Stricter Conditions Research Articles

Pork Liver Decomposition Product May Improve Frontal Lobe Function in Humans-Open Trial.

Porcine Liver Decomposition Product (PLDP) was obtained by treating pig liver homogenate with protease and filling it into capsules. We have already confirmed from three clinical trials that PLDP enhances visual memory and delays memory recall, and we believe that its activity is due to various phospholipids, including phosphatidylcholine (PC). In this study, we clinically evaluated PLDP for depressive symptoms caused by a decline in cognitive function. This clinical trial was conducted using the Revised Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS-R). The HDS-R (maximum score is 30 points) is a test similar to the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), which is commonly used in Japan. Dementia is suspected if the score falls below 20 on the HDS-R. Additionally, in a previous clinical trial, there was no change in scores in the placebo group after three doses of the HDS-R. In order to clearly confirm the effectiveness of PLDP, this study was conducted under stricter conditions (HDS-R points of 15 to 23) than previous clinical trials (all participants had scores of 20 or higher). Therefore, from ethical considerations, a clinical trial was conducted using the scores before PLDP administration as a control. In this study, PLDP was administered orally at 4 capsules per day, and the HDS-R was confirmed 2 and 4 weeks after administration. A significant increase in HDS-R scores was observed at 2 and 4 weeks after PLDP administration. Additionally, regarding each item of the HDS-R, PLDP significantly increased 2 and 4 weeks after oral administration for the question items assessing delayed recall, and the question item assessing verbal fluency tasks was recognized. From the above results, we confirmed the reproducibility of the effect of PLDP in improving the delayed recall of verbal memories. Furthermore, increasing scores on verbal fluency tasks suggest that PLDP may enhance frontal lobe function and prevent or improve depressive symptoms. The effects observed in this study may differ from the mechanisms of action of existing antidepressants, and we believe that this may lead to the discovery of new antidepressants.

Influences of Average Temperature Difference and Measurement Period on Estimation of In Situ Thermal Transmittance of Building Exterior Walls Using the Average Method of ISO 9869-1

Many studies have sought to overcome the two main limitations of the average method of ISO 9869-1—its long test duration and low accuracy. These studies reported that the reliability of the results is dependent on the temperature differences. This consensus was based on the results of studies that measured a few cases with specific temperature differences, and the convergence criteria utilized for the representative thermal transmittance (U-value) were rarely examined. This study analyzed the influence of the average temperature difference and test duration on the convergence characteristics and accuracy of U-value estimation using the average method. Data from a north-facing exterior wall with a theoretical U-value of 0.145 W/m2·K were measured between June 2022 and May 2023. The influences of different measurement conditions were analyzed for cases divided based on four measurement periods and 11 average air temperature differences. The findings show that an accurate U-value can be obtained from 7 days’ worth of measurement data with an average temperature difference of 10 °C or higher and that the improvement in accuracy is minimal under stricter conditions. To achieve a convergence probability of over 90% for temperature differences of 10 °C or greater, the second and third criteria required measurement periods of 7 and 15 days respectively.

Analysis of cryptographic authentication and manipulation detection methods for big data

The emergence of Big Data has made it possible to obtain more information about the customer and competitive base, as well as about market trends. Therefore, the desire of criminals to gain unauthorized access to this data also increases in direct proportion. However, not enough attention is paid to security issues of Big Data systems and their creation does not take into account the information security component. The purpose of the article is to develop approaches to the cyber protection of Big Data, which are stored and transmitted by telecommunication communication channels when responding to a request, namely their integrity and authentication. The main problems when working with Big Data are analyzed. Based on the results of the analysis of Big Data protection problems, a cryptographic transformation of data indexes when they are stored in the database and when transmitted in the form of hash codes is proposed to increase the efficiency of search by user requests. The expediency of using crypto-code constructions on elliptic curves of various types of modifications to form a pseudo-random substrate in order to increase the crypto-resistance of transmitted messages is proven. When forming hash codes, it is advisable to use modified elliptical codes, and under stricter conditions, the level of cryptographic resistance of authentication codes can be increased due to hybrid crypto-code constructions. A pseudo-random substrate can be represented by varieties that must equally ensure the necessary transformations and preservation of universality properties by the UMAC algorithm.

Massive parametric study for prospective design space of a compact tokamak fusion reactor

Using a novel computational algorithm that integrates tokamak systems analysis with neutron transport calculations, the minimum major radius (R0) and resulting maximum magnetic field at the plasma center (BT) can be determined uniquely for a given plasma performance. Plasma performance was varied extensively using a supercomputer (KAIROS) and scanning over a wide range of physics, technology, and system parameters to derive the optimal design space for a compact tokamak fusion reactor. Given the design goals of fusion gain Q > 20.0, net electric power > 100 MW, neutron wall loading < 2.0 MW/m2, indicator of divertor power handling PSOL/R0 < 25 MW/m, direct capital cost < $4.0 billion, and steady-state operation, a prospective design space was determined depending on the levels of physics and technology. Advanced engineering features, such as maximum allowable magnetic field at the toroidal field coil (Bmax = 23 T), were implemented by adopting high-temperature superconducting magnet technology, using an advanced shield material such as tungsten carbide (WC), and a plug-bucked magnet support structure. It was found that by exceeding the energy confinement scaling laws of IPB98y2, a design space of R0 < 4.0 m could be accessed under the following conditions for a conventional tokamak: confinement enhancement factor H > 1.7, bootstrap current fraction fBS > 0.55, magnetic field at the magnetic axis BT > 4.0 T, fusion power Pfusion > 600 MW, and thermodynamic efficiency ηth > 0.33. For a spherical tokamak, these conditions were H > 1.3, fBS > 0.6, BT 〈 6.0 T, and Pfusion 〉 500 MW. Sensitivity studies on the energy confinement scaling laws showed that stricter conditions on the physics parameters were required with the ITPA20 scaling law, whereas the conditions were mitigated with the β-independent scaling law.

Quantifying uncertainty in land cover mappings: An adaptive approach to sampling reference data using Bayesian inference

AbstractMappings play an important role in environmental science applications by allowing practitioners to monitor changes at national and global scales. Over the last decade, it has become increasingly popular to use satellite imagery data and machine learning techniques (MLTs) to construct such maps. Given the black-box nature of many of these MLTs though, quantifying uncertainty in these maps often relies on sampling reference data under stricter conditions. However, practical constraints can sampling such data expensive, which forces stakeholders to make a trade-off between the degree of uncertainty in predictions and the costs of collecting appropriately sampled reference data. Furthermore, quantifying any trade-off is often difficult, as it will depend on many interdependent factors that cannot be fully understood until more data is collected. This paper investigates how a combination of Bayesian inference and an adaptive approach to sampling reference data can offer a generalizable way of managing such trade-offs. The approach is illustrated and evaluated using a woodland mapping of England as a case study in which reference data is collected under constraints motivated by COVID-19 travel restrictions. The key findings of this paper are as follows: (a) an adaptive approach to sampling reference data allows an informed approach when quantifying this trade-off; and (b) Bayesian inference is naturally suited to adaptive sampling and can make use of Monte Carlo methods when dealing with more advanced problems and analytical techniques.

Potrošnja energije i primena obnovljivih izvora energije u postrojenjima za tretman otpadnih voda

Wastewater treatment plants contribute to the removal of pollutants from wastewater following the norms and regulations on the quality of the wastewater and therefore are an indispensable part of wastewater treatment and environmental protection. Each stage of wastewater treatment consumes a significant amount of energy. The need to meet rapid population growth and stricter conditions in terms of effluent quality requirements has led to an increase in energy consumption in wastewater treatment plants. Energy consumption is a bottleneck in wastewater treatment plants and, as the number of these plants in the world increases, the issues of reducing energy consumption and energy efficiency are beginning to attract attention. It also contributes to the cost increase in wastewater treatment plants. Analysis and prediction of energy consumption are key factors for energy savings. Energy consumption in wastewater treatment plants is affected by many factors. However, information on energy consumption and potential for energy recovery/production and energy efficiency in wastewater treatment plants remains very limited. This paper reviews the literature and analyzes the energy consumption in these plants and the possibility of increasing the energy efficiency of these plants through the use of renewable energy sources and energy recovery from the plant itself.

Constraining the identification of epistemic judges across different syntactic categories

As observed at various occasions, the usage of epistemic adverbs in information seeking questions is by far more restricted than the usage of epistemic adjectives. Starting from Lyons (1977) this contrast was motivated assuming that different types of epistemic operators come with different semantics and scope positions in the utterance, namely objective vs. subjective epistemic modality. However it is not possible to define clear classes of objective epistemic modal operators in terms of clear diagnostics. It will be shown here that the contrast of acceptability is more accurately explained in terms of locality and binding properties of the variable for the attitude holder rendering the epistemic judgement. If locally bound, epistemic modal operators can be embedded, if not, they are subject to much stricter conditions in order to be interpretable.

Burnout in Japanese neurologists: comparison of male and female physicians

A questionnaire survey was conducted on 8,402 members of the Japanese Neurological Society to examine the current status and countermeasures for physician burnout, and 1,261 respondents (15.0%) responded. In this paper, we report the results of a comparison between male and female physicians. There was a significant difference in working and living conditions only for married people. It was confirmed that men work under stricter conditions in terms of working hours, and that the burden on women is heavier in the division of housework. Analysis using the Japanese Burnout Scale revealed no gender differences in overall scores, but as for factors related to burnout, in addition to factors common to both men and women, factors specific to men or women were clarified.

Shake slice and shake concordant links

We can construct a [Formula: see text]-manifold by attaching [Formula: see text]-handles to a [Formula: see text]-ball with framing [Formula: see text] along the components of a link in the boundary of the [Formula: see text]-ball. We define a link as [Formula: see text]-shake slice if there exists embedded spheres that represent the generators of the second homology of the [Formula: see text]-manifold. This naturally extends [Formula: see text]-shake slice, a generalization of slice that has previously only been studied for knots, to links of more than one component. We also define a relative notion of shake[Formula: see text]-concordance for links and versions with stricter conditions on the embedded spheres that we call strongly[Formula: see text]-shake slice and strongly[Formula: see text]-shake concordance. We provide infinite families of links that distinguish concordance, shake concordance, and strong shake concordance. Moreover, for [Formula: see text] we completely characterize shake slice and shake concordant links in terms of concordance and string link infection. This characterization allows us to prove that the first non-vanishing Milnor [Formula: see text] invariants are invariants of shake concordance. We also argue that shake concordance does not imply link homotopy.

Static corrective control with model matching indicator and its application to payload data managers

Having no internal states, static corrective controllers are advantageous over dynamic ones in terms of resource usage, albeit requiring stricter existence conditions. This study presents a novel static corrective control strategy that solves the model matching problem of input/state asynchronous sequential machines. Compared with the previous result, the proposed scheme provides a relaxed existence condition by utilising the model matching indicator that specifies the desirable state at hand. It is shown that the proposed static controller can be designed as long as a corresponding dynamic one exists. The improvement of resource usage in controller synthesis is validated by applying the proposed scheme to the payload data manager in the mass memory unit of satellite systems.

An Algorithm for Detecting Ice Cloud at Different Altitudes by Combining Dual CrIS Full Spectrum Resolution CO2 Channels

Using infrared sensors to detect ice clouds in different atmospheric layers is still a challenge. The different scattering and absorption properties of longwave and shortwave infrared channels can be utilized to fulfill this purpose. In this study, the release of Suomi-NPP Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) full spectrum resolution is used to select and pair channels from longwave (~ 15 μm) and shortwave (~4.3 μm) CO2 absorption bands under stricter conditions, so as to better detect ice clouds. Besides, the differences of the weighting function peaks and cloud insensitive level altitudes of the paired channels are both within 50 hPa so that the variances due to atmospheric conditions can be minimized. The training data of clear sky are determined by Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) cloud mask product and used to find the linear relationship between the paired longwave and shortwave CO2 absorption channels. From the linear relationship, the so-called cloud emission and scattering index (CESI) is derived to detect ice clouds. CESI clearly captures the center and the ice cloud features of the Super Typhoon Hato located above 415 hPa. Moreover, the CESI distributions agree with cloud top pressure from the VIIRS in both daytime and nighttime in different atmospheric layers.

Translational Difficulties in Querying Rats on “Orientation”

The aim of this study was to translate the “orientation” query of the ADAS-Cog inventory to rats and to investigate whether they can determine which time of the day they are. For this purpose, we established a modified Morris water-maze navigation task where the escape platform was placed onto various locations at different times of the day: “morning”, “noon” and “evening”. In each of these sessions rats swam a “query” trial and a “confirmatory” trial, 30 min apart. Lister Hooded rats randomly chose among the three possible target locations, while Long Evans rats partly followed a win-stay strategy by preferring to visit first to the platform position of the previous session. Despite simplifying the task to a morning–evening discrimination, Lister Hooded rats continued searching by chance, while Long Evans rats switched to the mentally less demanding random strategy. We then inserted a board into the pool which required longer swimming path from the animals when they were correcting an initial wrong choice, but this modification did not result in a change in the above strategies. Lastly, in a separate group of Long–Evans rats, the training conditions were modified inasmuch an incorrect choice was definitely punished by impeding the animals to correct it and confining them to a platform-free part of the maze for the whole trial period. However, even these stricter conditions were not sufficient to make the rats distinguish times of the day. The observed lack of time discrimination may source from an evolutionary built in mechanism characteristic for the rat species or this ability may have only been lost in laboratory rats.

Monotonicity Properties for Two-Action Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes on Partially Ordered Spaces

This paper investigates monotonicity properties of optimal policies for two-action partially observable Markov decision processes when the underlying (core) state and observation spaces are partially ordered. Motivated by the desirable properties of the monotone likelihood ratio order in imperfect information settings, namely the preservation of belief ordering under conditioning on any new information, we propose a new stochastic order (a generalization of the monotone likelihood ratio order) that is appropriate for when the underlying space is partially ordered. The generalization is non-trivial, requiring one to impose additional conditions on the elements of the beliefs corresponding to incomparable pairs of states. The stricter conditions in the proposed stochastic order reflect a conservation of structure in the problem – the loss of structure from relaxing the total ordering of the state space to a partial order requires stronger conditions with respect to the ordering of beliefs. In addition to the proposed stochastic order, we introduce a class of matrices, termed generalized totally positive of order 2, that are sufficient for preserving the order. Our main result is a set of sufficient conditions that ensures existence of an optimal policy that is monotone on the belief space with respect to the proposed stochastic order.

Monotonicity properties for two-action partially observable Markov decision processes on partially ordered spaces

This paper investigates monotonicity properties of optimal policies for two-action partially observable Markov decision processes when the underlying (core) state and observation spaces are partially ordered. Motivated by the desirable properties of the monotone likelihood ratio order in imperfect information settings, namely the preservation of belief ordering under conditioning on any new information, we propose a new stochastic order (a generalization of the monotone likelihood ratio order) that is appropriate for when the underlying space is partially ordered. The generalization is non-trivial, requiring one to impose additional conditions on the elements of the beliefs corresponding to incomparable pairs of states. The stricter conditions in the proposed stochastic order reflect a conservation of structure in the problem – the loss of structure from relaxing the total ordering of the state space to a partial order requires stronger conditions with respect to the ordering of beliefs. In addition to the proposed stochastic order, we introduce a class of matrices, termed generalized totally positive of order 2, that are sufficient for preserving the order. Our main result is a set of sufficient conditions that ensures existence of an optimal policy that is monotone on the belief space with respect to the proposed stochastic order.

Does the religious context matter? The causal effect of religious diversity on individual life satisfaction in the UK

ABSTRACT This study explores whether and to what extent the change in individual life satisfaction is caused by exposure to a changing religious context. Empirical evidence is from UK society, where the decline in Christian population is accompanied by increases in both Muslim and non-religious populations. By linking the UK Household Longitudinal Study with geographic codes at the Local Authority level between 2009 and 2016, we estimate the relationship between a religious context and life satisfaction for groups of Christians, individuals with minority religions, and the non-religious, respectively. By comparing fixed-effect modelling exclusively on stayers with multilevel modelling on the whole sample, we argue that although observed associations are largely consistent with widely accepted assumptions, most of them do not pass the test for causality under stricter conditions. The only significant relationship in FE modelling is a negative effect of Muslim exposure on life satisfaction of non-religious, mainly white British individuals.

Demystifying China’s Shantytown Renovation Program and Its Effect on Real Estate Price

From August 2017, Chinese authorities have indicated that the shantytown renovation program would gradually be scrutinized under stricter conditions due to the fact that this policy has enhanced the rocketing real estate prices in Chinese third-tier cities. However, based on monthly data from May 2015—December 2017, this study finds that a higher amount of pledge supplementary lendings, which provide the major funding for the shantytown renovation program, can significantly decelerate the growth of real estate prices in the third-tier cities. This finding has important implications for Chinese decision makers and investors as well.

Cutting the double loop: Theory and algorithms for reliability‐based design optimization with parametric uncertainty

SummaryParametric uncertainties complicate engineering design—confounding regulated design approaches and degrading the performance of reliability efforts. The simplest means to tackle this uncertainty is double‐loop simulation, a nested Monte Carlo method that, for practical problems, is intractable. In this work, we introduce a flexible, general approximation technique that obviates the double loop. This approximation is constructed in the context of a novel theory of reliability design under parametric uncertainty: we introduce metrics for measuring the efficacy of reliability‐based design optimization strategies (epistemic design gap and effective reliability), minimal conditions for controlling uncertain reliability (precision margin), and stricter conditions that guarantee the desired reliability at a designed confidence level. We provide a number of examples with open‐source code to demonstrate our approaches in a reproducible fashion.

Zur dritten Piste des Flughafens Wien

The Vienna International Airport will soon reach the limits of its capacity. The competent administrative authority had approved an application for the construction of a third runway by merely referring to the airport’s need for it. The Federal Administrative Court reversed the decision, based on a balancing of interests, transport on the one hand, environmental (in particular, climate) protection on the other hand. The Constitutional Court annulled the decision on grounds that the Federal Administrative Court by including in its balance interests not mentioned in the Aviation Statute had acted wilfully. Subsequently the Federal Administrative Court concentrated on those public interests mentioned in the Aviation Statute (mainly protection against noise) and approved the construction of a third runway, albeit under stricter conditions related to noise emissions than those originally imposed by the administrative authority. The whole episode has clarified the nature of balancing of interests to be performed when reviewing airport-related projects but has also shown some inappropriate judicial restraint of the Constitutional Court towards international law.

Coupled lateral-longitudinal vehicle dynamics and control design with three-dimensional state portraits

ABSTRACTThe dynamics of vehicles with pneumatic tyres are well-known to be non-holonomic, nonlinear, and subject to state bounds in order to remain on defined roadways. As such, it can be challenging to apply many of the tools typically used to analyse nonlinear dynamics and synthesise control strategies. Furthermore, the use of traditional stability analyses is often insufficient for vehicle control design since adherence to the roadway geometry implies a constrained space that dictates stricter conditions on the states than provable stability. A two-state phase portrait approach has been used to analyse vehicle dynamics and provides an illustrative view of the state trajectories at constant speed. This paper extends the phase portrait to three states to represent the nonlinear vehicle dynamics with steering and longitudinal tyre force inputs and consideration of the longitudinal vehicle dynamics. The concept of a fixed point in the phase plane is extended to a stable curve and example controllers are examined and synthesised using the three-dimensional vector space.

Implementation Wireless Adapter Interface Module with Gateway Device for Connection to 4-20 mA Transmitters

Wireless communication is emerging technology from the office world to the industrial world. It is important that this technique are applied by the users in industrial environments because the industrial communication underlies stricter conditions than office communication. In this paper, It has been designed and implemented wireless adapter interface module with gateway connected to 4-20 mA devices and the Differential Pressure (DP) transmitter is considered. The implemented system consists from wireless adapter connected to the DP transmitter and the gateway device that used as a link between the field devices and the host. The standard method deals with a two-way or bidirectional communication protocol, which eliminate the drawbacks of 4 to 20 mA standard signal in the industrial measurements that can be only transmitted or measured one parameter value. With developed method, an additional information can be transmitted using wireless signal based on frequency shift keying modulation. In addition, the system design has been implemented and proposed various configurations for field device connections. The experiment results are presenting to verify the success of the implemented system.