Safety Engineering with COTS components

Safety-critical systems are becoming more widespread, complex and reliant on software. Increasingly they are engineered through Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) (Commercial Off The Shelf) components to alleviate the spiralling costs and development time, often in the context of complex supply chains. A parallel increased concern for safety has resulted in a variety of safety standards, with a growing consensus that a safety life cycle is needed which is fully integrated with the design and development life cycle, to ensure that safety has appropriate influence on the design decisions as system development progresses. In this article we explore the application of an integrated approach to safety engineering in which assurance drives the engineering process. The paper re- ports on the outcome of a case study on a live industrial project with a view to evaluate: its suitability for application in a real-world safety engineering setting; its benefits and limitations in counteracting some of the difficulties of safety en- gineering with COTS components across supply chains; and, its effectiveness in generating evidence which can contribute directly to the construction of safety cases

How have changes in death by cause and age group contributed to the recent stalling of life expectancy gains in Scotland? Comparative decomposition analysis of mortality data, 2000–2002 to 2015–2017

Objective: Annual gains in life expectancy in Scotland were slower in recent years than in the previous two decades. This analysis investigates how deaths in different age groups and from different causes have contributed to annual average change in life expectancy across two time periods: 2000–2002 to 2012–2014 and 2012–2014 to 2015–2017. Setting Scotland. Methods: Life expectancy at birth was calculated from death and population counts, disaggregated by 5 year age group and by underlying cause of death. Arriaga’s method of life expectancy decomposition was applied to produce estimates of the contribution of different age groups and underlying causes to changes in life expectancy at birth for the two periods. Results: Annualised gains in life expectancy between 2012–2014 and 2015–2017 were markedly smaller than in the earlier period. Almost all age groups saw worsening mortality trends, which deteriorated for most cause of death groups between 2012–2014 and 2015–2017. In particular, the previously observed substantial life expectancy gains due to reductions in mortality from circulatory causes, which most benefited those aged 55–84 years, more than halved. Mortality rates for those aged 30–54 years and 90+ years worsened, due in large part to increases in drug-related deaths, and dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, respectively. Conclusion: Future research should seek to explain the changes in mortality trends for all age groups and causes. More investigation is required to establish to what extent shortcomings in the social security system and public services may be contributing to the adverse trends and preventing mitigation of the impact of other contributing factors, such as influenza outbreaks

The Grizzly, September 24, 1982

Crime Comes to Collegeville: Attempted Assault on Main Street • New Advising System for Freshmen Students • Union Program Board Projects VCR Movies • McNamara to Speak at Ursinus Gym • What? More New Faculty? • Speech Exemption Exam Set • Writing Center Opens • Time for Action • Name That Tune! • In the Limelight • USGA Notes • Forum Review • Kohler Exhibits at Myrin • Brown Sets X-country Record • Volleyball Team Keeps Their Winning Ways • Field Hockey Tops Gettysburg in O.T. • U.C. Soccer Wins Their First • Grizzlies Look Tough in 6-6 Tiehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1082/thumbnail.jp

Lumped parameter modeling as a predictive tool for a battery status monitor

The Advanced Technology Development Program is currently evaluating the performance of the second generation of lithium-ion cells (i.e., Gen 2 cells). Both the Gen 2 Baseline and Variant C cells are tested in accordance with the cell-specific test plan, and are removed at roughly equal power fade increments and sent for destructive diagnostic analysis. The diagnostic laboratories did not need all test cells for analysis, and returned five spare cells to the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). INEEL used these cells for special pulse testing at various duty cycles, amplitudes, and durations to investigate the usefulness of the lumped parameter model (LPM) as a predictive tool in a battery status monitor (BSM). The LPM is a simplified linear model that accurately predicts the voltage response during certain pulse conditions. A database of parameter trends should enable dynamic predictions of state-of-charge and state-of-health conditions during in-vehicle pulsing. This information could be used by the BSM to provide accurate information to the vehicle control system

Gender Differences in the Relationships between Perceived Stress, Eating Behaviors, Sleep, Dietary Risk, and Body Mass Index

Background: Obesity is a growing epidemic among university students, and the high levels of stress reported by this population could contribute to this issue. Singular relationships between perceived stress; engagement in restrained, uncontrolled, and emotional eating; sleep; dietary risk; and body mass index (BMI) have been reported in the current body of literature; however, these constructs interact with each other, and the complex relationships among them are infrequently examined. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to explore the complex relationships between these constructs using mediation and moderation analyses stratified by gender. Methods: A cross-sectional study, enrolling university students from the United States (U.S.), the Netherlands, South Korea, Malaysia, Ireland, Ghana, and China, was conducted between October 2020 and January 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Perceived stress; maladaptive eating behaviors including restrained, uncontrolled, and emotional eating; sleep duration and quality; dietary risk; and BMI were assessed using validated questionnaires, which were distributed through an online platform. Results: A total of 1392 students completed the online survey (379 male, 973 female, and 40 who self-identified as “other”). Uncontrolled and emotional eating mediated the relationship between perceived stress and dietary risk for both males and females; higher sleep quality weakened this relationship among female students but not males. Emotional eating mediated the relationship between perceived stress and BMI for both males and females, but higher sleep quality weakened this relationship only among females. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that students in higher education are likely to benefit from interventions to reduce uncontrolled and emotional eating. Programs that improve sleep quality, especially during highly stressful periods, may be helpful

Impact on and use of an inner-city London Infectious Diseases Department by international migrants: a questionnaire survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The UK has witnessed a considerable increase in immigration in the past decade. Migrant may face barriers to accessing appropriate health care on arrival and the current focus on screening certain migrants for tuberculosis on arrival is considered inadequate. We assessed the implications for an inner-city London Infectious Diseases Department in a high migrant area.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We administered an anonymous 20-point questionnaire survey to all admitted patients during a 6 week period. Questions related to sociodemographic characteristics and clinical presentation. Analysis was by migration status (UK born <it>vs </it>overseas born).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>111 of 133 patients completed the survey (response rate 83.4%). 58 (52.2%) were born in the UK; 53 (47.7%) of the cohort were overseas born. Overseas-born were over-represented in comparison to Census data for this survey site (47.7% <it>vs </it>33.6%; proportional difference 0.142 [95% CI 0.049–0.235]; p = 0.002): overseas born reported 33 different countries of birth, most (73.6%) of whom arrived in the UK pre-1975 and self-reported their nationality as British. A smaller number (26.4%) were new migrants to the UK (≤10 years), mostly refugees/asylum seekers. Overseas-born patients presented with a broad range and more severe spectrum of infections, differing from the UK-born population, resulting in two deaths in this group only. Presentation with a primary infection was associated with refugee/asylum status (n = 8; OR 6.35 [95% CI 1.28–31.50]; p = 0.023), being a new migrant (12; 10.62 [2.24–50.23]; p = 0.003), and being overseas born (31; 3.69 [1.67–8.18]; p = 0.001). Not having registered with a primary-care physician was associated with being overseas born, being a refugee/asylum seeker, being a new migrant, not having English as a first language, and being in the UK for ≤5 years. No significant differences were found between groups in terms of duration of illness prior to presentation or duration of hospitalisation (mean 11.74 days [SD 12.69]).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Migrants presented with a range of more severe infections, which suggests they face barriers to accessing appropriate health care and screening both on arrival and once settled through primary care services. A more organised and holistic approach to migrant health care is required.</p

Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents measurements of the $W^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu$ and $W^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu$ cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13