Design and Experimental Validation of Two Cam-Based Force Regulation Mechanisms

This paper presents the design and experimental validation of two force regulation mechanisms (FRMs) containing a translational cam and a rotational cam, respectively. With the friction-considered profile identification method (FCPIM) to define the cam and through the squeezing between the cam and the spring-supported slider, the FRMs can passively output the desired force over the designed displacement. Under the premise of that the friction coefficient can be accurately obtained, the friction-considered design principle will be significant for the realization of FRMs in actual applications since it is no longer necessary to achieve high accuracy by pursuing the frictionless condition. Hence, the conventional materials and mechanical parts can be directly used to assemble the FRMs without sacrificing the force regulating accuracy. We are highly interested in the actual experimental behavior of the proposed FRMs under the friction-considered condition. Then, prototypes of the two FRMs capable of outputting multiple types of forces including in zero-stiffness, positive and negative stiffness are specially designed, fabricated, and tested quasi-statically. The experimental results verify the correctness of FCPIM since they agree with the design objective well. Meanwhile, the effectiveness of the FCPIM is proved as the errors of the experimental results considering friction is much lower than those ignoring friction. The experiments also show that the noise phenomenon in the testing curves that may affect the judgment of test accuracy can be highly degraded by using more stable and controllable loading tools, which is helpful for future research.

Noise Disturbances and Calls for Police Service in València (Spain): A Logistic Model with Spatial and Temporal Effects

The purpose of this paper is to explore the presence of spatial and temporal effects on the calls for noise disturbance service reported to the Local Police of València (Spain) in the time period from 2014 to 2015, and investigate how some socio-demographic and environmental variables affect the noise phenomenon. The analysis is performed at the level of València’s boroughs. It has been carried out using a logistic model after dichotomization of the noise incidence variable. The spatial effects consider first- and second-order neighbors. The temporal effects are included in the model by means of one- and two-week temporal lags. Our model confirms the presence of strong spatio-temporal effects. We also find significant associations between noise incidence and specific age groups, socio-economic status, land uses, and recreational activities, among other variables. The results suggest that there is a problem of "social" noise in València that is not exclusively a consequence of coexistence between local residents. External factors such as the increasing number of people on the streets during weekend nights or during summer months severely increase the chances of expecting a noise incident.

Noise Disturbances and Calls for Police Service in València (Spain): a Logistic Model with Spatial and Temporal Effects

The purpose of this paper is to explore the presence of spatial and temporal effects on the calls for noise disturbance service reported to the Local Police of València (Spain) in the time period from 2014 to 2015, and investigate how some socio-demographic and environmental variables affect the noise phenomenon. The analysis is performed at the level of València's boroughs. It has been carried out using a logistic model after dichotomization of the noise incidents variable. The spatial effects consider first and second order neighbours. The temporal effects are included in the model by means of one and two weeks temporal lags. Our model confirms the presence of strong spatio-temporal effects. We also find significant associations between noise incidence and specific age groups, socio-economic status, land uses and recreational activities, among other variables. The results suggest that there is a problem of ``social'' noise in València that is not exclusively a consequence of coexistence between local residents. External factors such as the increasing number of people on the streets during weekend nights or during summer months increase severely the chances of expecting a noise incident.

Performance in a variable world: using Jensen’s inequality to scale up from individuals to populations

Body temperature affects plants’ and animals’ performance, but these effects are complicated by thermal variation through time within an individual and variation through space among individuals in a population. This review and synthesis describes how the effects of thermal variation—in both time and space—can be estimated by applying a simple, nonlinear averaging scheme. The method is first applied to the temporal variation experienced by an individual, providing an estimate of the individual’s average performance. The method is then applied to the scale-dependent thermal variation among individuals, which is modelled as a 1/f-noise phenomenon. For an individual, thermal variation reduces average performance, lowers the temperature of maximum performance (Topt) and contracts the range of viable temperatures. Thermal variation among individuals similarly reduces performance and lowers Topt, but increases the viable range of average temperatures. These results must be viewed with caution, however, because they do not take into account the time-dependent interaction between body temperature and physiological plasticity. Quantifying these interactions is perhaps the largest challenge for ecological and conservation physiologists as they attempt to predict the effects of climate change.

New therapy prediction technologies in multiple sclerosis

The study investigates the intravital high-field proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy and superimposed magnetic scanning of brain metabolism in 60 patients showing the association between demyelination activity and the inflammatory or degenerative stage of MS. It also educes Flicker noise phenomenon as a new indicator of a pathologic process progression. The data on the tissue respiration decrease, of the neurotransmitter hypometabolism, energy, and enzyme brain systems were collected to use as the therapy prediction and monitoring of MS.