Electrical and Optical Characterization Methodologies for Advanced Spark Ignition

Due to the high transiency and high voltage characteristics of spark ignition, precise measurements are in demand for efficient ignition in future clean combustion engines. The practical challenges of SI systems arise as the gaseous substances vary extensively in density, flow, and temperature. In this paper, a typical transistor coil ignition system with a current management module maintains the transient discharge condition for more credible measurements. Suitable apparatus with FPGA multi-task control systems are established to effectively control and stabilize the discharge current level and duration. The electrical waveforms and spark plasma patterns are correlated, via concurrent electric probing and shadowgraph imaging, under quiescent and flow conditions. The multi-task FPGA provides synchronization of ignition control and data acquisition. The empirical setup and analyzing methods of this work provide essential guidance for facilitating broader innovations in spark ignition, and for advancing the clean and efficient combustion in automotive and aviation engines.

The Effect of Pedaling At Different Cadence On Attentional Resources

Research aim: We investigated the relationship between attentional resources and pedaling cadence using electroencephalography (EEG) to measure P300 amplitudes and latencies. Methods: Twenty-five healthy volunteers performed the oddball task while pedaling on a stationary bike or relaxing (no pedaling). We set them four conditions: 1) performing only the oddball task (control), 2) performing the oddball task while pedaling at optimal cadence (optimal), 3) performing the oddball task while pedaling faster than optimal cadence (fast), and 4) performing the oddball task while pedaling slower than optimal cadence (slow). Results: P300 amplitudes at Cz and Pz electrodes under optimal, fast, and slow conditions were significantly lower than that under control conditions. P300 amplitudes at Pz under fast and slow conditions were significantly lower than that under the optimal condition. No significant changes in P300 latency at any electrode were observed under any condition. Conclusion: Our findings revealed that pedaling at non-optimal cadence results in less attention being paid to external stimuli compared with pedaling at optimal cadence.

Design of distributed timing task scheduling system for smart grid

With the rapid development of information technology and the growing scale of enterprise development, more and more enterprise application systems appear due to business scenarios, requiring the system to execute the specified business operations at the planned time, which is the demand of “timed tasks”. The rapid growth of business volume makes the number of timed tasks also increase massively, and the importance of timed task application scenarios requires more and more strict guarantee of reliable triggering of tasks. In this paper, to address these problems, we design and implement a distributed system providing timed task scheduling service based on Quartz, an open source lightweight job scheduling framework, and realize business modules such as timed task control service, trigger execution, lock grabbing trigger, unified configuration management, task load balancing and log management. The system has been tested and put into operation, and has completed the requirements well and achieved the design goals.

The Changes in Concentration of Cerebral Oxygenated Hemoglobin During Single Event-Related Japanese Shiritori Task in Patients With Major Depression Disorder: Comparison With Healthy Subjects

Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) have been reported to show cognitive impairments in attention, cognition control, and motivation. The purpose of this study is to compare and examine the characteristics of frontal and temporal cortical activity in outpatients with MDD during the word production task (Shiritori) using a single event-related Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) measurement method that was originally devised. The subjects were 29 MDD patients and 29 age matched healthy controls. In this task, one session consisted of two contrasting conditions (word production task, control condition), and all subjects alternated between these conditions. Each word was visually presented by a monitor for 0.3 s as an activation task and a fixed circle was presented for 12 s. In the activation task, subjects had to immediately generate a noun that starts with the last syllable of the presented word and they were required to say only creatures. From the data obtained at each measurement point during the 20 trials, and averaged waveform during activation task (20 trials) was calculated for each channel. During the word production task, the MDD patients showed significantly smaller activation than the controls in the prefrontal cortex area and inferior parietal area, especially in the left area. In addition, there was a significant negative correlation between Δoxy-Hb at the bilateral temporal lobe area and HAM-D total score in the MDD patients. These findings suggest that a single event-related NIRS measurement during Japanese shiritori tasks may be useful tool for evaluating psychophysiological indices in MDD patients, that relationship between activation and symptom may be of help in predicting functional outcome in patients.

Imagery Rescripting of Autobiographical Memories Versus Intrusive Images in Individuals with Disordered Eating

Background This study compared the effect of imagery rescripting (ImRs) of early autobiographical memories to ImRs of intrusive images and a no task control condition on eating disorder (ED) related core beliefs and ED symptoms in individuals at risk of developing an eating disorder. We qualitatively explored the content of ImRs scripts. Method Participants (N = 66, 87.8% females) were allocated to one of three conditions: ImRs of autobiographical memories, ImRs of intrusive images, or a no task control condition. Participants in the ImRs conditions received a 9-min self-guided ImRs intervention in the lab and practiced ImRs daily for the next 6 days online. Participants in the no task control condition took a 9-min break and did not do any further tasks. All participants attended a follow-up testing 1 week after the lab session. Results Both ImRs manipulations resulted in greater reductions in negative core beliefs and ED symptoms compared to the no task control group. However, there were no differences among the two ImRs groups. The most widely used rescripting strategy was self-compassion, followed by unhealthy, ED-confirming strategies. No significant associations were found between the ImRs strategies and any of the outcome measures. Conclusion ImRs may be a promising intervention for individuals with disordered eating and both early memories as well as intrusive images may be useful targets.

An Analysis of Japanese EFL Learners’ Lexical Network Changes

In order to compare Japanese EFL learners’ lexical knowledge before and after undertaking extensive reading tasks, this study picked up eight words from the reading material and investigated how learners’ perceived relationship between these words changed during the task. Data were collected from 58 Japanese EFL learners who were divided into three groups, each of which was given the same reading material but with different tasks (translation task, multiple-choice question task, and no task (control)). Participants judged the degree of relationship between target words twice, before and after the assigned task. The results revealed that participants in the translation task group tended to find the relationships between the words more easily than the participants in other groups, and they were also more aware of changes in their own ability to recognize word association. In addition, the authors also analyzed the data by using AMISESCAL (Asymmetric von Mises Scaling), a statistical model that visualizes asymmetric relations among elements on a two-dimensional map. Visualization of learners’ lexical network threw some light on the restructuring process of how words were interconnected in their lexical representation.

Task Control Deficit in Individuals With Non-suicidal Self-Injury

Background: Numerous people in clinical settings who have experienced repeated self-injuries explain their non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) as “habitual” or due to “difficulty avoiding impulses related to NSSI.” Previous studies present retrospective reports, where they experience frequent self-injurious urges and try to resist but fail. However, no study has directly investigated repeated behavioral control problems of people who engage in chronic NSSI through behavioral measurements in an experimental setting. The current study sought to investigate whether people who repeatedly attempt NSSI demonstrate deficiency in task control ability called the object-interference (O-I effect).Methods: The current study performed object interference tasks on 90 participants, of which 45 were those who reported repeated NSSI while 45 comprised the control group.Results: We observed delayed reaction times for object stimulus compared to abstract stimulus in the NSSI group, indicative of the object interference effect. This reflects task control deficits and difficulties in NSSI related behavioral control in the repeated NSSI group. When NSSI tools were additionally presented as a target stimulus, longer reaction times and more errors were observed in the NSSI group compared to the control group.Discussion: The current study discusses the clinical implications of the results from diagnostic point of view and provides suggestions for future research for treatment and prevention.