve a zero infiltration rate depends on the window width-height ratio, the vertical spacing between windows, and the number of window layers. More regulations are summarized and analyzed to guide ventilation design.

Words to Live By: Key Messages in the Fight Against Infection

Words to Live By: Key Messages in the Fight Against Infection

Yield Curve Construction Redux

In this paper we consider several methods for building the yield curve from swap rates. In particular given the complete list of swap rates, we obtain an analytic formula for the zero rate. A continuous limit of this equation is discussed and used in order to extract the continuous yield curve. In real world applications, a complete list of swap rates is rarely present, thus one needs bootstrapping' techniques. We review and compare several methods bootstrapping techniques and add some new bootstrapping techniques. This is done by using the continuous limit equation discussed in the first part of the paper and several variational models. In our experiments, we found that the new methods are better suited to reconstruct the yield curve.

Tissue diagnosis during colorectal cancer surgery using optical sensing: an in vivo study

BackgroundIn colorectal cancer surgery there is a delicate balance between complete removal of the tumor and sparing as much healthy tissue as possible. Especially in rectal cancer, intraoperative tissue recognition could be of great benefit in preventing positive resection margins and sparing as much healthy tissue as possible. To better guide the surgeon, we evaluated the accuracy of diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) for tissue characterization during colorectal cancer surgery and determined the added value of DRS when compared to clinical judgement.MethodsDRS spectra were obtained from fat, healthy colorectal wall and tumor tissue during colorectal cancer surgery and results were compared to histopathology examination of the measurement locations. All spectra were first normalized at 800 nm, thereafter two support vector machines (SVM) were trained using a tenfold cross-validation. With the first SVM fat was separated from healthy colorectal wall and tumor tissue, the second SVM distinguished healthy colorectal wall from tumor tissue.ResultsPatients were included based on preoperative imaging, indicating advanced local stage colorectal cancer. Based on the measurement results of 32 patients, the classification resulted in a mean accuracy for fat, healthy colorectal wall and tumor of 0.92, 0.89 and 0.95 respectively. If the classification threshold was adjusted such that no false negatives were allowed, the percentage of false positive measurement locations by DRS was 25% compared to 69% by clinical judgement.ConclusionThis study shows the potential of DRS for the use of tissue classification during colorectal cancer surgery. Especially the low false positive rate obtained for a false negative rate of zero shows the added value for the surgeons.Trail registration This trail was performed under approval from the internal review board committee (Dutch Trail Register NTR5315), registered on 04/13/2015, https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/5175.

Germination and Growth of Citrus: Trifoliate Orange (Poncirus trifoliata (L.) in Different Organic Substrates

This study was carried out to explore the effect of different organic substrates on germination and growth of trifoliate (Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf.). The experiment was conducted at the Agriculture Research and Development Sub-center (ARDSC), Mithun, Tsirang from July 2014 to March 2015. This experiment was arranged in a randomized complete block design. Each treatment was replicated four times and there were seven treatments. Six different combinations of organic substrates were used. Germination of the seed was done in plug trays of 60 cm x 45 cm with 60 plug holes and effect on germination was assessed until 30 days after sowing (DAS). After transplanting the seedlings in poly pots (12 cm x 6 cm), assessment on growth parameters was done until 210 days after transplanting (DAT). T5: biogas slurry + topsoil + sand + leaf mold + sawdust + rice husk (2: 1: 1: 1: 1: 1) had water holding capacity of 62.7%, air-filled porosity of 8.1%, OM of 6.3%, maximum seed emergence rate of 37.4%, maximum germination index (7.6) and maximum germination percentage of 91.3%. Besides, stem height of 15 cm, stem girth of 3.6 mm, taproot length of 35.6 cm, the number of secondary roots of 61, secondary root spread of 21.4 cm and seedling mortality rate of zero was significantly (p ˂ .01) different from other treatments.

Effect of circuit phase delay on bias stability of MEMS gyroscope under force rebalance detection and self-compensation method

Bias stability is an important performance indicator for MEMS gyroscopes. In this paper, a gyroscope zero rate output (ZRO) model under force-to-rebalance (FTR) closed-loop detection is presented, and the effect of circuit phase delay and various noises on the ZRO is analyzed. Based on the fact that the two feedback forces in the FTR system are insensitive to the phase delay of the sense mode, while they are sensitive to the phase delay of the drive mode, a method for quickly calculating the circuit phase delay is proposed, and an all-pass filter is used to realize one-time automatic compensation for the phase delay in the drive mode. The control system is implemented with an FPGA. The experimental results show that this method can be used to accurately calculate the circuit phase delay and that phase compensation can be used to effectively reduce the effect of quadrature error on ZRO. This technique provides bias instability and angle random walk performances of 0.338° h−1 and 0.061 ° (√h)−1, respectively. In addition, the sensitivity of ZRO to temperature at 0 °C to 70 °C has reached 0.001°/s/°C.

Low discard survival of gray triggerfish in the southeastern US hook-and-line fishery

We estimated condition-specific survival rates of gray triggerfish (Balistes capriscus) using a tag-recapture approach and extrapolated these values to produce an overall discard survival estimate for the US South Atlantic recreational hook-and-line fishery. Tag return rates of fish tagged at the seafloor using SCUBA served as a reference for return rates of fish tagged at the surface. We examined the validity of gross necropsy as a proxy for survival by identifying likely causes of discard mortality. Best-condition surface-released fish (no external trauma) had an estimated mean proportional survival of 0.39 (95% confidence interval 0.28, 0.55). For gray triggerfish exhibiting visible trauma, estimated survival was 0.24 (0.10, 0.60). Floating fish had a survival rate of zero. The necropsy-based estimate of gray triggerfish lacking organ displacement closely matched the tag-based estimate of survival. Mean estimated discard survival across all depths for North Carolina was 0.35 (0.10, 0.59) and for Florida was 0.34 (0.08, 0.59). These results have implications for gray triggerfish management because our estimate of discard survival is substantially lower than previously assumed and for future discard survival research given our findings with gross necropsies.

Novel Approach for the Lifetime Prediction of Composite Materials under Static Loads

Composite materials in structural applications that are subjected to static loads for several decades tend to change material performance over their lifetime. Classical creep tests with constant static loading are quite simple tests with low demands on the test equipment. Unfortunately, these tests require uneconomically long test times, which is why a shortening of the test times with various accelerated approaches is being researched. Within this work two approaches for reduction of the testing time were investigated. On the one hand a fatigue test with the variation of R-ratio and following extrapolation to an R-ratio of 1 was done. On the other hand a Stress Rate Accelerated Creep Rupture Test (SRCR) was developed, where a defined initial stress σi is applied at the beginning of the loading process, followed by an increase load with a constant rate instead of the static stress segment of the classic creep rupture tests. Changing the load rate in several individual tests leads to stress rate-dependent fracture strengths with associated fracture times, which allows extrapolation to a fracture time at a load rate of zero. In particular, the approach of the SRCR offers great potential for greatly reducing test times with an acceptable prediction quality.

Efficacy of High-Intensity Progressive Aerobic Exercise on Brain Atrophy Measures in Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized, Controlled, Cross-Over, Phase-2 Trial

Background: Accelerated brain atrophy is a main determinant of the progressing disabilities clinically characterizing people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Preliminary data from animal studies and human phase 1 studies indicate a possible disease-modifying effect of physical exercise. We therefore assessed whether high-intensity progressive aerobic exercise (PAE) affects brain atrophy in MS. Methods: We conducted a 24-week randomized, controlled, cross-over, phase 2 trial, including an exercise group (24 weeks of supervised PAE followed by self-guided physical activity) and a waitlist group (24 weeks of habitual lifestyle followed by supervised PAE). Participants were recruited at four Danish hospitals. MS patients aged 18-65 years with an Expanded Disability Status Scale score of 0-6 willing to travel to the trial and training facility were randomly assigned (1:1) by the sealed envelope principle, stratified by sex. The primary outcome was percentage brain volume change (PBVC) after 24 weeks, analyzed using an intention-to-treat linear mixed effects model. Findings: A total of 86 participants were recruited from 28 April 2016 to 10 October 2017 (43 patients were assigned to each group). PBVC was -0·29% (SD 0·63) in the exercise group; -0·17% (0·99) in the placebo group (between-group change +0·12%, 95% CI -0·27-0·51; p=0·545). We observed higher grey matter parenchymal fraction (+1·13 percentage points, 0·00-2·26; p=0·05) and cardiorespiratory fitness (+3·5 mL O2/min/kg, 2·0-5·1; p<0·0001) and lower annualized relapse rate (p=0·0023) in the exercise group. No serious adverse events were observed. Interpretation: These findings do not support a ‘whole brain’ neuroprotective effect of PAE (i.e. total brain atrophy) in people with MS. Oppositely, improved cardiorespiratory fitness was accompanied by a ‘regional brain’ neuroprotective effect (i.e. grey matter parenchymal fraction) and a relapse rate of zero. These findings justify recommending PAE as a possible adjunct disease-modifying treatment in MS and warrant further long-term, large-scale phase 3 investigations. Trial Registration Number: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02661555. Funding Statement: Jascha Fonden, Fonden for Neurologisk Forskning, The Danish Multiple Sclerosis Society, Aase og Ejnar Danielsens Fond, Knud og Edith Eriksens Fond, Augustinus Foundation, Direktor Emil C. Hertz og Hustru Inger Hertz’ Fond, Else og Mogens Wedell-Wedellsborgs Fond, and Karen A. Tolstrups Fond. Declaration of Interests: ML-C has received teaching honoraria from Novartis. UD has received research support, travel grants, and/or teaching honoraria from Biogen Inc., Merck Serono, Novartis, and Sanofi. LGH has received research support, travel grant, and/or teaching honoraria from Biogen Inc. and Sanofi. TP has received research support from Biogen Inc., Merck, Roche, Alexion, Sanofi, and Novartis. No other authors have any disclosures. Ethics Approval Statement: Ethics approval was obtained from the ethical committee of the Central Denmark Region, Denmark (record no. 1-10-72-291-15).