Towards a Model-Based Systems Engineering Approach for Robotic Manufacturing Process Modelling with Automatic FMEA Generation

YesThe process of generating FMEA following document-centric approach is tedious and susceptible to human error. This paper presents preliminary methodology for robotic manufacturing process modelling in MBSE environment with a scope of automating multiple steps of the modelling process using ontology. This is followed by the reasoning towards automatic generation of process FMEA from the MBSE model. The proposed methodology allows to establish robust and self-synchronising links between process-relevant information, reduce the likelihood of human error, and scale down time expenses

Leisure, refuge and solidarity:messages in visitors’ books as microforms of travel writing

Visitors’ books not only trace developments in modern tourism, but they also reveal changes in the socio-cultural and language attitudes of travellers from all walks of life over prolonged periods of time. This article investigates messages in visitors’ books from Wales from the mid-nineteenth century up to the present and argues for their recognition as microforms of travel writing. Despite their brevity, entries in visitors’ books are a highly complex form of travel writing particularly in the inscribers’ self-fashioning of identity for future readers. The article examines how writerly choices are not only directly rooted in the discourse of travel, but also in socio-political circumstances in the individual travellers’ countries of origin and their travel destinations

How many motoric body representations can we grasp?

At present there is a debate on the number of body representations in the brain. The most commonly used dichotomy is based on the body image, thought to underlie perception and proven to be susceptible to bodily illusions, versus the body schema, hypothesized to guide actions and so far proven to be robust against bodily illusions. In this rubber hand illusion study we investigated the susceptibility of the body schema by manipulating the amount of stimulation on the rubber hand and the participant’s hand, adjusting the postural configuration of the hand, and investigating a grasping rather than a pointing response. Observed results showed for the first time altered grasping responses as a consequence of the grip aperture of the rubber hand. This illusion-sensitive motor response challenges one of the foundations on which the dichotomy is based, and addresses the importance of illusion induction versus type of response when investigating body representations

Finger posture modulates structural body representations

Patients with lesions of the left posterior parietal cortex commonly fail in identifying their fingers, a condition known as finger agnosia, yet are relatively unimpaired in sensation and skilled action. Such dissociations have traditionally been interpreted as evidence that structural body representations (BSR), such as the body structural description, are distinct from sensorimotor representations, such as the body schema. We investigated whether performance on tasks commonly used to assess finger agnosia is modulated by changes in hand posture. We used the ‘in between’ test in which participants estimate the number of unstimulated fingers between two touched fingers or a localization task in which participants judge which two fingers were stimulated. Across blocks, the fingers were placed in three levels of splay. Judged finger numerosity was analysed, in Exp. 1 by direct report and in Exp. 2 as the actual number of fingers between the fingers named. In both experiments, judgments were greater when non-adjacent stimulated fingers were positioned far apart compared to when they were close together or touching, whereas judgements were unaltered when adjacent fingers were stimulated. This demonstrates that BSRs are not fixed, but are modulated by the real-time physical distances between body parts

Evaluation of zero-dimensional stochastic reactor modelling for a diesel engine application

YesPrediction of engine-out emissions with high fidelity from in-cylinder combustion simulations is still a significant challenge early in the engine development process. This paper contributes to this fast evolving body of knowledge by focusing on the evaluation of NOx emissions predictions capability of a Probability Density Function (PDF) based Stochastic Reactor Engine Models (SRM), for a Diesel engine. The research implements a systematic approach to the study of the SRM engine model performance, based on a detailed space-filling design of experiments based sensitivity analysis of both external and internal parameters, evaluating their effects on the accuracy in matching physical measurements of in-cylinder conditions, and NOx emissions output. The approach proposed in this paper introduces an automatic SRM model calibration methodology across the engine operating envelope, based on a multi-objective optimization approach. This aims to exploit opportunities for internal SRM parameters tuning to achieve good overall modelling performance as a trade-off between physical in-cylinder measurements accuracy and the output NOx emissions predictions error. The results from the case study provide a valuable insight into the effectiveness of the SRM model, showing good capability for NOx emissions prediction and trends, while pointing out the critical sensitivity to the external input parameters and modelling conditions.41043/R00836 Jaguar Land Rover funded research “MULTI-PHYSICS ENGINE SIMULATION FRAMEWORK: RESEARCH INTO ADVANCED CAE CAPABILITY FOR MULTI-PHYSICS SIMULATION FRAMEWORK TO GENERATE HIGH FIDELITY PREDICTION OF ENGINE-OUT EMISSIONS”, 2016 – 2019.Research Development Fund Publication Prize Award winner, March 2019

Epigenetic modification at notch responsive promoters blunts efficacy of inducing notch pathway reactivation after myocardial infarction.

RATIONALE: The Notch pathway plays a key role in stimulating mammalian cardiomyocyte proliferation during development and in the early postnatal life; in adult zebrafish, reactivation of this pathway is also essential to drive cardiac regeneration after injury. OBJECTIVE: We wanted to assess efficacy of Notch pathway stimulation in neonatal and adult hearts as a means to induce cardiac regeneration after myocardial infarction in mice. METHODS AND RESULTS: In early postnatal life, cardiomyocyte exit from the cell cycle was paralleled by decreased Notch signaling and the establishment of a repressive chromatin environment at Notch-responsive genes, characterized by recruitment of the polycomb group enhancer of zeste homolog 2 methyltransferase and the acquisition of the histone 3 Lysine 27 trimethylation histone mark, as detected by chromatin immunoprecipitation. Forced Notch pathway activation by adenoassociated virus gene transfer of activated Notch1 or its ligand Jagged1 expanded the proliferative capacity of neonatal cardiomyocytes; this correlated with increased transcription of Notch target genes and maintenance of an open chromatin conformation at their promoters. The same adenoassociated virus vectors, however, were largely ineffective in stimulating cardiac repair after myocardial infarction in adult mice, despite optimal and long-lasting transgene expression. Analysis of Notch-responsive promoters in adult cardiomyocytes showed marks of repressed chromatin and irreversible CpG DNA methylation. Induction of adult cardiomyocyte re-entry into the cell cycle with microRNAs was independent from Notch pathway reactivation. CONCLUSIONS: Notch pathway activation is crucial in regulating cardiomyocyte proliferation during the early postnatal life, but it is largely ineffective in driving cardiac regeneration in adults, because of permanent epigenetic modification at Notch-responsive promoters

Brain FDG-PET correlates of saccadic disorders in early PSP

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MiR-21-dependent macrophage-to-fibroblast signaling determines the cardiac response to pressure overload.

Background: Cardiac macrophages (cMP) are increasingly recognized as important regulators of myocardial homeostasis and disease, yet the role of noncoding RNA in these cells is largely unknown. Small RNA sequencing of the entire miRNomes of the major cardiac cell fractions revealed microRNA-21 (miR-21) as the single highest expressed microRNA in cMPs, both in health and disease (25% and 43% of all microRNA reads respectively). MiR-21 has been previously reported as a key microRNA driving tissue fibrosis. Here, we aimed to determine the function of macrophage miR-21 on myocardial homeostasis and disease-associated remodeling. Methods: Macrophage-specific ablation of miR-21 in mice driven by Cx3cr1-Cre was used to determine the function of miR-21 in this cell type. As a disease model, mice were subjected to pressure overload for 6 and 28 days. Cardiac function was assessed in vivo by echocardiography, followed by histological analyses and single cell sequencing. Co-cultures of macrophages and cardiac fibroblasts were employed to study macrophage-to-fibroblast signaling. Results: Mice with macrophage-specific genetic deletion of miR-21 were protected from interstitial fibrosis and cardiac dysfunction when subjected to pressure overload of the left ventricle. Single cell sequencing of pressure-overloaded hearts from these mice revealed that miR-21 in macrophages is essential for their polarization towards a M1-like phenotype. Systematic quantification of intercellular communication mediated by ligand-receptor interactions across all cell types revealed that miR-21 primarily determined macrophage-fibroblast communication, promoting the transition from quiescent fibroblasts to myofibroblasts. Polarization of isolated macrophages in vitro towards a pro-inflammatory (M1) phenotype activated myofibroblast transdifferentiation of cardiac fibroblasts in a paracrine manner and was dependent on the rapid induction of miR-21 in cMPs. Conclusions: Our data indicate a critical role of cMPs in pressure overload-induced cardiac fibrosis and dysfunction and reveal macrophage miR-21 as a key molecule for the pro-fibrotic role of cMPs