bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effects of surfactant on propagation and rupture of a liquid plug in a tube
Authors: Muradoglu M. , Romanò F. , Fujioka H. , Grotberg J. B. 
Published: June 2019

Surfactant-laden liquid plug propagation and rupture occurring in lower lung airways are studied computationally using a front-tracking method. The plug is driven by an applied constant pressure in a rigid axisymmetric tube whose inner surface is coated by a thin liquid film. The evolution equations of the interfacial and bulk surfactant concentrations coupled with the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations are solved in the front-tracking framework. The numerical method is first validated for a surfactant-free case and the results are found to be in good agreement with the earlier simulations of Fujioka et al. (Phys. Fluids, vol. 20, 2008, 062104) and Hassan et al. (Intl J. Numer. Meth. Fluids, vol. 67, 2011, pp. 1373–1392). Then extensive simulations are performed to investigate the effects of surfactant on the mechanical stresses that could be injurious to epithelial cells, such as pressure and shear stress. It is found that the liquid plug ruptures violently to induce large pressure and shear stress on airway walls and even a tiny amount of surfactant significantly reduces the pressure and shear stress and thus improves cell survivability. However, addition of surfactant also delays the plug rupture and thus airway reopening.
Effects of slowly varying meniscus curvature on internal flows in the Cassie state
Authors: Game Simon E. , Hodes Marc , Papageorgiou Demetrios T. 
Published: June 2019

The flow rate of a pressure-driven liquid through a microchannel may be enhanced by texturing its no-slip boundaries with grooves aligned with the flow. In such cases, the grooves may contain vapour and/or an inert gas and the liquid is trapped in the Cassie state, resulting in (apparent) slip. The flow-rate enhancement is of benefit to different applications including the increase of throughput of a liquid in a lab-on-a-chip, and the reduction of thermal resistance associated with liquid metal cooling of microelectronics. At any given cross-section, the meniscus takes the approximate shape of a circular arc whose curvature is determined by the pressure difference across it. Hence, it typically protrudes into the grooves near the inlet of a microchannel and is gradually drawn into the microchannel as it is traversed and the liquid pressure decreases. For sufficiently large Reynolds numbers, the variation of the meniscus shape and hence the flow geometry necessitates the inclusion of inertial (non-parallel) flow effects. We capture them for a slender microchannel, where our small parameter is the ratio of ridge pitch-to-microchannel height, and order-one Reynolds numbers. This is done by using a hybrid analytical–numerical method to resolve the nonlinear three-dimensional (3-D) problem as a sequence of two-dimensional (2-D) linear ones in the microchannel cross-section, allied with non-local conditions that determine the slowly varying pressure distribution at leading and first orders. When the pressure difference across the microchannel is constrained by the advancing contact angle of the liquid on the ridges and its surface tension (which is high for liquid metals), inertial effects can significantly reduce the flow rate for realistic parameter values. For example, when the solid fraction of the ridges is 0.1, the microchannel height-to-(half) ridge pitch ratio is 6, the Reynolds number of the flow is 1 and the small parameter is 0.1, they reduce the flow rate of a liquid metal (Galinstan) by approximately 50 %. Conversely, for sufficiently large microchannel heights, they enhance it. Physical explanations of both of these phenomena are given.
Voting for the lesser evil: evidence from a conjoint experiment in Romania
Authors: Mares Isabela , Visconti Giancarlo 
Published: June 2019

AbstractIn many elections around the world, voters choose between politicians who differ not only in personal background and policy promises, but also in their history of dishonest electoral conduct. While recent literature has begun to investigate the conditions under which voters punish electoral malfeasance, we know relatively little about whether they penalize different forms of illicit activities carried out by politicians differently. In this paper, we present the results of a candidate choice experiment embedded in a survey fielded prior to the 2016 Romanian local election. We asked voters to choose between two hypothetical candidates, randomly varying several attributes, including different illicit electoral activities. We find that citizens tolerate some forms of political malfeasance less than others depending on how much that malfeasance infringes on voters' autonomy. Informational campaigns carried out by prosecutorial agencies also affect how much voters punish different illicit exchanges.
A self-help diet and physical activity intervention with dietetic support for weight management in men treated for prostate cancer: pilot study of the Prostate Cancer Weight Management (PRO-MAN) randomised controlled trial
Authors: Mohamad H. , Ntessalen M. , Craig L. C. A. , Clark J. , Fielding S. , N’Dow J. , Heys S. D. , McNeill G. 
Published: June 2019

AbstractOverweight and obesity may increase risk of disease progression in men with prostate cancer, but there have been few studies of weight loss interventions in this patient group. In this study overweight or obese men treated for prostate cancer were randomised to a self-help diet and activity intervention with telephone-based dietitian support or a wait-list mini-intervention group. The intervention group had an initial group meeting, a supporting letter from their urological consultant, three telephone dietitian consultations at 4-week intervals, a pedometer and access to web-based diet and physical activity resources. At 12 weeks, men in both groups were given digital scales for providing follow-up weight measurements, and the wait-list group received a mini-intervention of the supporting letter, a pedometer and access to the web-based resources. Sixty-two men were randomised; fifty-four completed baseline and 12-week measurements, and fifty-one and twenty-seven provided measurements at 6 and 12 months, respectively. In a repeated-measures model, mean difference in weight change between groups (wait-list mini-intervention minus intervention) at 12 weeks was −2·13 (95 % CI −3·44, −0·82) kg (P = 0·002). At 12 months the corresponding value was −2·43 (95 % CI −4·50, −0·37) kg (P = 0·022). Mean difference in global quality of life score change between groups at 12 weeks was 12·3 (95 % CI 4·93, 19·7) (P = 0·002); at 12 months there were no significant differences between groups. Results suggest the potential of self-help diet and physical activity intervention with trained support for modest but sustained weight loss in this patient group.
Further Notes on some Legal Aspects of Life Assurance Practice
Authors: Barrand Arthur Rhys 
Published: June 2019

Introduction.—Increased interest in legal matters on the part of actuaries.—Practical nature of legal questions in Institute examinations.—Need for information not found in ordinary text-books.—Why particulars of decided cases are given.—Reporting assurance cases in Journal.—Recent papers dealing with legal subjects.Nature of the Contract of Life Assurance.—Assurances where a larger amount is payable on maturity than on death.—Are these contracts of life assurance?—Essentials of contract of assurance.—Accident policies with return of premium on death or attainment of fixed age.—Test of a double contract.Insurable Interest.—Must the interest be a pecuniary one ?— Has an employer an insurable interest in the life of his weekly servant ?—Policy assigned immediately after issue.—Who can plead absence of insurable interest?—Return of premiums when assurance is void.—Agent as expert in assurance law.The Proposal.—Agent's knowledge as to misstatements in proposal.—Agent as agent of proposer and not of company.—When the agent is the agent of the company.—Conflicting decisions.
Comparative Bonuses under Whole Life and Endowment Assurances
Authors: Rietschel Hermann Julius 
Published: June 2019

It is now some years since a paper was presented to the Institute dealing with the comparative bonus-earning powers of whole life and endowment assurances. In view of the importance of the subject I have ventured to submit this paper, which I hope may lead to a useful and interesting discussion. The matter has been so ably dealt with by the late Mr. Sunderland, Mr. Lidstone and Mr. Chatham that I have the greatest hesitation in presenting my own views, and I must therefore beg the Members of the Institute to receive this paper in the same kindly spirit which they have always manifested towards new contributors.My object in the paper has been to show the relative bonuses which should be allotted to whole life and endowment assurance policies having special regard to(1) The expenses of the office;(2) Variations in the rate of interest earned; and(3) Mortality.In Table A are given the office premiums which have been employed in this investigation. They are based on the H[M] 4 per-cent Table, with a loading for a £1 per-cent compound reversionary bonus, together with 10 per-cent and a constant of 3s. per-cent for expenses and commission—
A Pension Fund Problem; with some remarks on the deduction of Salary-scales
Authors: Bacon James 
Published: June 2019

MR. T. G. ACKLAND, in the course of the discussion upon Mr. Manly's paper “On the Valuation of Staff Pension Funds”, presented the following problem for solution by the members of the Institute—” In the case of a superannuation fund, established—“ in connection with a municipality or corporation, to which the “employees contribute at a fixed rate, what will be the probable “annual charge upon the rates of the City during the next ten “years, during the following ten years, and so on for fifty years, “supposing that the present staff of the Corporation is adequate “in number for the needs of the Corporation, and that new “entrants come in only in replacement of those who die, “withdraw, or retire” ? (J.I.A., xxxvi, p . 283).It is sometimes the case that a commercial undertaking merely guarantees the stability of its staff pension fund, without making an adequate annual contribution from which to build up the reserve necessary to meet the actuarial liability, or, more usually, it is the practice of a corporation to meet the current claims under its pension scheme out of the current income from its employees' contributions and to use any excess of income in relief of the rates, and to charge any deficiency, when arising, upon the rates. In such cases the ordinary actuarial valuation is of little practical use, but the main question is that put by Mr. Ackland—“ What will be the charge upon the employer, or the rates, at a given date, or over a given period”?
Bonus Reserve Valuations
Authors: Coutts C. R. V. 
Published: June 2019

The question whether the net premium method of valuation, now almost universally adopted by offices distributing their profits in the form of reversionary bonuses, should be regarded as a final and scientific method of ascertaining divisible profits or as merely a temporary expedient which must, in the words of Mr. Sorley, “inevitably disappear before the advance of true actuarial science”, is one which has frequently engaged the attention of actuaries. The importance of the subject is so great to all connected with the administration of Life offices that in the hope of provoking an interesting and useful discussion on the general question, I venture to submit the following notes on an alternative method of valuation, based on a suggestion by Mr. Manly (in the discussion on Mr. Warner's paper on the Net Premium Method of Valuation reported in the 37th volume of the Journal, p. 57), that in the valuation balance sheet the present value of the bonus at the rate to be declared at a given valuation should be treated as a liability for the future existence of the policies.As the alternative method is, to some extent, based on the original principles of the net premium method, I propose, as briefly as possible, to summarize the modifications which have been introduced in the last 30 years in the principles and application of the net premium method.
Notes on mortality and life assurance in India
Authors: Winter A. T. 
Published: June 2019

At the Congress of Actuaries in Berlin in 1906 I contributed a paper on Life Assurance in India. With certain modifications and additions, a considerable part of that paper is reproduced in that which I am now reading. My excuse for going over much of the same ground again is that the subject has not been before the Institute for many years past, and that the discussion here will no doubt elicit further information which will be useful to the profession.At the present time India is one of the largest and most rapidly developing fields for insurance business in which the rates of mortality differ materially from those in temperate climates. Not only are there a greater number of Europeans from year to year engaging in the civil and military administration of the country and its mercantile pursuits who require the benefits of assurance, but the more Europeanized Natives themselves are also seeking the same protection.
Analysis and Apportionment of the Expenses of Management of a Life Office with a view to ascertaining the Office Premium Loadings
Authors: Rietschel H. J. 
Published: June 2019

In 1907 I had the honour of reading before the Institute a paper dealing with the Comparative Bonuses under Whole-Life and Endowment Assurances, and therein I pointed out that the method of apportioning the expenses between the two classes had a considerable effect upon the rates of bonus, and in the discussion more than one speaker referred to the relative premiums as vitally affecting the conclusions to be drawn from any investigation. The solution of the first problem will, mortality apart, also give us the key to the rates of premium which an office should charge for Whole-Life and Endowment Assurances respectively. As the premiums are the foundation of our business it is of the utmost importance that an analysis of the expenses should be made periodically in order to ascertain the adequacy of the remuneration the office receives for the risks it undertakes. The question of the office premiums has been frequently discussed, but I do not think any paper has been submitted to this Institute in which an agreement has been shown between the loadings adopted in obtaining the office premiums and the actual expenses of the office. The object of the paper is to elicit the views of the profession upon this subject.The commission paid by the majority of offices is, for the principal classes of Assurance, usually a percentage of the sum assured on payment of the first annual premium and a percentage of the office renewal premiums. The loading required to provide for the commissions is therefore easily ascertained and requires no discussion.
On the Valuation of the Liabilities of An Insurance Company Under its Employers' Liability Contracts
Authors: Penman William 
Published: June 2019

IN the preparation of this paper I met at the outset with certain difficulties.The practice of Employers’ Liability Insurance is unfamiliar to many members of this Institute, the subject has not previously been dealt with at one of our sessional meetings, and the pages of the Journal contain very little matter bearing thereon, I fear, therefore, that if the subject is confined within the strict limits suggested by the title, the prospect of a full discussion will be jeopardized. As probably the opportunity of a discussion is the best justification for a paper on the Valuation of Employers’ Liability Contracts at the present time, I hope that the inclusion of a certain amount of introductory matter, with a view to facilitating the study of the paper, will be excused.
Nucleotide variation in the ovine KRT31 promoter region and its association with variation in wool traits in Merino-cross lambs
Authors: Chai W. , Zhou H. , Gong H. , Wang J. , Luo Y. , Hickford J. G. H. 
Published: June 2019

AbstractKeratins are the main structural proteins of wool fibres, and it is thought that variation in the keratins may affect wool fibre characteristics. Polymerase chain reaction-single stranded conformational polymorphism (PCR-SSCP) analyses were used to investigate four regions of the ovine keratin gene KRT31 including a portion of the promoter, the exon 1, exon 3 and exon 7 regions. Initially, in a screening panel of 300 New Zealand Romney, Merino and White Dorper sheep obtained from 26 farms, three, two, two and two PCR-SSCP banding patterns were observed for these four regions, respectively. The promoter region, the exon 1 and exon 3 regions contained two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and the exon 7 region contained one SNP. The effect of the variation found in the promoter region on wool traits was subsequently investigated in 485 Southdown × Merino-cross lambs from seven sire-lines. The three variants identified in the original 300 sheep (named A, B and C) were observed with frequencies of 56, 29 and 15%, respectively. The presence of A and B had no significant effect on wool traits, but the presence of C was found to be associated with an increase in greasy fleece weight (GFW), clean fleece weight (CFW) and mean staple length (MSL). There was an effect of genotype on CFW and MSL, with BC sheep producing wool of higher CFW and MSL than AA, AB, AC and BB sheep. These results suggest that ovine KRT31 might be a useful candidate gene for improving wool traits.
Zapata's Justice: Land and Water Conflict Resolution in Revolutionary Mexico (1914–16)
Authors: Baitenmann Helga 
Published: June 2019

AbstractThis article challenges the widely held view that, during the Mexican Revolution, the Zapatista villages governed themselves with complete autonomy from the state and according to the pueblos’ customary justice. It shows how Zapatistas in the multi-state region of south-central Mexico dealt with quarrels over small and medium-sized properties, the restitution of usurped pueblo lands and water resources, as well as village boundary disputes. They did so by blending nineteenth-century judicial procedures and civil law, limited but radical reforms to the existing judicial system and new forms of land and water management – all of which strengthened state authority.
On the Multiplication of Decimals
Authors: Grant A. S. 
Published: June 2019

So-called “standard form.”Method I have used with success as regards clearness and accuracy. (I believe this is Mr. Pendlebury’s arrangement.)Ride. Put singles (or units) figure of multiplier under the last figure of multiplicand.Arguments in favour of this second plan :Instead of such a mechanical rule as Mr. Borchardt’s (p. 69, Borchardt’s ,Arithmetical Types and Examples), we get the continued use of the sound and fundamental rule of “putting each first figure of a partial product underneath the figure to which that partial product is due.” And this also corresponds to the method of algebraic multiplication.
Phenotypic and aetiological architecture of depressive symptoms in a Japanese twin sample
Authors: Takahashi Yusuke , Pingault Jean-Baptiste , Yamagata Shinji , Ando Juko 
Published: June 2019

AbstractBackgroundThe phenotypic and aetiological architecture of depression symptomatology has been mostly studied in Western samples. In this study, we conducted a genetically informed factor analysis to elucidate both the phenotypic and aetiological architectures of self-reported depression among a Japanese adult twin sample.MethodsDepressive symptoms assessed by Zung's Self-rating Depression Scale were self-rated by 425 twin pairs (301 monozygotic and 124 dizygotic twin pairs) in a community sample in Japan.ResultsAn exploratory factor analysis extracted three symptom domains representing cognitive, affective and somatic symptomatology. A confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that a bi-factor solution fitted better than the alternative solutions, implying that depression may be defined as a combination of a single general construct and three factors specific to each of the three symptom domains. A multivariate genetic analysis with the bi-factor solution showed that the general factor was substantially heritable (47%), and that only the affective symptom domain was significantly heritable (29%) among the three specific factors, their remaining variance being explained by non-shared environmental influences.ConclusionsDepression symptomatology appears to be adequately captured by a substantially heritable general factor. The heritability of this factor (47%) in a Japanese adult sample is in line with commonly reported heritability estimates for depression. The three specific factors – cognitive, affective and somatic – are mostly explained by non-shared environmental factors, which include measurement error. The extent to which these specific factors are uniquely associated with correlates of depression when the general factor is accounted for should be investigated in future studies.
A Study of Model Gliders
Authors: Roe A. V. 
Published: June 2019

The fact that a considerable amount of knowledge can lie gained by experiments with weighted model gliders does not at present appear to be sufficiently appreciated ; only with model gliders, for convenience sake, a less weight is used per square foot of carrying aëroplane surface. A ¼ lb. per square foot area is a convenient demonstrating weight, giving a Speed of about 8 m.p.h., with a drop of about one in six ; with man-carrying machines the usual weight varies between ½ and 1½ lbs.If a single aëroplane be released in the air it will simply fall anyhow to the ground, but on fixing a steering plane fore or aft, let us say in front as in Fig. 1, there will be a tendency for it to glide, but sooner or later one side will dip downwards, owing to the two planes not being in the same straight line or being improperly balanced.
Biostabilization of sewage sludge in the Antarctic
Authors: Banchón Carlos , Borodulina Tamara , Posligua Paola , Gualoto Miguel 
Published: June 2019

Antarctica is no longer a pristine environment due to atmospheric pollution, fuel spills, inadequate waste management and wastewater discharges from anthropogenic activities (Harris 1998, Stark et al. 2015). Approximately 37% of the permanent stations and 69% of the summer stations lack any form of sewage treatment (Gröndahl et al. 2009). The characteristics of wastewater from stations are also of concern because they are a complex mix of contaminants containing human waste, cosmetics, viruses, dyes, detergents, medications, chemicals from laboratories and even microplastics (Bhardwaj et al. 2018). In Antarctica, treatment plants discharge treated water into the sea and then sludge is packed and sealed into drums for later shipment to Chile. Nevertheless, sewage sludge (c. 59–88% organic matter) could become a biosolid instead of being a waste if correctly stabilized. The Ecuadorian Antarctic station ‘Pedro Vicente Maldonado’ produced c. 200 kg of sewage sludge during expeditions in 2017 and 2018. Thus, the aim of the present study was to biostabilize sewage sludge using two methods (one thermal and one biological) at the Ecuadorian Antarctic station. As a result, the stabilization of sewage sludge produced a biosolid that was easier and more cost effective to transport, avoiding odour problems.