In-Plane Deformation Mechanics for Highly Stretchable Electronics

Scissoring in thick bars suppresses buckling behavior in serpentine traces that have thicknesses greater than their widths, as detailed in a systematic set of analytical and experimental studies. Scissoring in thick copper traces enables elastic stretchability as large as approximate to 350%, corresponding to a sixfold improvement over previously reported values for thin geometries (approximate to 60%).</p

Differences in stress tolerance and brood size between a non-indigenous and an indigenous gammarid in the northern Baltic Sea

Differences in stress tolerance and reproductive traits may drive the competitive hierarchy between nonindigenous and indigenous species and turn the former ones into successful invaders. In the northern Baltic Sea, the non-indigenous Gammarus tigrinus is a recent invader of littoral ecosystems and now occupies comparable ecological niches as the indigenous G. zaddachi. In laboratory experiments on specimens collected between June and August 2009 around Tva¨rminne in southern Finland (59°500N/23°150E), the tolerances towards heat stress and hypoxia were determined for the two species using lethal time, LT50, as response variable. The brood size of the two species was also studied and some observations were made on maturation of juveniles. Gammarus tigrinus was more resistant to hypoxia and survived at higher temperatures than G. zaddachi. Brood size was also greater in G. tigrinus than in G. zaddachi and G. tigrinus matured at a smaller size and earlier than G. zaddachi. Hence, there are clear competitive advantages for the non-indigenous G. tigrinus compared to the indigenous G. zaddachi, and these may be further strengthened through ongoing environmental changes related to increased eutrophication and a warming climate in the Baltic Sea region

Competitive Benchmarking: An IS Research Approach to Address Wicked Problems with Big Data and Analytics

Wicked problems like sustainable energy and financial market stability are societal challenges that arise from complex socio-technical systems in which numerous social, economic, political, and technical factors interact. Understanding and mitigating them requires research methods that scale beyond the traditional areas of inquiry of Information Systems (IS) “individuals, organizations, and markets” and that deliver solutions in addition to insights. We describe an approach to address these challenges through Competitive Benchmarking (CB), a novel research method that helps interdisciplinary research communities to tackle complex challenges of societal scale by using different types of data from a variety of sources such as usage data from customers, production patterns from producers, public policy and regulatory constraints, etc. for a given instantiation. Further, the CB platform generates data that can be used to improve operational strategies and judge the effectiveness of regulatory regimes and policies. We describe our experience applying CB to the sustainable energy challenge in the Power Trading Agent Competition (Power TAC) in which more than a dozen research groups from around the world jointly devise, benchmark, and improve IS-based solutions

Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes

Cancer is driven by genetic change, and the advent of massively parallel sequencing has enabled systematic documentation of this variation at the whole-genome scale(1-3). Here we report the integrative analysis of 2,658 whole-cancer genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We describe the generation of the PCAWG resource, facilitated by international data sharing using compute clouds. On average, cancer genomes contained 4-5 driver mutations when combining coding and non-coding genomic elements; however, in around 5% of cases no drivers were identified, suggesting that cancer driver discovery is not yet complete. Chromothripsis, in which many clustered structural variants arise in a single catastrophic event, is frequently an early event in tumour evolution; in acral melanoma, for example, these events precede most somatic point mutations and affect several cancer-associated genes simultaneously. Cancers with abnormal telomere maintenance often originate from tissues with low replicative activity and show several mechanisms of preventing telomere attrition to critical levels. Common and rare germline variants affect patterns of somatic mutation, including point mutations, structural variants and somatic retrotransposition. A collection of papers from the PCAWG Consortium describes non-coding mutations that drive cancer beyond those in the TERT promoter(4); identifies new signatures of mutational processes that cause base substitutions, small insertions and deletions and structural variation(5,6); analyses timings and patterns of tumour evolution(7); describes the diverse transcriptional consequences of somatic mutation on splicing, expression levels, fusion genes and promoter activity(8,9); and evaluates a range of more-specialized features of cancer genomes(8,10-18).Peer reviewe

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

The effects of methanol fuel on combustion in premixed dual fuel engine

The environmental pollution and depleting fossil fuels have been considered as a critical issue all over the world. Many efforts have been devoted to investigating alternative fuels to tackle these problems. Alcohol fuels are potential candidates to alternative energy as it can mitigate pollutant emission. In addition, alcohol fuels can be applied to current diesel engines with technical modifications. This thesis mainly focuses on the effects of methanol fuel on in-cylinder process in premixed dual fuel engine. Different fuel ratios were tested to investigate the effects of methanol fuel. Existing diesel engine models, which have been developed by TU delft, were used to conduct computer simulations. To describe dual fuel combustion, separated vibe functions were adopted in the existing models. The simulation results indicated that the cooling effect caused by high heat of evaporation of methanol affected in-cylinder processes. With increase of methanol injection, start of ignition delayed due to the cooling effect. The longer ignition delay improved premixing of pilot fuel and it led to higher heat release rates. In case of maximum temperature, it was affected by both the cooling effects and diesel injection timing. With advanced diesel injection timing (-5.5 TDC), maximum temperature of dual fuel mode was higher than only diesel mode due to strong premixed combustion. Due to the lower LHV of methanol fuel, brake specific fuel consumption became higher with increase of methanol injection. Brake thermal efficiency decreased with increase of methanol injection due to lower combustion efficiency. The current models are not able to differentiate different combustion durations for diesel and methanol fuels. Further developments of the models are recommended to increase simulation accuracy. Furthermore, simulation on different diesel injection timing is recommended to better understand methanol combustion.Mechanical, Maritime and Materials EngineeringMarine and Transport TechnologyMechanical engineering / Sustainable Process and Energy Technolog

Regulation of autophagy by metabolic and stress signaling pathways in the heart

Autophagy is an essential process for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis in the heart under both normal and stress conditions. Autophagy is a key degradation pathway and acts as a quality control sensor. It protects myocytes from cytotoxic protein aggregates and dysfunctional organelles by quickly clearing them from cell. It also responds to changes in energy demand and mechanical stressors to maintain contractile function. The autophagic-lysosomal pathway responds to serum starvation to ensure that the cell maintains its metabolism and energy levels when nutrients run low. In contrast, excessive activation of autophagy is detrimental to cells and contributes to development of pathological conditions. A number of signaling pathways and proteins regulate autophagy. These include the AMPK/mTOR pathway, FoxO transcription factors, Sirt1, oxidative stress, Bcl-2 family proteins, and the E3 ubiquitin ligase Parkin. In this review, we will discuss how this diverse cast of characters regulates the important autophagic process in the myocardium.Journal ArticlePublishe

Learning from successes and failures of registration of patent applications based on physical ergonomics

Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin

3D scan to product design: Methods, techniques, and cases

3D scanning technology has derived great opportunities for ergonomic product designs. This paper is aimed to introduce various research cases and methods based on 3D scanning have conducted by an ergonomics laboratory in South Korea. Sizing systems and representative 3D models developed on anthropometric measurements and 3D scan images with technical know-how were applied to the design of various products. Head, face, ear, upper limb, and waist parts, and full body in seated were anthropometrically analyzed for the design of headwear (e.g., helmet, goggle, and headphone), oxygen mask, earphone, arm-wear (e.g., watch, armband), hip protector, and vehicle seat, Customized software for the efficient analyses such as measurement of anthropometric dimensions, analysis of sizing systems, extraction of representative models, and virtual fit evaluation between products and the body were developed and applied in the product design process with massive 3D images. Representative models (e.g., torso and head) were printed in 3D for effective usage to the design and evaluation of related products. Advanced methods and techniques such as finite element modeling, morphing, and skin deformation have been applied to 3D scanned images for an advanced design of product shapes in further researches.Industrial DesignIndustrial Design Engineerin