Attitudes and beliefs about corporal punishment among inner city homeless parents : a qualitative narrative study

Despite the large body of research on the harmful effects and ineffectiveness of corporal punishment (CP), it is a common and socially acceptable method of child discipline in the United States. Parents are most likely to use CP when experiencing one or more stressors or lack social supports; one group of parents that suffers from multiple stressors and lacks social support is homeless parents. A qualitative, narrative study was conducted to explore the attitudes and beliefs of homeless parents regarding the use of CP, their opinions about the No-Hit policy at the shelter where they live, and what types of help or support they believed the shelter could provide for them. Data were collected from 18 homeless parents (n = 14 mothers; n = 4 fathers), age twenty to fifty-seven years, living in a shelter in a large Midwestern urban area. Results yielded five themes: (1) substantial participant experiences of childhood physical and emotional trauma; (2) clear conceptual definitions of and reasons for hitting children; (3) participant perspectives on interventions and policies related to corporal punishment; (4) strong family, community, religious and cultural influences on participant beliefs about hitting children; and (5) financial help from the shelter and help with housing is a main priority need expressed by participants. Findings present important implications for the development of more culturally sensitive and trauma-informed educational strategies, practices and policies for families and children impacted by poverty and violence.Includes bibliographical reference

Representative structure elements for the fatigue assessment of additively manufactured components

The fatigue life estimation of additively manufactured structures can be a very challenging task, because the component behaviour will be influenced by many parameters, such as surface roughness, imperfections and inhomogeneous properties. Furthermore, the loading conditions and the component geometry have to be taken into account. The problem of considering the singular influences adequately is intensified by their interactions, which invokes a simultaneous treatment of all relevant influencing factors. Without predefinition of the fatigue approach, properties to describe the cyclic aspects of component behaviour and the fatigue life are required. Even in the case of using small sized specimens, it is not possible to produce a defect-free material for studying the behaviour of sound material in order to derive cyclic material properties as a requirement for the local strain-based fatigue concept, or in order to derive a reference SN-curve and knock-down factors for load-based concepts

Sumo paralogs: redundancy and divergencies.

Although sharing a common conjugation pathway, SUMO1, SUMO2/3 and SUMO4 seem to play preferential roles in the cell. Recently, many regulatory mechanisms contributing to SUMO paralogs specific modification have emerged. SUMO enzymes can discriminate between SUMO paralogs at both conjugation and deconjugation levels. Moreover, many substrates possess characteristics that promote their preference for different SUMO family members. A better knowledge of the mechanisms promoting SUMO specific modification will improve our understanding of the functions of SUMO paralogs in distinct cellular pathways

Regulating the Regulators: The Post-Translational Code of Class I HDAC1 and HDAC2

Class I histone deacetylases (HDACs) are cellular enzymes expressed in many tissues and play crucial roles in differentiation, proliferation, and cancer. HDAC1 and HDAC2 in particular are highly homologous proteins that show redundant or specific roles in different cell types or in response to different stimuli and signaling pathways. The molecular details of this dual regulation are largely unknown. HDAC1 and HDAC2 are not only protein modifiers, but are in turn regulated by post-translational modifications (PTMs): phosphorylation, acetylation, ubiquitination, SUMOylation, nitrosylation, and carbonylation. Some of these PTMs occur and crosstalk specifically on HDAC1 or HDAC2, creating a rational “code” for a differential, context-related regulation. The global comprehension of this PTM code is central for dissecting the role of single HDAC1 and HDAC2 in physiology and pathology

A resilient approach to manage a Supply Chain Network

Today we depend more and more on logistic networks, which often know nothing, or worse, on which our power of control is almost zero. It is impossible to imagine a life without certain types of products or food, all of that to get us often follow long and complex network and therefore vulnerable. Let see how increase in energy costs has engulfed many small companies. Differently by rising energy costs, there are also changes that are not so easily predictable, so it is essential for the survival of a company to have “redundant” resources, able to operate strategies and proactive behavior. It’s important to be flexible and adapt better to the changes that are imposed by external or even internal conditions. More than on flexibility, it is necessary to focus on the concept of Resilience, which requires the ability to remain calm, to address a crisis, but maybe leave it weakened but with the strength, the ability and the confidence to create a tomorrow of own business, adapting to change

System Dynamics Approach to model a Hybrid Manufacturing System

The aim of this work is to create a simulation model of a manufacturing system operating within the supply chain by system dynamics approach heeding dynamics of system-company and factors that may affect performance, so that management can have a useful tool for decision support. The results have shown interesting correlations between management choices and the system outputs

A decision support tool, implemented in a system dynamics model, to improve the effectiveness in the hospital emergency department

The emergency department of a hospital is, among all areas in which lean policies are focused, the one that has received the most attention. The emergency room, in fact, plays a vital role in providing primary care to patients and is also recognized for the contribution it gives to society. The important results in terms of cost savings and improving the flow due to the reduction of the waiting time of the patients, obtained from major international hospitals, were crucial to assess whether it was possible and useful to implement similar improvements in Italy, certainly not without to many problems in the provision of health services. This paper explores what can be improved for the department to be more efficient, using simulation techniques based on dynamic and continuous logics (system dynamics)

Targeting SUMO E1 to ubiquitin ligases: a viral strategy to counteract sumoylation.

SUMO-1 (small ubiquitin-related modifier-1) is a ubiquitin-like family member that is conjugated to its substrates through three discrete enzymatic steps, activation (involving the E1 enzyme (SAE1/SAE2)), conjugation (involving the E2 enzyme), and substrate modification (through the cooperation of the E2 and E3 protein ligases). The adenoviral protein Gam1 inactivates E1, both in vitro and in vivo, followed by SAE1/SAE2 degradation. We have shown here that Gam1 possesses a C-terminal SOCS domain that allows its interaction with two cellular cullin RING (really interesting new gene) ubiquitin ligases. We demonstrate that Gam1 is necessary for the recruitment of SAE1/SAE2 into Cul2/5-EloB/C-Roc1 ubiquitin ligase complexes and for subsequent SAE1 ubiquitylation and degradation. The degradation of SAE2 is not tightly related to Gam1 but is a consequent effect of SAE1 disappearance. These results reveal the mechanism by which a viral protein inactivates and subsequently degrades an essential cellular enzyme, arresting a key regulatory pathway

Closed‐form solution for the Fatemi‐Socie extended critical plane parameter in case of linear elasticity and proportional loading

Fatigue damage remains a significant issue for both metallic and non-metallic components, being the main cause of in-service failures. Among the different assessment methodologies, critical plane methods have gained significance as they enable identifying the critical location and the early crack propagation orientation. However, the standard plane scanning method used for calculating critical plane factors is computationally intensive, and as a result, it is usually applied only when the component's critical region is known in advance. In the presence of complex geometries, loads, or constraints, a more efficient method would be required. This work presents a closed-form solution to efficiently evaluate a critical plane factor based on the Fatemi-Socie criterion, in the case of isotropic linear-elastic material behavior and proportional loading conditions. The proposed algorithm, based on tensor invariants and coordinate transformation laws, was tested on different case studies under various loading conditions, showing a significant reduction in computation time compared to the standard plane scanning method

Residual stresses influence on the fatigue strength of structural components

Several production processes, both conventional and innovative, may result in residual stresses arising in critical areas of a component. The main issues include high distortion, reduced fatigue life, fracturing or delamination. In this context, standard fatigue design codes traditionally consider residual stresses through conservative assumptions, leading to either sub-optimal design or unexpected failures. Recently, innovative computational techniques have been developed to address residual stresses in a more comprehensive way. As a result, a more effective material utilisation and a more accurate fatigue life assessment can be achieved. The present work examines the influence of residual stresses on the fatigue endurance of S355JR structural steel components. Both welded and notched components were analysed, carrying out numerical and experimental analyses. In the case of welded components, residual stresses resulting from the welding process were numerically evaluated by means of an uncoupled thermal-structural simulation, while for notched specimens a preload causing limited yielding was used to induce a local residual stress field comparable to that obtained for welded specimens nearby the critical locations. Even if he work is still in progress, tests carried out with different specimens under different loading conditions allowed to understand the effect of residual stresses on the fatigue life