Predictive Engineering Tools for Injection-Molded Long-Carbon-Fiber Thermoplastic Composites - FY13 Third Quarterly Report

This quarterly report summarizes the status for the project planning to obtain all the approvals required for a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Autodesk, Inc., Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America (Toyota), and Magna Exterior and Interiors Corporation (Magna). The CRADA documents have been processed by PNNL Legal Services that is also coordinating the revision effort with the industrial parties to address DOE’s comments

Predictive Engineering Tools for Injection-Molded Long-Carbon-Fiber Thermoplastic Composites - FY13 Fourth Quarterly Report

This quarterly report summarizes the status for the project planning to complete all the legal and contract documents required for establishing the subcontracts needed and a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Autodesk, Inc., Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America (Toyota), and Magna Exterior and Interiors Corporation (Magna). During the second quarter (1/1/2013 to 3/31/2013), all the technical and legal documents for the subcontracts to Purdue University, University of Illinois, and PlastiComp, Inc. were completed. The revised CRADA documents were sent to DOE, Autodesk, Toyota, and Magna for technical and legal reviews. PNNL Legal Services contacted project partners’ Legal counterparts for completing legal documents for the project. A non-disclosure agreement was revised and sent to all the parties for reviews

The process evaluation of it\u27s your move!, an Australian adolescent community-based obesity prevention project

BackgroundEvidence on interventions for preventing unhealthy weight gain in adolescents is urgently needed. The aim of this paper is to describe the process evaluation for a three-year (2005-2008) project conducted in five secondary schools in the East Geelong/Bellarine region of Victoria, Australia. The project, \u27It\u27s Your Move!\u27 aimed to reduce unhealthy weight gain by promoting healthy eating patterns, regular physical activity, healthy body weight, and body size perception amongst youth; and improve the capacity of families, schools, and community organisations to sustain the promotion of healthy eating and physical activity in the region.MethodsThe project was supported by Deakin University (training and evaluation), a Reference Committee (strategic direction, budgetary approval and monitoring) and a Project Management Committee (project delivery). A workshop of students, teachers and other stakeholders formulated a 10-point action plan, which was then translated into strategies and initiatives specific to each school by the School Project Officers (staff members released from teaching duties one day per week) and trained Student Ambassadors. Baseline surveys informed intervention development. Process data were collected on all intervention activities and these were collated and enumerated, where possible, into a set of mutually exclusive tables to demonstrate the types of strategies and the dose, frequency and reach of intervention activities.ResultsThe action plan included three guiding objectives, four on nutrition, two on physical activity and one on body image. The process evaluation data showed that a mix of intervention strategies were implemented, including social marketing, one-off events, lunch time and curriculum programs, improvements in infrastructure, and healthy school food policies. The majority of the interventions were implemented in schools and focused on capacity building and healthy eating strategies as physical activity practices were seen by the teachers as already meeting students\u27 needs.ConclusionsWhile substantial health-promoting activities were conducted (especially related to healthy eating), there remain further opportunities for secondary schools to use a whole-of-school approach through the school curriculum, environment, policies and ethos to improve healthy eating, physical activity and healthy body perceptions in youth. To achieve this, significant, sustained leadership will be required within the education sector generally and within schools specifically.<br /

Design of low-cost ionic liquids for lignocellulosic biomass pretreatment

The cost of ionic liquids (ILs) is one of the main impediments to IL utilization in the cellulosic biorefinery, especially in the pretreatment step. In this study, a number of ionic liquids were synthesized with the goal of optimizing solvent cost and stability whilst demonstrating promising processing potential. To achieve this, inexpensive feedstocks such as sulfuric acid and simple amines were combined into a range of protic ionic liquids containing the hydrogen sulfate [HSO] anion. The performance of these ionic liquids was compared to a benchmark system containing the IL 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate [CCim][OAc]. The highest saccharification yields were observed for the triethylammonium hydrogen sulfate IL, which was 75% as effective as the benchmark system. Techno-economic modeling revealed that this promising and yet to be optimized yield was achieved at a fraction of the processing cost. This study demonstrates that some ILs can compete with the cheapest pretreatment chemicals, such as ammonia, in terms of effectiveness and process cost, removing IL cost as a barrier to the economic viability of IL-based biorefineries

Pathological Investigation of Congenital Bicuspid Aortic Valve Stenosis, Compared with Atherosclerotic Tricuspid Aortic Valve Stenosis and Congenital Bicuspid Aortic Valve Regurgitation

Congenital bicuspid aortic valve (CBAV) is the main cause of aortic stenosis (AS) in young adults. However, the histopathological features of AS in patients with CBAV have not been fully investigated.We examined specimens of aortic valve leaflets obtained from patients who had undergone aortic valve re/placement at our institution for severe AS with CBAV (n = 24, CBAV-AS group), severe AS with tricuspid aortic valve (n = 24, TAV-AS group), and severe aortic regurgitation (AR) with CBAV (n = 24, CBAV-AR group). We compared the histopathological features among the three groups. Pathological features were classified using semi-quantitative methods (graded on a scale 0 to 3) by experienced pathologists without knowledge of the patients' backgrounds. The severity of inflammation, neovascularization, and calcium and cholesterol deposition did not differ between the CBAV-AS and TAV-AS groups, and these four parameters were less marked in the CBAV-AR group than in the CBAV-AS (all p<0.01). Meanwhile, the grade of valvular fibrosis was greater in the CBAV-AS group, compared with the TAV-AS and CBAV-AR groups (both p<0.01). In AS patients, thickness of fibrotic lesions was greater on the aortic side than on the ventricular side (both p<0.01). Meanwhile, thickness of fibrotic lesions was comparable between the aortic and ventricular sides in CBAV-AR patients (p = 0.35).Valvular fibrosis, especially on the aortic side, was greater in patients with CBAV-AS than in those without, suggesting a difference in the pathogenesis of AS between CBAV and TAV

Menstrual cycle phase does not predict political conservatism

Recent authors have reported a relationship between women's fertility status, as indexed by menstrual cycle phase, and conservatism in moral, social and political values. We conducted a survey to test for the existence of a relationship between menstrual cycle day and conservatism. 2213 women reporting regular menstrual cycles provided data about their political views. Of these women, 2208 provided information about their cycle date, 1260 provided additional evidence of reliability in self-reported cycle date, and of these, 750 also indicated an absence of hormonal disruptors such as recent hormonal contraception use, breastfeeding or pregnancy. Cycle day was used to estimate day-specific fertility rate (probability of conception); political conservatism was measured via direct self-report and via responses to the "Moral Foundations” questionnaire. We also recorded relationship status, which has been reported to interact with menstrual cycle phase in determining political preferences. We found no evidence of a relationship between estimated cyclical fertility changes and conservatism, and no evidence of an interaction between relationship status and cyclical fertility in determining political attitudes. Our findings were robust to multiple inclusion/exclusion criteria and to different methods of estimating fertility and measuring conservatism. In summary, the relationship between cycle-linked reproductive parameters and conservatism may be weaker or less reliable than previously thought

Nonlinear Sigma Model for Disordered Media: Replica Trick for Non-Perturbative Results and Interactions

In these lectures, given at the NATO ASI at Windsor (2001), applications of the replicas nonlinear sigma model to disordered systems are reviewed. A particular attention is given to two sets of issues. First, obtaining non-perturbative results in the replica limit is discussed, using as examples (i) an oscillatory behaviour of the two-level correlation function and (ii) long-tail asymptotes of different mesoscopic distributions. Second, a new variant of the sigma model for interacting electrons in disordered normal and superconducting systems is presented, with demonstrating how to reduce it, under certain controlled approximations, to known ``phase-only'' actions, including that of the ``dirty bosons'' model.Comment: 25 pages, Proceedings of the NATO ASI "Field Theory of Strongly Correlated Fermions and Bosons in Low - Dimensional Disordered Systems", Windsor, August, 2001; to be published by Kluwe

Oncological considerations of skin-sparing mastectomy

AIM: To review evidence concerning the oncological safety of performing skin-sparing mastectomy (SSM) for invasive breast cancer and ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Furthermore, the evidence concerning RT in relation to SSM and the possibility of nipple preservation was considered. METHODS: Literature review facilitated by Medline and PubMed databases. FINDINGS: Despite the lack of randomised controlled trials, SSM has become an accepted procedure in women undergoing mastectomy and immediate reconstruction for early breast cancer. Compared to non-skin-sparing mastectomy (NSSM), SSM seems to be oncologically safe in patients undergoing mastectomy for invasive tumours smaller than 5 cm, multicentric tumours, DCIS or risk-reduction. However, the technique should be avoided in patients with inflammatory breast cancer or in those with extensive tumour involvement of the skin in view of the high risk of local recurrence. SSM with nipple areola complex (NAC) preservation appears to be oncologically safe, provided the tumour is not close to the nipple and a frozen section protocol for the retro-areolar tissue is followed. Although radiotherapy (RT) does not represent a contraindication to SSM, the latter should be used with caution if postoperative RT is likely, since it detracts from the final cosmetic outcome