Design of a Microgravity Hybrid Inflatable Airlock

Spacewalks, or extra-vehicular activities (EVAs), are a critical component of human space exploration for science activities and habitat construction and maintenance. For NASA's proposed lunar Gateway system, an airlock module is required for vehicle maintenance, repair, and exploration. Traditional airlock structures are fully metallic, with two chambers, known as an equipment lock and a crew lock. The larger volume, called the equipment lock, serves as the storage, logistics and electronics area, while the smaller volume, called the crew lock, serves as the volume to transition from the vacuum of space to the pressurized cabin. A traditional metallic structure design offers mass efficiency for these elements, but cannot offer volume efficiency. The potential to use an inflatable fabric pressure shell supplemented by a metallic support structure allows for efficiency in both mass and volume. Inflatable structures are being used for human habitable space modules, starting with the Bigelow Expandable Activities Module on the International Space Station. They are high-strength fabric-based structures that are compactly stowed for launch and then, once in space, they are expanded and rigidized with internal pressure. They provide significant launch volume savings over metallic structures. For Gateway, a hybrid airlock design is proposed with both metallic and inflatable structural elements, taking advantage of each material's capabilities. A metallic equipment lock serves as both a docking node and provides pressurized volume for pre-EVA activities including pre-breathe and suit donning/doffing. A rigid equipment lock offers stowage space during launch for integrated hardware and suits. Adding an integrated inflatable crew lock provides the volume required for EVAs with minimal use of launch volume. Using dual inflatable crew locks provides redundancy and the capability to move large pieces of equipment into and out of the vehicle for repair and maintenance. The inflatable crew lock is deflated and packaged in the launch shroud and expanded after installation on the Gateway. This packing capability allows additional volume to be added to the equipment lock and fully utilize the capability of the launch vehicle. This report outlines the work completed to design, analyze, and test the systems of a microgravity airlock with inflatable crew locks. In detail, it includes launch vehicles, structural sizing of the metallic equipment lock, the fabric layers of the inflatable crew lock, the internal structure of the crew lock, the space suit interface elements, the crew restraint system, the hatches and pass-throughs, the material and thermal elements, and the crew operations for the usage of the system. This paper is meant to offer a reference design for a hybrid microgravity airlock design for deep space human exploration

Dietary lipid source and vitamin e influence on chicken meat quality and lipid oxidation stability

In the poultry industry, further processed meat products have the highest share in the market, and because there is a growing demand of food products with enriched amounts of unsaturated fatty acids, the objectives of this research were to assess lipid oxidation development and quality characteristics of chicken meat as affected by dietary fat and vitamin E levels. Broilers were fed during six weeks with diets containing animal/vegetable, lard, palm kernel, soybean, conjugated linoleic acid, flaxseed, or menhaden oil. Each lipid diet was supplemented with either a control (33 or 42 mg/kg) or a supranutritional level (200-400 or 200 mg/kg) of vitamin E. Breast and thigh meat, or skin, were processed, packaged, and refrigerated as raw meat, cooked patties, or cooked sous vide meat. The results showed that the chicken meat fatty acid composition reflected those from the dietary fats. In the meat or skin there was a higher lipid oxidation susceptibility as the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids increased, shown as malonaldehyde values, particularly in the treatments with low supplemented level of vitamin E (P<0.05). The relative lipid oxidative stability of the meat decreased in consecutive order from raw, cooked sous vide, and cooked meat patties. Sous vide cooked meat developed lipid oxidation at a slow rate and showed not to be affected by nonheme iron values. Dietary fat and vitamin E level affected breast meat lightness (L* color space) values (P<0.05), but not muscle pH, Allo-Kramer shear force, or water holding capacity. In conclusion, the increment in the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids increases the susceptibility to lipid oxidation in the meat. Supranutritional supplementation levels of vitamin E are more effective at inhibiting the lipid oxidation development in chicken meat than some current levels used by the poultry industry. Neither dietary fat nor vitamin E level seems to affect the development of pale, soft, and exudative meat condition in chicken meat

Toxicidad y teratogénesis por arsénico en aguas en el pez cebra (Danio rerio)

El objetivo del trabajo fue estudiar los daños teratogénicos y la inducción de micronúcleos en células branquiales de peces cebra (Danio rerio) por presencia de arsénico en las aguas. Fueron mantenidos en aguas bicarbonatadas cálcicas magnésicas de un pozo de referencia y del pozo "Zimapán 5", del Municipio Zimapán, Estado de Hidalgo, México. Este último, con un contenido de arsénico que varía de 0,395-0,630 mg/L. Para el estudio de genotoxicidad se evaluaron durante 180 días en 3 tratamientos: agua del pozo de referencia (control negativo, sin As), agua del pozo de referencia adicionada con 5,0 mg As (V)/L (control positivo), y en agua del pozo "Zimapán 5", colocándose 65 especimenes por tratamiento. Después de 30 días hubo una disminución de As en el agua del control positivo de 1092,65 ppb (36,42 ppb/día) mientras en pescados hubo un incremento de 523,81 ppb (17,46 ppb/día). Para el agua del pozo "Zimapán 5" hubo una disminución de 211,40 ppb (7,04 ppb/día), y en pescados hubo un incremento de 74,73 ppb (2,49 ppb/día). Este resultado pone de manifiesto el alto grado de bioacumulación de As en el pez, que en relación al control negativo muestra que es 2,54 veces mayor. En relación a la frecuencia de inducción de micronúcleos en células branquiales, al final de los 180 días en el control negativo hubo una generación espontánea de 0,8 micronúcleos/1000 células, en el control positivo hubo una frecuencia de inducción de micronúcleos 163,5 veces mayor que en el control negativo, mientras que en los peces expuestos al agua del pozo "Zimapán 5" fue 56,25 veces mayor con respecto al mismo. Estos resultados demuestran la genotoxicidad del As en Danio rerio. Para el estudio de teratogénesis, se colocó una hembra y un macho en apareamiento en las mismas condiciones de los tratamientos, obteniendo que a mayor concentración de As en el agua mayor porcentaje de huevos no viables, menor porcentaje de huevos viables y de eclosión, mayor porcentaje de alevines recién eclosionados y juveniles con malformaciones, y menor porcentaje de juveniles sobrevivientes

A novel RGB-trichrome staining method for routine histological analysis of musculoskeletal tissues.

Morphometry and histology are essential approaches for investigation and diagnosis of musculo-skeletal disorders. Despite the advent of revolutionary methods of image analysis and high resolution three-dimensional imaging technology, basic conventional light microscopy still provides an incisive overview of the structure and tissue dynamics of the musculoskeletal system. This is crucial to both preclinical and clinical research, since several clinically relevant processes, such as bone repair, osteoarthritis, and metabolic bone diseases, display distinct, if not pathognomonic, histological features. Due to the particular characteristics of the skeletal tissues (i.e., the existence of mineralized extracellular matrices), a large number of staining methods applicable to either decalcified or undecalcified tissues are available. However, it is usually the case that several staining methods need to be sequentially applied in order to achieve the different endpoints required to fully assess skeletal tissue structure and dynamics, and to allow morphometric quantification. We describe herein a novel staining method, the RGB trichrome, amenable for application to decalcified, paraffin embedded human musculoskeletal tissues. The acronym RGB corresponds to the three primary dyes used: picrosirius Red, fast Green, and alcian Blue. Although these individual pigments are commonly used either isolated, in binary combinations, or as part of more complex polychrome staining methods, when merged in the RGB trichrome staining produce high-quality/high-contrast images, permitting not only clear identification of different tissues (i.e., the different types of cartilage, bone and fibrous connective tissue), but also discrimination between calcified and uncalcified bone and cartilage, as well as an unexpected diversity of shades of color, while displaying singular properties among polychrome staining methods, such as the unveiling of the bone osteocyte dendritic/canalicular network. Hence, we propose the RGB trichrome as simple but highly-reliable tool for the preclinical and clinical study of the musculoskeletal system

Enfrentando los riesgos socionaturales

El objetivo del libro es comprender la magnitud de los Riesgos Socionaturales en México y Latinoamérica, para comprender el peligro que existe por algún tipo de desastre, ya sea inundaciones, sismos, remoción en masa, entre otros, además conocer qué medidas preventivas, correctivas y de contingencias existen para estar atentos ante alguna señal que la naturaleza esté enviando y así evitar alguna catástrofe. El libro se enfoca en los aspectos básicos de análisis de los peligros, escenarios de riesgo, vulnerabilidad y resiliencia, importantes para la gestión prospectiva o preventiva

Towards precision medicine: defining and characterizing adipose tissue dysfunction to identify early immunometabolic risk in symptom-free adults from the GEMM family study

Interactions between macrophages and adipocytes are early molecular factors influencing adipose tissue (AT) dysfunction, resulting in high leptin, low adiponectin circulating levels and low-grade metaflammation, leading to insulin resistance (IR) with increased cardiovascular risk. We report the characterization of AT dysfunction through measurements of the adiponectin/leptin ratio (ALR), the adipo-insulin resistance index (Adipo-IRi), fasting/postprandial (F/P) immunometabolic phenotyping and direct F/P differential gene expression in AT biopsies obtained from symptom-free adults from the GEMM family study. AT dysfunction was evaluated through associations of the ALR with F/P insulin-glucose axis, lipid-lipoprotein metabolism, and inflammatory markers. A relevant pattern of negative associations between decreased ALR and markers of systemic low-grade metaflammation, HOMA, and postprandial cardiovascular risk hyperinsulinemic, triglyceride and GLP-1 curves was found. We also analysed their plasma non-coding microRNAs and shotgun lipidomics profiles finding trends that may reflect a pattern of adipose tissue dysfunction in the fed and fasted state. Direct gene differential expression data showed initial patterns of AT molecular signatures of key immunometabolic genes involved in AT expansion, angiogenic remodelling and immune cell migration. These data reinforce the central, early role of AT dysfunction at the molecular and systemic level in the pathogenesis of IR and immunometabolic disorders

Modelo de automatización de procesos de negocio basado en BPM y ECM, aplicado al proceso de titulación profesional en la Facultad de Ingeniería de la Universidad Privada Antenor Orrego, año 2020

Las organizaciones producen, manejan y conservan documentos durante el desarrollo de sus actividades, como parte integral de sus procesos, servicios y sistemas de gestión; para muchas de ellas, los documentos están firmemente asociados al propio negocio, provocando enormes acumulaciones de documentos en diversos soportes; como es el caso de las universidades, quienes necesitan gestionar sus flujos de trabajo y documentos asociados, de forma racional, optimizada y automatizada, para satisfacer las necesidades y expectativas de los clientes, así como contribuir al logro de los objetivos de la organización. El presente trabajo, propone un modelo para la automatización de procesos de negocio aplicando políticas de gestión documental predefinidas por la organización, basado en las iniciativas de BPM y ECM, para guiar el modelado, análisis, diseño e implementación del proceso de titulación profesional, como egresado, en la Facultad de Ingeniería de la Universidad Privada Antenor Orrego, correspondiente al año 2020. Se revisaron metodologías y estándares relacionados con la gestión de procesos de negocio y con la gestión documental, así como la integración de sistemas BPM y ECM, como gestor de flujos de trabajo y gestor documental, respectivamente; para definir el ciclo de vida del modelo propuesto. El juicio de cinco expertos permitió validar la estandarización del modelo con una valoración de “excelente” y la complejidad con una valoración de “bueno”. Igualmente, el uso del prototipo del subproceso Revisión de Proyecto de Tesis, permitió comprobar que existe una diferencia significativa en los tiempos empleados en la Escuela Profesional de Ingeniería de Computación y Sistemas, después de aplicar el modelo propuesto.Organizations produce, manage and preserve documents during the development of their activities, as an integral part of their processes, services and management systems; for many of them, the documents are firmly associated with the business itself, causing huge accumulations of documents on various media; as is the case of universities, who need to manage their workflows and associated documents, in a rational, optimized and automated way, to satisfy the needs and expectations of the clients, as well as to contribute to the achievement of the organization's objectives. This work proposes a model for the automation of business processes applying document management policies predefined by the organization, based on BPM and ECM initiatives, to guide the modeling, analysis, design and implementation of the professional qualification process, such as Graduated from the Faculty of Engineering of the Antenor Orrego Private University, corresponding to the year 2020. Methodologies and standards related to business process management and document management were reviewed, as well as the integration of BPM and ECM systems, as manager of workflows and document manager, respectively; to define the life cycle of the proposed model. The judgment of five experts allowed to validate the standardization of the model with a rating of ""excellent"" and the complexity with a rating of ""good"". Likewise, the use of the prototype of the Thesis Project Review sub-process, allowed to verify that there is a significant difference in the times used in the Professional School of Computing and Systems Engineering, after applying the proposed model.Tesi

Flood Risk Assessment in Humanitarian Logistics Process Design

This article deals with the relationship between a flood risk assessment and the humanitarian logistics process design related to emergency events caused by flooding. The magnitude and timing of the flooding is estimated using a forecasting model that requires a hydrologic component to convert rainfall into runoff as well as a hydraulic component to route the flow through the stream network predicting time and severity of the flood wave. Once these components are known, and with the intention of mitigating the impact of the flood wave on the population, we provide the relevant aspects to define humanitarian aid and evacuation plans including processes and metrics of it. Finally, an example that integrates both methodologies is included

Interpretación del concepto de desarrollo del pensamiento y lenguaje variacional en estudiantes de bachillerato con el uso de tecnología

Investigaciones en matemática educativa, reportan que un fenómeno que prevalece en el discurso matemático escolar (dME), es que el conocimiento matemático se considera utilitario, en donde el centro de atención son los algoritmos y no los procesos de construcción de conocimientos (Morales, Mena, Vera y Rivera, 2012). En particular, en el cálculo diferencial es muy común considerar a la derivada, simplemente como otra operación que hay que realizar sobre las funciones y por tanto, ésta es presentada de forma abstracta y sin considerar su base empírica (Cantoral, 2013). Es por esta razón, que reportamos en el presente artículo un acercamiento a la derivada, a partir de desarrollar actividades de modelación con el uso de tecnología en el marco de un laboratorio. Con el fin de dar cuenta de los significados variacionales que sobre la derivada, estudiantes de bachillerato generan para favorecer su Pensamiento y Lenguaje Variacional