Evaluation of ballistic performance of STF impregnated fabrics under high velocity impact

Shear thickening fluid (STF) impregnated fabrics offer improved ballistic performance against impacts, but the effect becomes not obvious at high impact velocity (e.g. 300m/s) as reported by some. This paper presents findings from an investigation of STF-impregnated fabric panels against ballistic impact, and attempts to identify the failure mechanisms of such panels under high velocity impact, which will shed light on effects of STF-impregnated fabrics for low and high velocity impacts. Single-ply and 10-ply neat and STF-impregnated aramid fabric panels were experimented on at impact velocities around 500m/s. The results indicated that the specific energy absorption of the single-ply and 10-ply STF impregnated fabric panels was 44.8% and 64.1% lower than that of their neat counterparts respectively. The mechanisms were studied theoretically and morphologically. It was found that the projectile velocities perforating the fabrics were decreased by STF impregnation due to the total movement constraint of the primary yarns. This changes the failure mode from tensile dominant to shear dominant, increases the possibility of earlier damage and failure of the primary yarns, and reduces the pull out distance, causing decrease in the energy absorption. The findings are significant for guiding further design of STF impregnated fabric panels for ballistic protection

Value assessment and quantitative benefit-risk modelling of biosimilar infliximab for Crohn’s disease

Aim: Regulatory approval of biosimilars often depends on extrapolating evidence from one clinical indication to all of those of the originator biologic. We aimed to develop a quantitative benefit-risk analysis to assess whether the resulting increase in the uncertainty in the clinical performance of biosimilars (i.e. risk) may be countered by their lower pricing (benefit).Methods: A one-year decision-analytic model was developed for the biosimilar infliximab (Inflectra®) for Crohn’s disease. The perspective was that of the NHS in the UK and costs were valued to 2015/16. A hypothetical cohort of biologic-naïve patients with moderate-to-severe Crohn’s disease were simulated through the model. Immunogenicity to infliximab was a key modifier, influencing rates of non-response and infusion reactions. Net health benefit was estimated based on quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). A range of sensitivity analyses tested the robustness of the results and explored how the biosimilar price must respond to varying immunogenicity to remain the preferred option. Results: The base-case analysis predicted a positive incremental net health benefit of 0.04 (95% Central Range 0.00-0.09) favouring the biosimilar, based on 0.803 QALYs, and costs of £18,087 and £19,176 for biosimilar and originator, respectively. Two-way sensitivity analyses suggested that if 50% of patients developed antibodies, the value-based price of £410 per vial must be lower than that of the originator (£420), but remain higher than the actual market price (£378). Conclusions: The model supports the use of Inflecta® for Crohn’s disease in the UK, and provides a framework for the quantitative evaluation of biosimilars in the context of health technology assessment. Value-based pricing using this methodology could protect health systems from the potential risks of biosimilars where they are untested in the approved populations.<br/

Interval Multi-objective Optimization with Memetic Algorithms

One of the most important and widely faced optimization problems in real applications is the interval multiobjective optimization problems (IMOPs). The state-of-the-art evolutionary algorithms (EAs) for IMOPs (IMOEAs) need a great deal of objective function evaluations to find a final Pareto front with good convergence and even distribution. Further, the final Pareto front is of great uncertainty. In this paper, we incorporate several local searches into an existing IMOEA, and propose a memetic algorithm (MA) to tackle IMOPs. At the start, the existing IMOEA is utilized to explore the entire decision space; then, the increment of the hyper-volume is employed to develop an activation strategy for every local search procedure; finally, the local search procedure is conducted by constituting its initial population, whose center is an individual with a small uncertainty and a big contribution to the hyper-volume, taking the contribution of an individual to the hyper-volume as its fitness function, and performing the conventional genetic operators. The proposed MA is empirically evaluated on 10 benchmark IMOPs as well as an uncertain solar desalination optimization problem and compared with three state-of-the-art algorithms with no local search procedure. The experimental results demonstrate the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed MA

A Personalised 3D-Printed Device for Monitoring Temperature of the Plantar Foot in Participants with Diabetes

Background: Temperature differences greater than 2.2°C between anatomical landmarks on opposite feet has been suggested as a pre-cursor of diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) development. Objective: This study aims to collect temperature data from the human foot from diabetic and healthy subjects. We have created a personalised wearable using 3D printing that can monitor the temperature of the foot from four high-risk sites (Hallux, 1st and 5th Metatarsal Heads and Calcaneus) on each foot to an accuracy of 0.2°C. Methods: The study will recruit ten participants with diabetes (with no diagnosis of DFU or damaged skin), and ten participants from a healthy control group. The anatomical landmarks of participants are identified and used to create an individualised 3D-printed insole for each participant which mounts the temperature sensors under each high-risk site. Participants then wear these insoles inside trainers, matched to their shoe size. After a 10 minute acclimatisation phase, participants are asked to perform two activities, sitting (15 minutes) and standing (10 minutes) while the temperature of the sites on their feet are logged. Results: Preliminary results indicate that both the final temperature and differences between sites is higher in participants with diabetes compared to healthy participants. Conclusion: This study is currently ongoing to identify if there are significant temperatures differences on the foot between diabetic and healthy participants that could be a precursor to the development of a DFU. Our method for patient specific design could be used in clinical practice to diagnose the development of diabetic foot ulcers

The Effect of an Augmented Commercial Weight Loss Program on Increasing Physical Activity and Reducing Psychological Distress in Women with Overweight or Obesity: a Clustered Randomised Controlled Trial.

Objective: The present study tested the effects of integrating an evidence-based physical activity intervention within an existing commercial weight loss program to assess effects on increasing physical activity and reducing psychological distress. Method and results: The CONSORT guidelines were adopted for the study. Forty nine women with overweight or obesity (M age = 39.5, SD:12.4; M Body Mass Index = 31.02, SD: 2.10) enrolled in a six week commercial weight loss program were randomized to an intervention or a control group. Participants in the control group received care as usual; participants in the intervention group additionally received an evidence-based intervention to increase physical activity that included behaviour change techniques including implementation intentions, goal-setting and self-monitoring. Weekly steps increased in the intervention group (M=31516.25; SD=9310.17 to M=62851.36; SD=13840.4) significantly more (p &lt; .001, p2 = .32) than in the control group (M=30207.67; SD=7833.29) to M=46969.33 (SD=9470.96), along with experiencing significantly lower anxiety (p &lt; .001, p2 = .15), social dysfunction (p &lt; .001, p2 = .16) and depression symptoms (p &lt; .05, p2 = .08) at follow-up. Implications: this intervention warrants extension to those seeking to improve mental health through physical activity

Coloured graphlet profiles as a predictor of career length in scientific co-authorship networks

Graphlets, or induced motifs, have long been used to find important medium-scale structures in directed networks. We present a method using the composition of coloured graphlets in ego-networks to characterise nodes. We give an example application using our technique to predict the numbers of years researchers are active from their collaboration networks, and compare our success with simpler metrics; particularly, we find that the use of coloured graphlets improves predictiveperformance compared to colour-blind graphlets; that 4-star graphlets centred on an author are predictors of a long career, and that this effect is not degenerate to centralities

A Methodology for Using GitLab for Software Engineering Learning Analytics

To bridge the digital skills gap, we need to train more people in Software Engineering techniques. This paper reports on a project exploring the way students solve tasks using collaborative development platforms and version control systems, such as GitLab, to find patterns and evaluation metrics that can be used to improve the course content and reflect on the most common issues the students are facing. In this paper, we explore Learning Analytics approaches that can be used with GitLab and similar tools, and discuss the challenges raised when applying those approaches in Software Engineering Education, with the objective of building a pipeline that supports the full Learning Analytics cycle, from data extraction to data analysis. We focus in particular on the data anonymisation step of the proposed pipeline to explore the available alternatives to satisfy the data protection requirements when handling personal information in academic environments for research purposes

Using deceased-donor kidneys to initiate chains of living donor kidney paired donations:Algorithm and experimentation

We design a flexible algorithm that exploits deceased donor kidneys to initiate chains of living donor kidney paired donations, combining deceased and living donor allocation mechanisms to improve the quantity and quality of kidney transplants. The advantages of this approach have been measured using retrospective data on the pool of donor/recipient incompatible and desensitized pairs at the Padua University Hospital, the largest center for living donor kidney transplants in Italy. The experiments show a remarkable improvement onthe number of patients with incompatible donor who could be transplanted, a decrease in the number of desensitization procedures, and an increase in the number of UT patients (that is, patients unlikely to be transplanted for immunological reasons) in the waiting list who could receive an organ

The Nearby Evolved Stars Survey:I. JCMT/SCUBA-2 Sub-millimetre detection of the detached shell of U Antliae

We present the highest resolution single-dish submillimetre observations of the detached shell source U Antliae to date. The observations were obtained at 450 µm and 850 µm with SCUBA-2 instrument on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope as part of the Nearby Evolved Stars Survey. The emission at 850 µm peaks at 4000 with hints of a second peak seen at ∼ 2000. The emission can be traced out to a radius of 5600 at a 3σ level. The outer peak observed at 850 µm aligns well with the peak observed at Herschel/PACS wavelengths. With the help of spectral energy distribution fitting and radiative transfer calculations of multiple-shell models for the circumstellar envelope, we explore the various shell structures and the variation of grain sizes along the in the circumstellar envelope. We determine a total shell dust mass of (2.0±0.3)×10−5 M and established that the thermal pulse which gave rise to the detached shell occurred 3500 ± 500 years ago