Explore the vast range of titles available.

\"Winning at Active Management conducts an in-depth examination of crucial issues facing the investment management industry, and will be a valuable resource for asset managers, institutional consultants, managers of pension and endowment funds, and advisers to individual investors. Bill Priest, Steve Bleiberg and Mike Welhoelter all experienced investment professionals, consider the challenges of managing portfolios through complex markets, as well as managing the cultural and technological complexities of the investment business. The book’s initial section highlights the importance of culture within an investment firm – the characteristics of strong cultures, the imperatives of communication and support, and suggestions for leading firms through times of both adversity and prosperity. It continues with a thorough discussion of active portfolio management for equities. The ongoing debate over active versus passive management is reviewed in detail, drawing on both financial theory and real-world investing results. The book also contrasts traditional methods of portfolio management, based on accounting metrics and price-earnings ratios, with Epoch Investment Partners’ philosophy of investing on free cash flow and appropriate capital allocation. Winning at Active Management closes with an inquiry into the crucial and growing role of technology in investing. The authors assert that the most effective portfolio strategies result from neither pure fundamental nor quantitative methods, but instead from thoughtful combinations of analyst and portfolio manager experience and skill with the speed and breadth of quantitative analysis. The authors illustrate the point with an example of an innovative Epoch equity strategy based on economic logic and judgment, but enabled by information technology. Winning at Active Management also offers important insights into selecting active managers – the market cycle factors that have held back many managers’ performance in recent years, and the difficulty of identifying those firms that truly possess investment skill. Drawing on behavioral economic theory and empirical research, the book makes a convincing case that many active investment managers can and do generate returns superior to those of the broad market\"-- Provided by publisher.

We present the first application of an artificial neural network trained through a deep reinforcement learning agent to perform active flow control. It is shown that, in a two-dimensional simulation of the Kármán vortex street at moderate Reynolds number ( $Re=100$ ), our artificial neural network is able to learn an active control strategy from experimenting with the mass flow rates of two jets on the sides of a cylinder. By interacting with the unsteady wake, the artificial neural network successfully stabilizes the vortex alley and reduces drag by approximately 8 %. This is performed while using small mass flow rates for the actuation, of the order of 0.5 % of the mass flow rate intersecting the cylinder cross-section once a new pseudo-periodic shedding regime is found. This opens the way to a new class of methods for performing active flow control.

Background A few studies have assessed the short-term effects of low-dose nicotine e-cigarettes, while data about nicotine-free e-cigarettes (NF e-cigarettes) are scanty. Concerns have been expressed about the use of NF e-cigarettes, because of the high concentrations of propylene glycol and other compounds in the e-cigarette vapor. Methods This laboratory-based study was aimed to compare the effects of ad libitum use of a NF e-cigarette or and a traditional cigarette for 5 min in healthy adult smokers ( n  = 10) and non-smokers ( n  = 10). The main outcome measures were pulmonary function tests, fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) and fractional concentration of carbon monoxide (FeCO) in exhaled breath. Results The traditional cigarette induced statistically significant increases in FeCO in both smokers and non-smokers, while no significant changes were observed in FeNO. In non-smokers, the traditional cigarette induced a significant decrease from baseline in FEF75 (81 % ± 35 % vs 70.2 % ± 28.2 %, P  = 0.013), while in smokers significant decreases were observed in FEF25 (101.3 % ± 16.4 % vs 93.5 % ± 31.7 %, P  = 0.037), FEV 1 (102.2 % ± 9.5 % vs 98.3 % ± 10 %, P  = 0.037) and PEF (109.5 % ± 14.6 % vs 99.2 % ± 17.5 %, P  = 0.009). In contrast, the only statistically significant effects induced by the NF e-cigarette in smokers were reductions in FEV 1 (102.2 % ± 9.5 % vs 99.5 ± 7.6 %, P  = 0.041) and FEF25 (103.4 % ± 16.4 % vs 94.2 % ± 16.2 %, P  = 0.014). Discussion The present study demonstrated that the specific brand of NF e-cigarette utilized did not induce any majoracute effects. In contrast, several studies have shown that both traditional cigarettes and nicotine-containing e-cigarettes have acute effects on lung function. Our study expands on previous observations on the effects of NF e-cigarettes, but also for the first time describes the changes induced by smoking one traditional cigarette in a group of never smokers. Conclusions The short-term use of the specific brand of NF e-cigarette assessed in this study had no immediate adverse effects on non-smokers and only small effects on FEV 1 and FEF25 in smokers. The long-term health effects of NF e-cigarette use are unknown but worthy of further investigations. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT02102191

Observations of the young star HD 142527, whose disk is separated into inner and outer regions by a gap suggestive of the formation of a gaseous giant planet, show that accretion onto the star is maintained by a flow of gas across the gap, in agreement with dynamical models of planet formation. Gas giants leave their mark According to current theories, giant planet formation carves a deep gap in the gas and dust around a protostar, clearing most of the dust and some of the gas away to form a ring-shaped cavity. But such a gap would rapidly turn off further growth in the mass of the star unless the abundant gas from the outer disk could traverse it. This paper presents Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations of the disk around the young star HD 142527 that reveal diffuse CO inside the gap and denser HCO + gas along gap-crossing filaments. The estimated gas flow across the gap would be sufficient to maintain accretion onto the star at the present rate. The formation of gaseous giant planets is thought to occur in the first few million years after stellar birth. Models 1 predict that the process produces a deep gap in the dust component (shallower in the gas 2 , 3 , 4 ). Infrared observations of the disk around the young star HD 142527 (at a distance of about 140 parsecs from Earth) found an inner disk about 10 astronomical units ( au ) in radius 5 (1  au is the Earth–Sun distance), surrounded by a particularly large gap 6 and a disrupted 7 outer disk beyond 140  au . This disruption is indicative of a perturbing planetary-mass body at about 90  au . Radio observations 8 , 9 indicate that the bulk mass is molecular and lies in the outer disk, whose continuum emission has a horseshoe morphology 8 . The high stellar accretion rate 10 would deplete the inner disk 11 in less than one year, and to sustain the observed accretion matter must therefore flow from the outer disk and cross the gap. In dynamical models, the putative protoplanets channel outer-disk material into gap-crossing bridges that feed stellar accretion through the inner disk 12 . Here we report observations of diffuse CO gas inside the gap, with denser HCO + gas along gap-crossing filaments. The estimated flow rate of the gas is in the range of 7 × 10 −9 to 2 × 10 −7 solar masses per year, which is sufficient to maintain accretion onto the star at the present rate.

The investment of solar energy in life applications has become mandatory to maintain a clean environment and reduce the use of fossil fuels. This work aimed to improve the performance of solar air heater (SAH) by using evacuated tube solar collectors ETSC integrated with nano-enhancer phase change material (NE-PCM). To achieve this purpose, a system consisting of 5 linked collecting panels was designed, fabricated, and experimentally investigated. Each panel included a glass-evacuated tube with two concentric aluminum pipes installed inside. NE-PCM was placed between the inlet and outlet air paths inside the evacuated tube to enhance the heat transfer rate. The performance was investigated with and without NE-PCM at five mass flow rates (0.006, 0.008, 0.01, 0.03, and 0.05 kg/s). Experimental results revealed that the highest temperature was 116, 108, 102, 95, and 93 °C, respectively, for the above mass flow rates without adding NE-PCM. The outlet temperature was decreased by 6–15 °C when using NE-PCM. The SAH efficiency was increased by 29.62% compared to the system without NE-PCM at 0.05 kg/s. The maximum thermal efficiency for the system with NE-PCM was 62.66% at 0.05 kg/s, and the pressure drop was 6.79 kPa under the same conditions. As well known, the hot air is used for a variety of purposes including space heating, food processing, drying of fruit, vegetables, dairy, and solar cooking.

Detailed airborne, surface, and subsurface chemical measurements, primarily obtained in May and June 2010, are used to quantify initial hydrocarbon compositions along different transport pathways (i.e., in deep subsurface plumes, in the initial surface slick, and in the atmosphere) during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Atmospheric measurements are consistent with a limited area of surfacing oil, with implications for leaked hydrocarbon mass transport and oil drop size distributions. The chemical data further suggest relatively little variation in leaking hydrocarbon composition over time. Although readily soluble hydrocarbons made up ~25% of the leaking mixture by mass, subsurface chemical data show these compounds made up ~69% of the deep plume mass; only ~31% of the deep plume mass was initially transported in the form of trapped oil droplets. Mass flows along individual transport pathways are also derived from atmospheric and subsurface chemical data. Subsurface hydrocarbon composition, dissolved oxygen, and dispersant data are used to assess release of hydrocarbons from the leaking well. We use the chemical measurements to estimate that (7.8 ± 1.9) × 10⁶ kg of hydrocarbons leaked on June 10, 2010, directly accounting for roughly three-quarters of the total leaked mass on that day. The average environmental release rate of (10.1 ± 2.0) × 10⁶ kg/d derived using atmospheric and subsurface chemical data agrees within uncertainties with the official average leak rate of (10.2 ± 1.0) × 10⁶ kg/d derived using physical and optical methods.

Numerical investigations of high-speed rarefied gas outflow into a vacuum through channels with a forward- or backward-facing step have been conducted using the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. Calculations have been performed for various free-stream Mach numbers, covering transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic flow regimes, and over a wide range of gas rarefaction from free molecular to near hydrodynamic conditions. Mass flow rates through the channel and the gas flow field have been accurately calculated both inside the channel and in the regions upstream and downstream. It has been established that channel geometry, the free-stream velocity, and gas rarefaction strongly influence the gas flow. In the flow field, in front of the channel, a phenomenon known as a detached shock occurs, while inside the channel, a gas recirculation zone may form.

This study proposes a deep learning-based real-time variable flow control system using the segmentation of fruit trees in a pear orchard. The real-time flow rate control, undesired pressure fluctuation and theoretical modeling may differ from those in the real world. Therefore, two types of preliminary experiments were conducted to examine the linear relationship of the flow rate modeling. Through preliminary experiments, the parameters of the pulse width modulation (PWM) controller were optimized, and a field experiment was conducted to confirm the performance of the variable flow rate control system. The field test was conducted for three cases: all open, on/off control, and variable flow rate control, showing results of 56.15 (±17.24)%, 68.95 (±21.12)% and 57.33 (±21.73)% for each control. The result revealed that the proposed system performed satisfactorily, showing that pesticide use and the risk of pesticide exposure could be reduced.

We numerically study the influence of a soluble surfactant on the microjetting mode of the liquid–liquid flow focusing configuration. The surfactant adsorbs on the interface next to the feeding capillary and accumulates in front of the emitted jet, significantly lowering the surface tension there. The resulting Marangoni stress substantially alters the balance of the tangential stresses at the interface but does not modify the interface velocity. The global stability analysis at the minimum flow rate stability limit shows that the Marangoni stress collaborates with soluto-capillarity to stabilize the microjetting mode. Our analysis unveils the noticeable effect of the Marangoni stress associated with the surface tension perturbation. Surfactant diffusion and desorption hardly affect the stability limit. Transient numerical simulations show how subcritical and supercritical base flows respond to a spatially localized initial perturbation. Our parametric study indicates that the minimum flow rate ratio depends on the adsorption constant and the surfactant concentration through the product of these two variables. The surfactant stabilizing effect increases with the outer stream flow rate. We show that surfactants not only stabilize the microemulsion resulting from the jet breakup in hydrodynamic focusing, but also allow for the reduction of droplet size. Our findings advance the fundamental understanding of the complex role of surfactants in tip streaming via hydrodynamic focusing. In particular, our results contradict the common assumption that adding surfactant favours tip streaming simply because it reduces the meniscus tip surface tension.

We conducted a randomized controlled trial to test the hypothesis that a 24-week exercise intervention improves asthma control in adults. Adults with mild or moderate asthma were randomly assigned to either the exercise intervention group (IG) or the reference group (RG). Participants in IG received an individualized exercising program, including aerobic exercise at least three times a week for ≥30 minutes, muscle training, and stretching. The primary outcome was asthma control, measured by Asthma Control Test (ACT), asthma-related symptoms, and peak expiratory flow (PEF) variability. We estimated the risk (i.e. probability) of improvement in asthma control and the risk difference (RD) between IG and RG. Of 131 subjects (67 IG/64 RG) entered, 105 subjects (51/54) completed the trial (80%), and 89 (44/45) were analysed (68%). The ACT became better among 26 (62%) participants in IG and among 17 (39%) participants in RG. The effect of intervention on improving asthma control was 23% (RD = 0.23, 95% CI 0.027–0.438; P  =  0.0320 ). The intervention also reduced shortness of breath by 30.1% (RD = 0.301, 95% CI 0.109–0.492; P  =  0.003 ). The change in PEF variability was similar in both groups. Regular exercise improves asthma control measured by the ACT, while has little effect on PEF variability.