Bonding-Compatible Corrosion Inhibitor for Rinsing Metals

A corrosion-inhibiting mixture of compounds has been developed for addition to the water used to rinse metal parts that have been cleaned with aqueous solutions in preparation for adhesive bonding of the metals to rubber and rubber-like materials. Prior to the development of this corrosion inhibitor, the parts (made, variously, of D6AC steel and 7075-T73 aluminum) were rinsed by deionized water, which caused corrosion in some places on the steel parts especially in such occluded places as sealing surfaces and threaded blind holes. An integral part of the particular cleaning process is the deposition of a thin layer of silicates and silane primers that increase the strength of the adhesive bond. The corrosion inhibitor is formulated, not only to inhibit corrosion of both D6AC steel and 7075- T73 aluminum, but also to either increase or at least not reduce the strength of the adhesive bond to be formed subsequently. The corrosion inhibitor is a mixture of sodium silicate and sodium tetraborate. The sodium silicate functions as both a corrosion inhibitor and a bond-strength promoter in association with the silane primers. The sodium tetraborate buffers the rinse solution at the optimum pH and functions as a secondary corrosion inhibitor for the steel. For a given application, the concentrations of sodium silicate and sodium tetraborate must be chosen in a compromise among the needs to inhibit corrosion of steel, inhibit corrosion of aluminum, and minimize cosmetic staining of both steel and aluminum. Concentrations of sodium silicate in excess of 150 parts of silicon per million parts of solution (ppm Si) have been determined to enhance inhibition of corrosion; unfortunately, because of the alkalinity of sodium silicate, even a small concentration can raise the pH of the rinse solution to such a level that aluminum becomes corroded despite the inhibiting effect. The pH of a solution that contains a high concentration of sodium silicate can be decreased by adding sodium tetraborate. On the other hand, the addition of sodium tetraborate increases the concentration of dissolved solids to such a high level that cosmetic staining becomes an issue

How does war affect gorillas?

The Grauer's gorilla is one of two subspecies of the Eastern gorilla. The whole population of Grauer's gorilla lives in the forests of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in Central Africa. In 1996 a civil war started in the DRC, which killed 5 million people. We wanted to find out what effect the civil war had on the population of Grauer's gorillas. We carried out field surveys and used data from local communities and park rangers and found that the global population had decreased by 77% since 1994. There are now only 3,800 individuals left. This makes this ape Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and now makes both gorilla species (Eastern and Western) and all four subspecies Critically Endangered. This is the highest category of threat before extinction

EVALUASI STABILITAS PARAMETER KALIBRASI KAMERA DJI PHANTOM 4 PRO DALAM MISI PEMOTETRAN (Studi Kasus: Kelurahan Tunggul Wulung, Kec. Lowokwaru, Kota Malang)

Saat ini drone digunakan untuk pemetaan cepat untuk membuat peta dengan wilayah yang relatif kecil atau gambar udara format kecil. Kamera drone memiliki batasan pada Parameter Orientasi Interior (IOP) yang tidak stabil, sama seperti kamera non-metrik lainnya. Kamera non-metrik menghasilkan gambar berkualitas tinggi, tetapi karena performa geometriknya yang buruk, pemosisian gambar yang dihasilkan menjadi kurang tepat. Dengan mengkalibrasi kamera yang digunakan, kualitas geometris foto bisa ditingkatkan. Kalibrasi kamera dilakukan dengan metode self-calibration bundle adjustment dalam sfm (structur from montion) dan metode bundle adjustment klasik. Teknik pemotetran yang digunakan yaitu pemotetran normal dan pemotetran konvergen. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui kestabilan parameter kalibrasi kamera drone Dji Phantom 4 Pro dan pengaruhnya terhadap akurasi geometris yang diperoleh. Dari hasil penelitian diperoleh Drone Dji Phantom 4 memiliki parameter kalibrasi yang tidak stabil dimana hasil kalibrasi tiap metode pemotetran dan metode kalibrasi memiliki perbedaan yang signifikan. Perbedaan parameter kalibrasi yang dihasilkan mengakibatkan ketelitian geometrik yang dihasilkanpun berbeda. Pemotetran normal dengan metode sfm memperoleh ketelitian geometrik yang paling teliti yaitu 0.27 m

Catastrophic Decline of World's Largest Primate: 80% Loss of Grauer's Gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) Population Justifies Critically Endangered Status

Grauer's gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), the World's largest primate, is confined to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is threatened by civil war and insecurity. During the war, armed groups in mining camps relied on hunting bushmeat, including gorillas. Insecurity and the presence of several militia groups across Grauer's gorilla's range made it very difficult to assess their population size. Here we use a novel method that enables rigorous assessment of local community and ranger-collected data on gorilla occupancy to evaluate the impacts of civil war on Grauer's gorilla, which prior to the war was estimated to number 16,900 individuals. We show that gorilla numbers in their stronghold of Kahuzi- Biega National Park have declined by 87%. Encounter rate data of gorilla nests at 10 sites across its range indicate declines of 82-100% at six of these sites. Spatial occupancy analysis identifies three key areas as the most critical sites for the remaining populations of this ape and that the range of this taxon is around 19,700 km2. We estimate that only 3,800 Grauer's gorillas remain in the wild, a 77% decline in one generation, justifying its elevation to Critically Endangered status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Status of Grauer’s Gorilla and Chimpanzees in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: Historical and Current Distribution and Abundance

This report summarises the current state of knowledge on the distribution, densities and trends in abundance of Grauer’s gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri) and the eastern chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It summarises the historical knowledge about the distribution of Grauer’s gorilla across its range and describes the development of a Conservation Action Plan (CAP) for these two ape species. A result of this CAP was funding to undertake an assessment of the current status of these apes across the range of Grauer’s gorilla. Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Fauna & Flora International (FFI) worked with Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN) and the Reserve managers of the Reserve des Gorilles de Punia (RGPU) and local communities to undertake surveys across the region using a variety of methods: line transects, recces along paths and patrol data from data collected by rangers while on patrol and entered into SMART software

Healthcare professional views of implementing remote measurement technology in central nervous system disorders: A qualitative interview study (Preprint)

Background:Remote measurement technologies (RMTs) can be used to collect data on a variety of bio-behavioural variables, which may benefit the care of people with central nervous system disorders. While various studies have explored their potential, prior work has highlighted a knowledge gap concerning healthcare professional’s perception of the value of RMTs in clinical practice.Objective:To understand the perspectives of healthcare professionals on the implementation of RMT in healthcare practice for the care of people with depression, epilepsy or multiple sclerosis.Methods:Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 26 multidisciplinary primary and secondary care healthcare professionals managing people with epilepsy, depression or multiple sclerosis. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis.Results:Eight main themes emerged from the analysis. Healthcare professionals considered RMT data to be informative for the care of patients and empowering to patients in all three conditions. However, professionals indicated decisions about care should not be made exclusively on the basis of RMT data. Implementing RMTs may require new staff roles to manage incoming data if RMTs are used to alert services to signs of relapse. Results also indicate points in care pathways at which healthcare staff would most benefit from RMT data, and demonstrate that healthcare professionals are pragmatic about data security risks arising from using patients’ RMT data.Conclusions:RMTs could add value to the system of care for individual patients with central nervous system disorders through providing clinicians with graphic summaries of data in the patient record. Barriers of both technical and human nature should be considered when implementing these technologies, as should the limits to the benefits they can offer

Making remote measurement technology work in multiple sclerosis, epilepsy and depression: survey of healthcare professionals

BACKGROUND: Epilepsy, multiple sclerosis(MS) and depression are long term, central nervous system disorders which have a significant impact on everyday life. Evaluating symptoms of these conditions is problematic and typically involves repeated visits to a clinic. Remote measurement technology (RMT), consisting of smartphone apps and wearables, may offer a way to improve upon existing methods of managing these conditions. The present study aimed to establish the practical requirements that would enable clinical integration of data from patients' RMT, according to healthcare professionals. METHODS: This paper reports findings from an online survey of 1006 healthcare professionals currently working in the care of people with epilepsy, MS or depression. The survey included questions on types of data considered useful, how often data should be collected, the value of RMT data, preferred methods of accessing the data, benefits and challenges to RMT implementation, impact of RMT data on clinical practice, and requirement for technical support. The survey was presented on the JISC online surveys platform. RESULTS: Among this sample of 1006 healthcare professionals, respondents were positive about the benefits of RMT, with 73.2% indicating their service would be likely or highly likely to benefit from the implementation of RMT in patient care plans. The data from patients' RMT devices should be made available to all nursing andmedical team members and could be reviewed between consultations where flagged by the system. However, results suggest it is also likely that RMT data would be reviewed in preparation for and during a consultation with a patient. Time to review information is likely to be one ofthe greatest barriers to successful implementation of RMT in clinical practice. CONCLUSIONS: While further work would be required to quantify the benefits of RMT in clinical practice, the findings from this survey suggest that a wide array of clinical team members treating epilepsy, MS and depression would find benefit from RMT data in the care of their patients. Findings presented could inform the implementation of RMT and other digital interventions in the clinical management of a range of neurological and mental health conditions

Automatic assessment of the 2-minute walk distance for remote monitoring of people with multiple sclerosis

The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of automatically assessing the 2-Minute Walk Distance (2MWD) for monitoring people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS). For 154 pwMS, MS-related clinical outcomes as well as the 2MWDs as evaluated by clinicians and derived from accelerometer data were collected from a total of 323 periodic clinical visits. Accelerometer data from a wearable device during 100 home-based 2MWD assessments were also acquired. The error in estimating the 2MWD was validated for walk tests performed at hospital, and then the correlation (r) between clinical outcomes and home-based 2MWD assessments was evaluated. Robust performance in estimating the 2MWD from the wearable device was obtained, yielding an error of less than 10% in about two-thirds of clinical visits. Correlation analysis showed that there is a strong association between the actual and the estimated 2MWD obtained either at hospital (r = 0.71) or at home (r = 0.58). Furthermore, the estimated 2MWD exhibits moderate-to-strong correlation with various MS-related clinical outcomes, including disability and fatigue severity scores. Automatic assessment of the 2MWD in pwMS is feasible with the usage of a consumer-friendly wearable device in clinical and non-clinical settings. Wearable devices can also enhance the assessment of MS-related clinical outcomes

Grauer’s Gorillas and Chimpanzees in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (Kahuzi-Biega, Maiko, Tayna and Itombwe Landscape): Conservation Action Plan 2012–2022

First paragraph: En janvier 2011, l'Institut Jane Goodall (JGI d'après le sigle en anglais), avec le support financier des fondations Arcus et The Word We Want, a réuni ses partenaires pour la conservation de la nature afin de développer un plan d'action pour la conservation des grands singes de l'Est de la République Démocratique du Congo. Le but principal de cette initiative était d'identifier les menaces critiques sur les gorilles et les chimpanzés et leurs habitats et de développer des stratégies de conservation en réponse à ces menaces. L'accent a été mis sur des actions systémiques et stratégiques ayant une valeur ajoutée pour l'effort de planification à grande échelle d'efforts ciblés. Au cours de ce processus, le JGI, en collaboration avec le Ministère de l'Environnement, de la Conservation de la Nature et du Tourisme (MECNT) et l'Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), a travaillé étroitement avec de nombreuses parties prenantes provinciales et locales et des ONG internationales de conservation. La liste des participants aux ateliers se trouve en Annexe I

Gorilles de Grauer et Chimpanzés de l’Est de la République Démocratique du Congo (Paysage de Kahuzi-Biega, Maiko, Tayna et Itombwe) Plan d’action pour la conservation 2012-2022

First paragraph: En janvier 2011, l'Institut Jane Goodall (JGI d'après le sigle en anglais), avec le support financier des fondations Arcus et The Word We Want, a réuni ses partenaires pour la conservation de la nature afin de développer un plan d'action pour la conservation des grands singes de l'Est de la République Démocratique du Congo. Le but principal de cette initiative était d'identifier les menaces critiques sur les gorilles et les chimpanzés et leurs habitats et de développer des stratégies de conservation en réponse à ces menaces. L'accent a été mis sur des actions systémiques et stratégiques ayant une valeur ajoutée pour l'effort de planification à grande échelle d'efforts ciblés. Au cours de ce processus, le JGI, en collaboration avec le Ministère de l'Environnement, de la Conservation de la Nature et du Tourisme (MECNT) et l'Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), a travaillé étroitement avec de nombreuses parties prenantes provinciales et locales et des ONG internationales de conservation. La liste des participants aux ateliers se trouve en Annexe I