Support and power plant documentation for the gas turbine powered bus demonstration program

The operational experience obtained for the GT404-4 gas turbine engines in the intercity and intracity Bus Demonstration Programs is described for the period January 1980 through September 1981. Support for the engines and automatic transmissions involved in this program provided engineering and field service, spare parts and tools, training, and factory overhauls. the Greyhound (intercity) coaches accumulated 183,054 mi (294,595 km) and 5154 hr of total operation. The Baltimore Transit (intracity) coaches accumulated 40,567 mi (65,285 km) and 1840 hr of total operation. In service, the turbine powered Greyhound and Transit coaches achieved approximately 25% and 40% lower fuel mileage, respectively, than did the production diesel powered coaches. The gas turbine engine will require the advanced ceramic development currently being sponsored by the DOE and NASA to achieve fuel economy equivalent not only to that of today's diesel engines but also to the projected fuel economy of the advanced diesel engines of the 1990s. Sufficient experience was not achieved with the coaches prior to the start of service to identify and eliminate many of the problems associated with the startup of new equipment. Because of these problems, the mean miles between incident were unacceptably low. The future gas turbine system should be developed sufficiently to establish satisfactory durability prior to evaluation in revenue service. Commercialization of the gas turbine bus engine remains a viable goal for the future

Consumer Perceptions of Apparel Fit Satisfaction and Sizing Based on 3D Body Scanning and Block Garment Assessment

Sizing and fit in ready-to-wear apparel causes issues for retailers and consumers alike. Retailers must strive to better understand their consumers\u27 perceptions of themselves in order to help them purchase properly fitting clothing. If a manufacturer is able to improve their sizing system to provide a better fit for more body sizes, they may be able to help reduce returns and markdowns, as well as boost customer satisfaction and potentially increase sales. A major apparel retailer is working on improving the fit of their clothing in order to better meet the needs of their customers. A key objective of this study was to evaluate the fit of the major retailer\u27s standard block garments by assessing customer satisfaction, and to determine how accurately consumers comprehend their body size by utilizing body scanning technology. Consumer perceptions and preferences with regard to this major retailer\u27s clothing are central to the study

Perceived Apparel Fit Issues of High School Adolescents: Comparison of Fit Differences between Athletes and Non-Athletes Using 3D Body Scan Technology

Athletes have problems with fit of their clothing caused by body changes resulting from exercise regimens (Andreoli, et al., 2001). This begins during the high school years, when the importance of body image and body satisfaction have a greater impact (Caglar & Asci, 2010). Tselepis and de Klerk (2004) reported that adolescents use clothing not only to fit in, but to increase body satisfaction. Adolescents reported dissatisfaction with clothing fit, (de Klerk and Tselepis\u27s, 2007). Objectives of the study were to determine (1) whether high school students have the perception that they have problems finding clothing that fits; (2) if the problem is common among both athletes and non-athletes and (3) if body image and body satisfaction are related to athletes and non-athletes reporting problems with fit of clothing

CD24 Expression and differential resistance to chemotherapy in triple-negative breast cancer.

Breast cancer (BC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death in women. Adjuvant systemic chemotherapies are effective in reducing risks of recurrence and have contributed to reduced BC mortality. Although targeted adjuvant treatments determined by biomarkers for endocrine and HER2-directed therapies are largely successful, predicting clinical benefit from chemotherapy is more challenging. Drug resistance is a major reason for treatment failures. Efforts are ongoing to find biomarkers to select patients most likely to benefit from chemotherapy. Importantly, cell surface biomarkers CD44+/CD24- are linked to drug resistance in some reports, yet underlying mechanisms are largely unknown. This study focused on the potential role of CD24 expression in resistance to either docetaxel or doxorubicin in part by the use of triple-negative BC (TNBC) tissue microarrays. In vitro assays were also done to assess changes in CD24 expression and differential drug susceptibility after chemotherapy. Further, mouse tumor xenograft studies were done to confirm in vitro findings. Overall, the results show that patients with CD24-positive TNBC had significantly worse overall survival and disease-free survival after taxane-based treatment. Also, in vitro cell studies show that CD44+/CD24+/high cells are more resistant to docetaxel, while CD44+/CD24-/low cells are resistant to doxorubicin. Both in vitro and in vivo studies show that cells with CD24-knockdown are more sensitive to docetaxel, while CD24-overexpressing cells are more sensitive to doxorubicin. Further, mechanistic studies indicate that Bcl-2 and TGF-βR1 signaling via ATM-NDRG2 pathways regulate CD24. Hence, CD24 may be a biomarker to select chemotherapeutics and a target to overcome TNBC drug resistance

Antonio Gramsci’s impact on critical pedagogy

This paper provides an account of Antonio Gramsci’s impact on the area of critical pedagogy. It indicates the Gramscian influence on the thinking of major exponents of the field. It foregrounds Gramsci's ideas and then indicates how they have been taken up by a selection of critical pedagogy exponents who were chosen on the strength of their identification and engagement with Gramsci's ideas, some of them even having written entire essays on Gramsci. The essay concludes with a discussion concerning an aspect of Gramsci's concerns, the question of powerful knowledge, which, in the present author's view, provides a formidable challenge to critical pedagogues.peer-reviewe

Creating E-Textile Activities in a Textile Design Course to Engage Female Middle School Students in STEM Learning: An Undergraduate Design Experience

Widespread agreement exists that the United States faces a serious challenge in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). There is a particular deficit of females (Watt, 2010) and members of underserved groups like rural populations (Smith, Nelson, Trygstad, & Banilower, 2013) who are interested in STEM topics and qualified to pursue STEM careers. Initiatives are needed to encourage more students, especially females and rural students, to go into STEM fields. In this project, e-textile activities were designed by a senior level undergraduate textile design class to engage female middle-school students in STEM learning. E-textile activities have the potential to increase enjoyment of and interest in STEM activities, taking STEM courses, consideration of STEM careers, and confidence in STEM ability

Extent of Awareness on the Anti-VAWC Law Among the Criminology Students

This study embraced the quantitative type of research which involves the quantitative data that are numerical requiring statistical analysis methods. As to the profile of the respondents, around seventy-two percent among the respondents comprise the age bracket of nineteen to twenty-one years old; seventy-nine percent are second year level students; seventy-two percent are male respondents; forty-one percent has one to three children in the family; and fifty-four percent among the respondents have a monthly family income of ten thousand pesos and below. as noted in this research study, many of the respondents are not aware of the following as acts of violence: Hitting, kicking, punching, or causing harmful injury to the woman or child; Acts of grave threat that cause a woman or her child a traumatic experience or risk of imminent danger; Shouting, blaming, use of profane language to a woman or her child to feel low self – esteem; Depriving a woman and her child to provide the basic needs, and sustain the educational needs of their child; Preventing a woman to practice her profession or to work in any establishment to gain additional income; Forcing a woman and/or her children to watch a pornographic scene and engage in any sexual activity and/or acts of lasciviousness; Forcing a woman and/or her children to engage in copulation; Limiting a woman and her children to attend social gatherings with her family, relatives/close kin, or even to meet neighbor’s; and Staying of intimate partner or husband in the house of a woman with her child without any consent or against her will. Few of the respondents are not aware on the following provisions of law- The privilege of filing 10 days leave of absence with pay to cope up with suffering; Filing of complaint even uncommon relationship, such as lesbian/gay, or whom she has a sexual or dating relationship with LGBTQi+ that commits intimate partner violence; and Filing a VAW case against her intimate partner, husband, or any person who commit domestic violence in barangay or lawful authority. Indeed, seminars and orientation as well as strong implementation of the law are highly recommended.&nbsp

ProtoEXIST: Advanced Prototype CZT Coded Aperture Telescopes for EXIST

{\it ProtoEXIST1} is a pathfinder for the {\it EXIST-HET}, a coded aperture hard X-ray telescope with a 4.5 m$^2$ CZT detector plane a 90$\times$70 degree field of view to be flown as the primary instrument on the {\it EXIST} mission and is intended to monitor the full sky every 3 h in an effort to locate GRBs and other high energy transients. {\it ProtoEXIST1} consists of a 256 cm$^2$ tiled CZT detector plane containing 4096 pixels composed of an 8$\times$8 array of individual 1.95 cm $\times$ 1.95 cm $\times$ 0.5 cm CZT detector modules each with a 8 $\times$ 8 pixilated anode configured as a coded aperture telescope with a fully coded $10^\circ\times10^\circ$ field of view employing passive side shielding and an active CsI anti-coincidence rear shield, recently completed its maiden flight out of Ft. Sumner, NM on the 9th of October 2009. During the duration of its 6 hour flight on-board calibration of the detector plane was carried out utilizing a single tagged 198.8 nCi Am-241 source along with the simultaneous measurement of the background spectrum and an observation of Cygnus X-1. Here we recount the events of the flight and report on the detector performance in a near space environment. We also briefly discuss {\it ProtoEXIST2}: the next stage of detector development which employs the {\it NuSTAR} ASIC enabling finer (32$\times$32) anode pixilation. When completed {\it ProtoEXIST2} will consist of a 256 cm$^2$ tiled array and be flown simultaneously with the ProtoEXIST1 telescope

ELISA in the multiplex era: potentials and pitfalls

Multiplex immunoassays confer several advantages over widely adopted singleplex immunoassays including increased efficiency at a reduced expense, greater output per sample volume ratios and higher throughput predicating more resolute, detailed diagnostics and facilitating personalised medicine. Nonetheless, to date, relatively few protein multiplex immunoassays have been validated for in vitro diagnostics in clinical/point-of-care settings. This review article will outline the challenges, which must be ameliorated prior to the widespread integration of multiplex immunoassays in clinical settings: (i) biomarker validation; (ii) standardisation of immunoassay design and quality control (calibration and quantification); (iii) availability, stability, specificity and cross-reactivity of reagents; (iv) assay automation and the use of validated algorithms for transformation of raw data into diagnostic results. A compendium of multiplex immunoassays applicable to in vitro diagnostics and a summary of the diagnostic products currently available commercially are included, along with an analysis of the relative states of development for each format (namely planar slide based, suspension and planar/microtitre plate based) with respect to the aforementioned issues