Naresuan University Journal
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Application of the Viable System Model to analyse communications structures::A case study of disaster response in Japan
No full textEvery year, natural and man-made disasters affect hundreds of thousands of people and cause extensive damage. OR has made substantial contributions to disaster response and these have been the subject of several recent literature reviews. However, these reviews have also identified research gaps for OR – two of which are (1) limited contribution from soft OR, and (2) a need to model communications during disasters where there are complex interactions between stakeholders. At the intersection of these gaps we apply the Viable System Model (VSM) to examine challenges of rapid communication viability during dynamic disasters. The data that informs this paper were collected in four case studies in Japan – three on its current capabilities (e.g. a local government disaster management office) and one on its response to a past disaster (the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995). This paper shows how applying VSM identified generic gaps and opportunities for communication systems and shows how these case studies signal the utility of VSM structures to arranging communications for fast-paced and changing environments. This paper also contributes to VSM theory through developing two new concepts (1) environmental support mechanisms for viability; and (2) rapid implementation unit emergence
Biomechanics of gecko locomotion:The patterns of reaction forces on inverted, vertical and horizontal substrates
No full textThe excellent locomotion ability of geckos on various rough and/or inclined substrates has attracted scientists’ attention for centuries. However, the moving ability of gecko-mimicking robots on various inclined surfaces still lags far behind that of geckos, mainly because our understanding of how geckos govern their locomotion is still very poor. To reveal the fundamental mechanism of gecko locomotion and also to facilitate the design of gecko-mimicking robots, we have measured the reaction forces (RFs) acting on each individual foot of moving geckos on inverted, vertical and horizontal substrates (i.e. ceiling, wall and floor), have associated the RFs with locomotion behaviors by using high-speed camera, and have presented the relationships of the force components with patterns of reaction forces (PRFs). Geckos generate different PRF on ceiling, wall and floor, that is, the PRF is determined by the angles between the direction of gravity and the substrate on which geckos move. On the ceiling, geckos produce reversed shear forces acting on the front and hind feet, which pull away from the body in both lateral and fore-aft directions. They use a very large supporting angle from 21° to 24° to reduce the forces acting on their legs and feet. On the floor, geckos lift their bodies using a supporting angle from 76° to 78°, which not only decreases the RFs but also improves their locomotion ability. On the wall, geckos generate a reliable self-locking attachment by using a supporting angle of 14.8°, which is only about half of the critical angle of detachment
Binary switching of calendar cells in the pituitary defines the phase of the circannual cycle in mammals
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A weighted genetic risk score using all known susceptibility variants to estimate rheumatoid arthritis risk
No full textBackground: There is currently great interest in the incorporation of genetic susceptibility loci into screening models to identify individuals at high risk of disease. Here, we present the first risk prediction model including all 46 known genetic loci associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: A weighted genetic risk score (wGRS) was created using 45 RA non-human leucocyte antigen (HLA) susceptibility loci, imputed amino acids at HLA-DRB1 (11, 71 and 74), HLA-DPB1 (position 9) HLA-B (position 9) and gender. The wGRS was tested in 11 366 RA cases and 15 489 healthy controls. The risk of developing RA was estimated using logistic regression by dividing the wGRS into quintiles. The ability of the wGRS to discriminate between cases and controls was assessed by receiver operator characteristic analysis and discrimination improvement tests. Results: Individuals in the highest risk group showed significantly increased odds of developing anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide-positive RA compared to the lowest risk group (OR 27.13, 95% CI 23.70 to 31.05). The wGRS was validated in an independent cohort that showed similar results (area under the curve 0.78, OR 18.00, 95% CI 13.67 to 23.71). Comparison of the full wGRS with a wGRS in which HLA amino acids were replaced by a HLA tag single-nucleotide polymorphism showed a significant loss of sensitivity and specificity. Conclusions: Our study suggests that in RA, even when using all known genetic susceptibility variants, prediction performance remains modest; while this is insufficiently accurate for general population screening, it may prove of more use in targeted studies. Our study has also highlighted the importance of including HLA variation in risk prediction models. © 2013 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd & European League Against Rheumatism
A recycling pathway for cyanogenic glycosides evidenced by the comparative metabolic profiling in three cyanogenic plant species
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Quantitative Characterization of Porosity and Determination of Elastic Modulus for Sintered Micro-silver Joints
No full textHigh resolution serial block-face scanning electron microscopy has been performed on sintered micro-silver pastes that are used as lead replacement joints for die bonding. The size and spatial distributions of the porosity before and after ageing were determined by quantification of the segmented 3D images. The elastic modulus was determined by an image-based finite element model and validated by results obtained from a dynamical resonance method. In agreement with contemporary analytical models on the elastic behaviour of porous materials, the elastic modulus was found to be a function of pore fraction only. Ageing the specimens does not alter the density or Young's modulus
The QUIJOTE CMB Experiment: status and first results with the multi-frequency instrument:Status and first results with the multi-frequency instrument
No full textThe QUIJOTE (Q-U-I JOint Tenerife) CMB Experiment is designed to observe the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background and other Galactic and extragalactic signals at medium and large angular scales in the frequency range of 10-40 GHz. The first of the two QUIJOTE telescopes and the multi-frequency (10-20 GHz) instrument have been in operation since November 2012. In 2014 a second telescope and a new instrument at 30GHz will be ready for commissioning, and an additional instrument at 40 GHz is in its final design stages. After three years of effective observations, the data obtained by these telescopes and instruments will have the required sensitivity to detect a primordial gravitational-wave component if the tensor-to-scalar ratio is larger than r = 0.05. At the moment, we have completed half of the wide Galactic survey with the multi-frequency instrument covering 18 000 square degrees of the Northern hemisphere. When we finish this survey in early 2014, we shall have reached approximately 14{\mu}K per one degree beam at 11, 13, 17 and 19 GHz, in both Q and U
