'Like-With-Like’: A Comparison of Natural and Synthetic Stitching Threads used in Textile Conservation

This paper reports research undertaken to investigate thread types used in textile conservation by quantitatively evaluating tensile strength and damage to conserved samples. A literature review and questionnaire sent to textile conservators were used to establish the most commonly used threads for laid-thread couching treatments and the rationale behind thread choice. Most common threads found were two-ply hair silk and polyester Tetex as well as other fine polyester, silk and cotton varieties. Three natural fibre plain-weave artefact samples conserved by laid-thread couching with five different thread types (lace cotton, hair silk, organsin, Skala and Tetex) were subjected to either tensile strength testing or a fixed-load experiment for two weeks. The tensile strength tests determined that the conservation treatment provided effective support and different thread types did not give statistically different results. The fixed-load experiment determined that longer time periods created more damage, even with lighter loads

Constructing free actions of p-groups on products of spheres

We prove that, for p an odd prime, every finite p-group of rank 3 acts freely on a finite complex X homotopy equivalent to a product of three spheres

The invariant rings of the Sylow groups of GU(3,q2), GU(4,q2), Sp(4,q) and O+(4,q) in the natural characteristic

Let G be a Sylow p -subgroup of the unitary groups GU(3,q2)GU(3,q2), GU(4,q2)GU(4,q2), the symplectic group Sp(4,q)Sp(4,q) and, for q odd, the orthogonal group O+(4,q)O+(4,q). In this paper we construct a presentation for the invariant ring of G acting on the natural module. In particular we prove that these rings are generated by orbit products of variables and certain invariant polynomials which are images under Steenrod operations, applied to the respective invariant form defining the corresponding classical group. We also show that these generators form a SAGBI basis and the invariant ring for G is a complete intersection

A Systems Thinking Approach to Formulating the Problem of Military Sexual Trauma Among Black Female Veterans

Minority veterans are one of the fastest growing veteran populations (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2020b). Research over the last fifty years has documented that minority veterans, especially Black female veterans, are at a disproportionate risk for many problems, such as suicide and military sexual trauma (MST) (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2020b). In order to adequately address problems faced by the Black female veteran population, I argue that the problem must first be adequately formulated by the veteran community and veteran leadership. In this dissertation, I review the current body of literature on military sexual trauma with a systems view, using Daniel Kim’s (1999) iceberg model as a template. After developing a deeper understanding of the current reality from literature, I adopted Dave Snowden and Mary Boone’s (2007) Cynefin framework to include the sensing and probing by Black female veterans in order for military and veteran leadership to make sense of and respond to complex problems that Black female veterans experience. I conclude that the Black female veterans must be incorporated as decision-makers, advisors, participants, and resources in order to more adequately formulate and address the problems they experience, such as suicide and military sexual trauma

Early health assessment of refugees

Copyright to Australian Family Physician. Reproduced with permission. Permission to reproduce must be sought from the publisher, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.This is the first in a series of articles looking at refugee health in Australian general practice. Each year approximately 13 000 refugees settle in Australia, mostly from countries with minimal public and personal health resources. They may present in a very different manner to the rest of the population and are at risk of unfamiliar and complex illnesses. Their health care can be difficult and time consuming and the general practitioners who supply this care need support, guidance and adequate remuneration. The new Medicare Benefits Schedule item numbers 714 and 716 are an acknowledgment by the Australian government of these concerns of community GPs who are seeing refugees for their initial health assessments. This article discusses, in the context of the new item number, some of the broader issues that are important when seeing refugees for the first time.Jill Benson, Mitchell M Smithhttp://www.racgp.org.au/af

On hemispheric differences in evoked potentials to speech stimuli

Confirmation is provided for the belief that evoked potentials may reflect differences in hemispheric functioning that are marginal at best. Subjects were right-handed and audiologically normal men and women, and responses were recorded using standard EEG techniques. Subjects were instructed to listen for the targets while laying in a darkened sound booth. Different stimuli, speech and tone signals, were used. Speech sounds were shown to evoke a response pattern that resembles that to tone or clicks. Analysis of variances on peak amplitude and latency measures showed no significant differences between hemispheres, however, a Wilcoxon test showed significant differences in hemispheres for certain target tasks

Three dimensional viscous analysis of a hypersonic inlet

The flow fields in supersonic/hypersonic inlets are currently being studied at NASA Lewis Research Center using 2- and 3-D full Navier-Stokes and Parabolized Navier-Stokes solvers. These tools have been used to analyze the flow through the McDonnell Douglas Option 2 inlet which has been tested at Calspan in support of the National Aerospace Plane Program. Comparisons between the computational and experimental results are presented. These comparisons lead to better overall understanding of the complex flows present in this class of inlets. The aspects of the flow field emphasized in this work are the 3-D effects, the transition from laminar to turbulent flow, and the strong nonuniformities generated within the inlet

Integrated assurance assessment of a reconfigurable digital flight control system

The integrated application of reliability, failure effects and system simulator methods in establishing the airworthiness of a flight critical digital flight control system (DFCS) is demonstrated. The emphasis was on the mutual reinforcement of the methods in demonstrating the system safety

Prototype of a new Engineering Masters project model: Working with marketing and software faculties to commercially kickstart university research

We describe a Master of Engineering (500-level) project modelled on the real-world arrangement where engineers work with marketing and software groups to prepare a product for commercialisation. A 4-member software team to develop and test embedded firmware and support applications on a mobile platform was provided through a final-year undergraduate software-engineering project course based outside the engineering school, in a separate faculty. A marketing team consisting of interns prepared logos, product names, and advertising materials, with input from a creative 200-level class. This team also considered possible exit strategies based on analysis of the market size and activity. This marketing effort was organised through the management communications group in the management school. The masters student acts as project manager and it is their remit to guide the product towards release on the crowd-sourced venture-capital site kickstarter.com. A small but original product idea is required to provide a viable vehicle for the project. Financial commitment to manufacture, even on a small scale, represents a novel outcome for a university project

Integration of patient-reported outcome measures with key clinical outcomes after immediate latissimus dorsi breast reconstruction and adjuvant treatment

Background: linical evidence on patient-reported outcome measures (PROMS) in breast reconstruction is lacking. The aim of this study was to evaluate PROMs in implant-assisted latissimus dorsi (LDI) or tissue-only autologous latissimus dorsi (ALD) flap reconstruction in relation to complications and adjuvant treatments.Methods: this was a prospective cohort study involving six UK centres. Eligible patients had primary early-stage breast cancer. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality-of-life questionnaire (QLQ)-C30 and QLQ-BR23, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy—Breast Cancer scale (FACT-B), Body Image Scale, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were completed before operation and at 3, 6 and 12 months after surgery.Results: a total of 182 patients (82 LDI and 100 ALD) were recruited between 2007 and 2010 with symptomatic (59·9 per cent) or screen-detected (39·6 per cent) cancers. Some 64·3 per cent had lymph node-negative disease; 30 per cent of the LDI group had radiotherapy, compared with 53·0 per cent in the ALD group (P = 0·004). Early complications up to 3 months after surgery were reported in 66 and 51·0 per cent of patients in the LDI and ALD groups respectively (P = 0·062) and long-term complications (4–12 months) in 48 and 45·0 per cent (P = 0·845). Role functioning and pain (P = 0·002 for both) were adversely affected in the ALD group compared with results in the LDI group, with no significant effects of radiotherapy on any health-related quality of life (HRQL). Chemotherapy and early complications adversely affected HRQL, which improved between 3 and 12 months after surgery (P < 0·010 for all).Conclusion: there is evidence of similar HRQL between types of latissimus dorsi breast reconstruction for up to a year after surgery. There appear to be no overarching effects for radiotherapy after mastectomy on the specific HRQL domains studied in the short term. The identification of variables that affect HRQL is important, including their integration into the analysis of PROM