Experimental studies on the tripping behavior of narrow T-stiffened flat plates subjected to hydrostatic pressure and underwater shock

An experimental investigation was conducted to determine the static and dynamic responses of a specific stiffened flat plate design. The air-backed rectangular flat plates of 6061-T6 aluminum with an externally machined longitudinal narrow-flanged T-stiffener and clamped boundary conditions were subjected to static loading by water hydropump pressure and shock loading from an eight pound TNT charge detonated underwater. The dynamic test plate was instrumented to measure transient strains and free field pressure. The static test plate was instrumented to measure transient strains, plate deflection, and pressure. Emphasis was placed upon forcing static and dynamic stiffener tripping, obtaining relevant strain and pressure data, and studying the associated plate-stiffener behavior

Should a Sentinel Node Biopsy Be Performed in Patients with High-Risk Breast Cancer?

A negative sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy spares many breast cancer patients the complications associated with lymph node irradiation or additional surgery. However, patients at high risk for nodal involvement based on clinical characteristics may remain at unacceptably high risk of axillary disease even after a negative SLN biopsy result. A Bayesian nomogram was designed to combine the probability of axillary disease prior to nodal biopsy with customized test characteristics for an SLN biopsy and provides the probability of axillary disease despite a negative SLN biopsy. Users may individualize the sensitivity of an SLN biopsy based on factors known to modify the sensitivity of the procedure. This tool may be useful in identifying patients who should have expanded upfront exploration of the axilla or comprehensive axillary irradiation

A living lab approach for enhancing collaboration in professional communities

The ECOSPACE Integrated Project has developed an advanced collaborative workspace platform for eProfessionals. The technologies, services and collaboration tools have been developed, integrated and validated in various living labs addressing different contexts of eProfessional working. This paper reports about the Living Lab for Professional Communities of Innovation and covers three different user environments where innovative tools, services and practices have been experimented in different experimental settings. The first setting addresses the support of new work and collaboration practices in professional education. The second setting focuses on collaboration among business and research partners in promoting regional innovation. The third setting is about collaborative innovation in virtual communities. In the three settings, different user communities have adopted and experimented different sets of collaboration services. The paper presents the living lab methodology designed to launch, operate and monitor the different innovation and validation settings. Based on a cross-comparison of results and a longitudinal analysis, conclusions are drawn regarding the effectiveness of innovation services and collaborative platform, strategies to involve users and building user communities, and the effectiveness of the living labs methodology

Collaboration in and for e-Research: making the 'O' in virtual organisation work

Collaboration support for knowledge-intensive work such as e-Research is still very fragmented and collaboration across organisational and disciplinary boundaries is difficult to achieve. We sketch out a programme of research that will build on existing work in the areas of collaborative work environments and virtual research environments to overcome these problems by focusing on conceptual issues, (design) methodology and technology development