Equivalent air spring suspension model for quarter-passive model of passenger vehicles

This paper investigates the GENSIS air spring suspension system equivalence to a passive suspension system. The SIMULINK simulation together with the OptiY optimization is used to obtain the air spring suspension model equivalent to passive suspension system, where the car body response difference from both systems with the same road profile inputs is used as the objective function for optimization (OptiY program). The parameters of air spring system such as initial pressure, volume of bag, length of surge pipe, diameter of surge pipe, and volume of reservoir are obtained from optimization. The simulation results show that the air spring suspension equivalent system can produce responses very close to the passive suspension system

A Stimulus Timing Device for Capturing Fast Physiologic Events by Quick-Freezing

A timing device was designed that, in conjunction with an impact type of quick-freezing apparatus and an externally-triggerable stimulus generator, allows the application of an electrical stimulus to a muscle preparation at a selected time interval before quick-freezing and the measurement of the interval with submillisecond precision. This is needed for stopping fast physiological events in calcium release and excitation-contraction coupling and allows studying the morphological parameters (by freeze-fracture and freeze-substitution) and elemental distributions (by x-ray microanalysis) as a function of time after stimulation. The device should be adaptable for use with most equipment designed for quick-freezing electrically excitable tissue by impact on a cold solid surface

One session laparoscopic management of Mirizzi syndrome: feasible and safe in specialist units

BACKGROUND:To evaluate the laparoscopic management of Mirizzi syndrome, seldom diagnosed preoperatively causing difficulty when performing cholecystectomy and increasing complication risks. METHODS:Analysis of a prospective single-surgeon database of 5700 laparoscopic cholecystectomies found 58 Mirizzi syndrome cases. They were managed with an intention to treat during the index admission according to protocol of single-session management of bile duct stones. RESULTS:38/58 patients were females (65.5%). The median age was 55 years. 53 cases were emergency admissions. 34 cases (58.6%) only had ultrasound scanning. Operative difficulty was Grade IV in 34 cases (58.6%) and Grade V in 20 (34.5%) (Nassar Scale). There were 33 Mirizzi Type IA, 7 Type IB, 16 Type II and one each of Type III and Type IV. Bile duct exploration was performed in 94.8% through choledochotomy/ transfistula in 58.6% or transcystic in 36.2%. Four cases required conversion to open. Postoperative morbidity occurred in 29%. Two 30-day mortalities occurred from pneumonia in two elderly patients who were late referrals. CONCLUSION:Although the utilization of the laparoscopic approach in managing bile duct stones is not currently widely practiced it was safer in this series than in reported series of open surgery in Mirizzi Syndrome. The optimal approach to Mirizzi Type II is via cholecystocholedochal fistula to explore the bile duct then drain with T-tube through the fistula. It is unnecessary to perform bilioenteric bypass in majority of cases, reducing the morbidity and mortality

The role of Architectural Competitions in Breach the Familiar in Contemporary Architectural Production

استخدمت المسابقات المعمارية للحصول على مجموعة من التصاميم للمشاريع المعمارية والحضرية وتقديم الأفكار الخلاقة لإيجاد نتاجات معمارية بصيغ متفردة ولامألوفة تتفوق على زمانها وتضيف قيمة رمزية وجمالية لسياقها مكانيًا وثقافيًا. يحفز هاجس الفوز بالمسابقة المعماريين الى خرق المألوفات النمطية السائدة في عمليات إيجاد الشكل المعماري، وبهذا فقد برزت مشكلة البحث بـ (النقص المعرفي على مستوى الدراسات المحلية حول المسابقات المعمارية وارتباطها الفاعل بعمليات خرق المألوف في نتاجات العمارة المعاصرة) ويهدف البحث الى وضع تصور نظري واضح حول المسابقات المعمارية ودورها كمحفز ملهم للمعمارين في خرق المألوف السائد بغية الوصول الى نتاجات معمارية إبداعية معاصرة. ويفترض البحث فاعلية المسابقات المعمارية في خرق المألوف عن طريق إضفاء مجموعة من الخصائص الشكلية والجمالية اولا والمادية والوظيفية ثانيًا، ولتحقيق اهداف البحث تم تبني منهج تحليلي وصفي لمشاريع عالمية معاصرة ومن ثم تحليل مجموعة من الدراسات السابقة واستخلاص مفردات الإطار النظري وتطبيقها على عينة بحثية تضمنت ثلاثة مشاريع عالمية وإقليمية ومحلية وتحليلها. واستنتج البحث بان الخصائص الشكلية هي المؤشرات الأكثر تأثيرًا في زيادة احتمالية فوز المشروع في المسابقة المعمارية.Architectural competitions were used to obtain a set of designs for architectural and urban projects and to present creative ideas to create architectural products in unique and unusual formulas that surpass their time and add symbolic and aesthetic value to their spatial and cultural context. The obsession with winning the competition motivates the architects to breach the stereotypical norms prevailing in the processes of creating an architectural form, and thus the research problem has arisen with (the lack of knowledge at the level of local studies about architectural competitions and its active link to processes that breach the familiar in the products of contemporary architecture). The research aims to develop a clear theoretical perception about Architectural competitions and their role as an inspiring catalyst for architects in breaching the familiar in order to reach creative contemporary architectural products. The research assumes the effectiveness of architectural competitions in breaching the familiar by imparting a set of formal and aesthetic characteristics first, material and functional second, and to achieve the objectives of the research, an analytical and descriptive approach was adopted for contemporary international projects, and then analyzed a group of previous studies and extracted the vocabulary of the theoretical framework and applied it to a research sample that included three projects Global, regional, and local and analyzed. The research concluded that formal characteristics are the most influential indicators in increasing the likelihood of a project winning the architectural competition