Melt conveying in counter-rotating twin-screw extruders

Imperial Users onl

A survey on the measure of combat readiness

Measuring the combat readiness in military forces involves the measures of tangible and intangible elements of combat power. Though these measures are applicable, the mathematical models and formulae used focus mainly on either the tangible or the intangible elements. In this paper, a review is done to highlight the research gap in the formulation of a mathematical model that incorporates tangible elements with intangible elements to measure the combat readiness of a military force. It highlights the missing link between the tangible and intangible elements of combat power. To bridge the gap and missing link, a mathematical model could be formulated that measures both the tangible and intangible aspects of combat readiness by establishing the relationship between the causal (tangible and intangible) elements and its effects on the measure of combat readiness. The model uses multiple regression analysis as well as mathematical modeling and simulation which digest the capability component reflecting its assets and resources, the morale component reflecting human needs, and the quality of life component reflecting soldiers’ state of satisfaction in life. The results of the review provide a mean to bridge the research gap through the formulation of a mathematical model that shows the total measure of a military force’s combat readiness. The results also significantly identify parameters for each of the variables and factors in the model

Blended learning as a conduit for inquiry-based instruction, active learning, formative assessment and its impact on students’ learning outcomes in higher education

There is a definite impact of inquiry-based instruction, active learning and formative assessment on students’ learning outcomes because all of these factors have the tendency to drive student’s motivation, interest and performance in learning, especially when it is grounded in the use of the Blended Learning (BL) method. In view of this, the study attempted to identify the effect of these factor(s) on students’ learning outcomes such as self interest, self efficacy and cognitive development.This study employed a quantitative method and a 5 point Likert scale survey instrument was used to gauge the response from students at the Faculty of Education in a public university. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed and about 80% were returned from 444 student respondents. BL based formative assessment was found to be a strong contributor to the variance in learning outcomes, in higher education. The study indicated that a student’s interest, cognitive development and self efficacy were influenced by many factors however, providing them with BL based active learning opportunities were extremely fruitful.In addition, inquiry based instruction and formative performance assessment are known as outstanding methods in recent years that have produced a shift in the focus of students’ attention particularly towards learning in tertiary institutions

Vasculature-on-a-chip platform with innate immunity enables identification of angiopoietin-1 derived peptide as a therapeutic for SARS-CoV-2 induced inflammation

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Non-uniform central airways ventilation model based on vascular segmentation

Improvements in the understanding of the physiology of the central airways require an appropriate representation of the non-uniform ventilation at its terminal branches. This paper proposes a new technique for estimating the non-uniform ventilation at the terminal branches by modelling the volume change of their distal peripheral airways, based on vascular segmentation. The vascular tree is used for sectioning the dynamic CT-based 3D volume of the lung at 11 time points over the breathing cycle of a research animal. Based on the mechanical coupling between the vascular tree and the remaining lung tissues, the volume change of each individual lung segment over the breathing cycle was used to estimate the non-uniform ventilation of its associated terminal branch. The 3D lung sectioning technique was validated on an airway cast model of the same animal pruned to represent the truncated dynamic CT based airway geometry. The results showed that the 3D lung sectioning technique was able to estimate the volume of the missing peripheral airways within a tolerance of 2%. In addition, the time-varying non-uniform ventilation distribution predicted by the proposed sectioning technique was validated against CT measurements of lobar ventilation and showed good agreement. This significant modelling advance can be used to estimate subject-specific non-uniform boundary conditions to obtain subject-specific numerical models of the central airway flow

Cellular and Genetic Analysis of Wound Healing in Drosophila Larvae

To establish a genetic system to study postembryonic wound healing, we characterized epidermal wound healing in Drosophila larvae. Following puncture wounding, larvae begin to bleed but within an hour a plug forms in the wound gap. Over the next couple of hours the outer part of the plug melanizes to form a scab, and epidermal cells surrounding the plug orient toward it and then fuse to form a syncytium. Subsequently, more-peripheral cells orient toward and fuse with the central syncytium. During this time, the Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway is activated in a gradient emanating out from the wound, and the epidermal cells spread along or through the wound plug to reestablish a continuous epithelium and its basal lamina and apical cuticle lining. Inactivation of the JNK pathway inhibits epidermal spreading and reepithelialization but does not affect scab formation or other wound healing responses. Conversely, mutations that block scab formation, and a scabless wounding procedure, provide evidence that the scab stabilizes the wound site but is not required to initiate other wound responses. However, in the absence of a scab, the JNK pathway is hyperinduced, reepithelialization initiates but is not always completed, and a chronic wound ensues. The results demonstrate that the cellular responses of wound healing are under separate genetic control, and that the responses are coordinated by multiple signals emanating from the wound site, including a negative feedback signal between scab formation and the JNK pathway. Cell biological and molecular parallels to vertebrate wound healing lead us to speculate that wound healing is an ancient response that has diversified during evolution

Encapsulation of parasitoid eggs in phenoloxidase-deficient mutants of Drosophila melanogaster

Eggs of the parasitoid Leptopilina boulardi, strain L104, are routinely encapsulated by haemocytes in Drosophila melanogaster larvae, and the capsules subsequently melanize. In D. melanogaster mutant strains deficient for phenoloxidase activity, L104 eggs are encapsulated by host haemocytes but the cellular capsules do not melanize and harden. These observations suggest that phenoloxidases are not essential for recognition of nonself and encapsulation of foreign objects in D. melanogaster, but they are required for blackening and hardening of haemocytic capsules.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/28895/1/0000731.pd