A problem based / experiential learning approach to teaching maintenance engineering

Good maintenance practice lies at the heart of a manufacturing industry being able to retain its production capabilities and to ensure the integrity of increasingly complex systems. Consequences of system failure can exceed mere monetary penalties to include the well being of staff. From an engineering education perspective, rapid development in technology in parallel with the evolution of traditional engineering disciplines, necessitates the utilization of innovative ways to teach non-traditional or interdisciplinary topics like maintenance. Another challenge in this context, is the ability to allocate time and physical resources in ever more condensed engineering curricula whilst making the learning process engaging for students. This paper details a recent trial to teach a short undergraduate course on maintenance within a mechanical engineering degree where students also look at some safety considerations associated with maintenance practice. A combined Problem Based Learning/Experiential Learning approach applied to machine tool maintenance was adopted using resources readily available in most engineering schools

The disease of corruption: views on how to fight corruption to advance 21st century global health goals

Corruption has been described as a disease. When corruption infiltrates global health, it can be particularly devastating, threatening hard gained improvements in human and economic development, international security, and population health. Yet, the multifaceted and complex nature of global health corruption makes it extremely difficult to tackle, despite its enormous costs, which have been estimated in the billions of dollars. In this forum article, we asked anti-corruption experts to identify key priority areas that urgently need global attention in order to advance the fight against global health corruption. The views shared by this multidisciplinary group of contributors reveal several fundamental challenges and allow us to explore potential solutions to address the unique risks posed by health-related corruption. Collectively, these perspectives also provide a roadmap that can be used in support of global health anti-corruption efforts in the post-2015 development agenda

A high-resolution XAS study of aqueous Cu(II) in liquid and frozen solutions: Pyramidal, polymorphic, and non-centrosymmetric

High-resolution EXAFS (k = 18 Å-1) and MXAN XAS analyses show that axially elongated square pyramidal [Cu(H2O)5]2+ dominates the structure of Cu(II) in aqueous solution, rather than 6-coordinate JT-octahedral [Cu(H2O)6]2+. Freezing produced a shoulder at 8989.6 eV on the rising XAS edge and an altered EXAFS spectrum, while 1s → 3d transitions remained invariant in energy position and intensity. Core square pyramidal [Cu(H2O)5]2+ also dominates frozen solution. Solvation shells were found at ∼3.6 Å (EXAFS) or ∼3.8 Å (MXAN) in both liquid and frozen phases. However, MXAN analysis revealed that about half the time in liquid solution, [Cu(H2O)5]2+ associates with an axially non-bonding 2.9 Å water molecule. This distant water apparently organizes the solvation shell. When the 2.9 Å water molecule is absent, the second shell is undetectable to MXAN. The two structural arrangements may represent energetic minima of fluxional dissolved aqueous [Cu(H2O)5]2+. The 2.9 Å trans-axial water resolves an apparent conflict of the [Cu(H2O)5]2+ core model with a dissociational exchange mechanism. In frozen solution, [Cu(H2O)5]2+ is associated with either a 3.0 Å axial non-bonded water molecule or an axial ClO4- at 3.2 Å. Both structures are again of approximately equal presence. When the axial ClO4- is present, Cu(II) is ∼0.5 Å above the mean O4 plane. This study establishes [Cu(H2O)5]2+ as the dominant core structure for Cu(II) in water solution, and is the first to both empirically resolve multiple extended solution structures for fluxional [Cu(H2O)5]2+ and to provide direct evidence for second shell dynamics

The early ontogeny of the Columella auris of Crocodilus niloticus and its bearing on problems concerning the upper end of the reptilian hyoid arch

No Abstract

Sustainable Policy Design through Integrated Basin Models: Findings from the Rio Grande

In the Rio Grande Basin, water is over-appropriated, and demands for water grow while supplies are constrained by drought and climate change. The Basin is currently in its seventh year of drought, and reservoirs are at historically low levels. Agricultural and municipal river diversions have been sharply curtailed; low flows threaten endangered species. A central policy challenge is the design and implementation of plans that allocate the Basin\u27s water supplies efficiently, fairly, and sustainably. Such plans are complicated by the demands of existing water users, potential new users, three state governments, and two sovereign nations. These challenges are addressed by designing and developing an integrated basin-wide nonlinear programming model to optimize water allocations and use levels for the Basin. The model permits a quantitative testing and analysis of whether institutional adjustments can limit damages caused by drought. It identifies changes in water uses and allocations that result from those adjustments. Compared to existing rules governing the Basin\u27s water use, future drought damages could be reduced by one-fifth to one-third per year from intrastate and interstate water markets coupled with marginal cost pricing, respectively, that permit water transfers across jurisdictions. Results show hydrologic and economic tradeoffs among water uses, regions, and drought control programs

Enhanced Position Verification for VANETs using Subjective Logic

The integrity of messages in vehicular ad-hoc networks has been extensively studied by the research community, resulting in the IEEE~1609.2 standard, which provides typical integrity guarantees. However, the correctness of message contents is still one of the main challenges of applying dependable and secure vehicular ad-hoc networks. One important use case is the validity of position information contained in messages: position verification mechanisms have been proposed in the literature to provide this functionality. A more general approach to validate such information is by applying misbehavior detection mechanisms. In this paper, we consider misbehavior detection by enhancing two position verification mechanisms and fusing their results in a generalized framework using subjective logic. We conduct extensive simulations using VEINS to study the impact of traffic density, as well as several types of attackers and fractions of attackers on our mechanisms. The obtained results show the proposed framework can validate position information as effectively as existing approaches in the literature, without tailoring the framework specifically for this use case.Comment: 7 pages, 18 figures, corrected version of a paper submitted to 2016 IEEE 84th Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC2016-Fall): revised the way an opinion is created with eART, and re-did the experiments (uploaded here as correction in agreement with TPC Chairs