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Six-year Trial of an HV Overhead Line Wide-bodied Composite Insulator
No full textThis paper addresses the long-term aging of silicone rubber shedded insulators mounted horizontally, and specifically relates the experience from a highly monitored six-year trial of two composite cross-arms designed for 400 kV. Weather conditions and leakage currents were continuously monitored in this moist and temperate area. In addition, the growth of algae on the surface over time is reported. As expected for the coastal location, strong seasonal variation was seen in leakage currents and this is associated with wind direction and resulting weather variations. Leakage currents remained low but increased linearly with time. Despite apparent large areas of algae growth on upward-facing surfaces, and some associated loss of hydrophobicity on some surfaces, the leakage currents on the insulators continue to be satisfactorily low. Cleaning one of the insulators after five-and-a-half years temporarily returned the current to its original value. In the short-term, leakage currents were heavily dependent on relative humidity, and peak currents are shown to be strongly dependent on the length of preceding periods without precipitation. It is suggested that measurement of these variables may be used to evaluate surface condition and be an effective asset management tool
An undergraduate laboratory experiment to accurately measure the speed of light
No full textIn 1983 the speed of light was set as an exact quantity. It is now one of the fundamental constants in physics, with the meter being directly related to this speed and the definition of the second. As such, experiments that calculate the speed of light with high precision are important in university undergraduate laboratories. In the experiment discussed here, a method is described that allows the speed of light to be calculated using an apparatus that fits onto a 1m bench-top. An advantage of this method is that a simple digital voltmeter can be used. This measures the amplitude-modulated output from a laser beam emerging from a multi-pass cell that is mixed with that from a referencebeam. The relative phase shift is determined as the modulation frequency changes, allowing the speed of light to be ascertained. Full details of the apparatus and the electronics designed for the experiment are presented
The Educational Psychologist’s Role in Child Protection and Safeguarding: An Exploration of Research Over Time.
No full textThrough a Critical Interpretive Synthesis (CIS), this systematic literature review explores the role of the Educational Psychologist (EP) in relation to child protection and safeguarding as it has been conceptualised within the research base over time. Key databases were searched and a conceptual map, informed by experienced EPs, guided further purposive searching with a focus on conceptual saturation. 24 papers across multiple areas of child protection and safeguarding work were included. Drawing on wider debates, it is suggested that changing legislative and socio-political climates have resulted in a shift within the research base from ‘thinking about doing’ towards ‘thinking about thinking’, where a safeguarding agenda is prioritised and there is less focus on child protection. Implications for EPs’ practice with children and families are considered, and further opportunities for research suggested
A Receiver Architecture For Dual-Functional Massive MIMO OFDM RadCom Systems
No full textThis study introduces a receiver architecture fordual-functional communication and radar (RadCom) basestations(BS), which exploits the spatial diversity between thereceived radar and communication signals, and performs interferencecancellation (IC) to successfully separate these signals.In the RadCom system under consideration, both communicationand radar systems employ orthogonal frequency-divisionmultiplexing (OFDM) waveforms with overlapping subcarriers.Employing OFDM waveform allows the BS to simultaneouslyperform uplink channel estimation on the narrow-band subcarriersto efficiently obtain full channel state information (CSI)between the users (UEs) and the BS antennas. The estimatedCSI matrix is then utilized to acquire uplink data streams fromthe UEs by suppressing the inter-user interference and radarsignals which arrive at the BS through unknown channels. Afteracquiring the UEs’ data, radar signals are extracted from thereceived complex baseband signals by performing interferencecancellation. The proposed method has been analyzed mathematicallyand verified by simulations under various conditionsincluding CSI mismatch and high radar interference. The resultsshow that 16QAM modulated uplink is outstandingly robustagainst radar interference and that having a large numberof antennas significantly improves the performance of bothcommunication and radar subsystems, cooperatively. This studyshows that it is possible to distinguish radar and communicationsignals by employing large-scale antenna arrays to successfullyrealize a RadCom receiver for future communication networks
Correlating performance on the Listening in Spatialized Noise – Sentences Test (LiSN-S) with the Listening in Spatialized Noise – Universal Test (LiSN-U
No full textObjective: The aim of this study was to correlate 6-7-year-old children’s results on each condition of the Listening in Spatialized Noise – Sentences test (LiSN-S) with the new language-independent version, the Listening in Spatialized Noise – Universal test (LiSN-U), to examine the strength of the relationship between them and with memory in a small sample of typically developing children.Design: Correlational analysis.Study Sample: Sixteen typically-developing 6-7-year-old children completed the LiSN-S and LiSN-U as well as the Test of Auditory Processing Skills – Third Edition (TAPS-3) number memory forward and reversed subtests which assess short term memory and working memory, respectively.Results: Moderate positive correlations were found between LiSN-S and LiSN-U spatially-separated conditions (though this did not reach significance), and co-located conditions. Moderate positive correlations were found for both LiSN-S and LiSN-U same voice (SV) 90 and 0 degrees conditions with number memory reversed percentiles, but not for the spatial advantage difference scores.Conclusions: This study shows promise for the LiSN-U being used as a tool to investigate spatial processing
Developing an intervention to implement electronic patient-reported outcomes in renal services in the UK
No full textRoutinely collecting and using electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) data in clinical practice can improve patients’ experience and outcomes, but implementing this at scale has proved challenging. As part of the Optimising routine collection of electronic patient-reported outcomes (OPT-ePRO) study, we therefore developed an intervention that aimed to facilitate the implementation of ePROs. We are conducting OPT-ePRO in the context of secondary care for people with chronic kidney disease in the UK, with three renal units participating as our study sites. Intervention design was guided by Normalisation Process Theory, and informed by published literature and qualitative research. The intervention consisted of a national infrastructure to securely collect, transfer and display ePRO data, complemented with materials and procedures to support kidney patients and renal unit staff with embedding ePROs in usual care pathways. The next step will be to bring the OPT-ePRO intervention into practice and iteratively refine it. <br/
Blockchain Applications Beyond the Cryptocurrency Casino: The Punishment not Reward (PnR) Blockchain Architecture
No full textThe Bitcoin model originated blockchain architectures and inspired their further development. Blockchain architectures are still most commonly associated with currency applications, and with financial speculation. Bitcoin’s rewards for Proof of Work mining became the default consensus technique for blockchains.As an alternative to reward mechanisms for blockchain maintenance, we propose punishment mechanisms for neglecting to maintain the blockchain (provided participants are intrinsically motivated to be beneficiaries of the blockchain application). Punishment not Reward (PnR) is convincing for enterprise mission critical blockchain applications, and potential punishment mechanisms include denial of service and/or revocation of confidentiality. This obviates the need for reward via cryptocurrencies, along with their attendant volatility, insecure ecosystem and market manipulation demerits. The privacy concerns of competing entities participating in a blockchain application are prima facie in conflict with the needs of the community to be able to inflict punishment mechanisms. Conflicts of this kind can be addressed via sophisticated cryptographic techniques such as secret sharing, multiparty computation, zero-knowledge proofs, etc., which play a vital role. We stress the importance of correctly balancing all application specific interests in the engineering of blockchain applications, so that the mix of incentives and disincentives is stabilising
Alternate rapid maxillary expansion and constriction (Alt-RAMEC) may be more effective than rapid maxillary expansion alone for protraction facial mask treatment
No full textExchange-Biasing in a Dinuclear Dysprosium(III) Single-Molecule Magnet with a Large Energy Barrier for Magnetization Reversal
No full textA dichlorido-bridged dinuclear dysprosium(III) single-molecule magnet [Dy2L2(µ-Cl)2(THF)2] has been made using a diamine-bis(phenolate) ligand, H2L. Magnetic studies show an energy barrier for magnetization reversal (Ueff) around 1000 K. Exchange-biasing effect is clearly seen in magnetic hysteresis with steps up to 3 K. Ab initio calculations exclude the possibility of pure dipolar origin of this effect leading to the conclusion that super-exchange via the chloride bridging ligands is important
On the Evaluation of Intelligent Process Automation
No full textIntelligent Process Automation (IPA) is emerging as a subfieldof AI to support the automation of long-tail processeswhich requires the coordination of tasks across different systems.So far, the field of IPA has been largely driven by systemsand use cases, lacking a more formal definition of thetask and its assessment. This paper aims to address this gapby providing a formalisation of IPA and by proposing specificmetrics to support the empirical evaluation of IPA systems.This work also compares and contrasts IPA against relatedtasks such as end-user programming and program synthesis