Hands-On Learning Environment and Educational Curriculum on Collaborative Robotics

The objective of this paper is to describe teaching modules developed at Wayne State University integrate collaborative robots into existing industrial automation curricula. This is in alignment with Oakland Community College and WSU’s desire to create the first industry-relevant learning program for the use of emerging collaborative robotics technology in advanced manufacturing systems. The various learning program components will prepare a career-ready workforce, train industry professionals, and educate academicians on new technologies. Preparing future engineers to work in highly automated production, requires proper education and training in CoBot theory and applications. Engineering and Engineering Technology at Wayne State University offer different robotics and mechatronics courses, but currently there is not any course on CoBot theory and applications. To follow the industry needs, a CoBot learning environment program is developed, which involves theory and hands-on laboratory exercises in order to solve many important automaton problems. This material has been divided into 5-modules: (1) Introduce the concepts of collaborative robotics, (2) Collaborative robot mechanisms and controls, (3) Safety considerations for collaborative robotics, (4) Collaborative robot operations and programming, (5) Collaborative robot kinematics and validation. These modules cover fundamental knowledge of CoBots in advanced manufacturing systems technology. Module content has been developed based on input and materials provided by CoBot manufacturers. After completing all modules students must submit a comprehensive engineering report to document all requirements

Prognostic impact of systemic inflammatory diseases in elderly patients with congestive heart failure

Background and aims: Inflammation is part of the pathophysiology of congestive heart failure (CHF). However, little is known about the impact of the presence of systemic inflammatory disease (SID), defined as inflammatory syndrome with constitutional symptoms and involvement of at least two organs as co-morbidity on the clinical course and prognosis of patients with CHF. Methods and results: This is an analysis of all 622 patients included in TIME-CHF. After an 18 months follow-up, outcomes of patients with and without SID were compared. Primary endpoint was all-cause hospitalization free survival. Secondary endpoints were overall survival and CHF hospitalization free survival. At baseline, 38 patients had history of SID (6.1%). These patients had higher N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide and worse renal function than patients without SID. SID was a risk factor for adverse outcome [primary endpoint: hazard ratio (HR) = 1.73 (95% confidence interval: 1.18-2.55, P = 0.005); survival: HR = 2.60 (1.49-4.55, P = 0.001); CHF hospitalization free survival: HR = 2.3 (1.45-3.65, P < 0.001)]. In multivariate models, SID remained the strongest independent risk factor for survival and CHF hospitalization free survival. Conclusions: In elderly patients with CHF, SID is independently accompanied with adverse outcome. Given the increasing prevalence of SID in the elderly population, these findings are clinically important for both risk stratification and patient managemen

A boundary exchange influence on deglacial neodymium isotope records from the deep western Indian Ocean

The use of neodymium (Nd) isotopes to reconstruct past water mass mixing relies upon the quasi-conservative behaviour of this tracer, whereas recent studies in the modern oceans have suggested that boundary exchange, involving the addition of Nd from ocean margin sediments, may be an important process in the Nd cycle. Here we suggest that the relative importance of water mass advection versus boundary exchange can be assessed where the deep western boundary current in the Indian Ocean flows past the Madagascan continental margin; a potential source of highly unradiogenic Nd. Foraminiferal coatings and bulk sediment reductive leachates are used to reconstruct bottom water Nd isotopic composition (εNd) in 8 Holocene age coretops, with excellent agreement between the two methods. These data record spatial variability of ∼4 εNd units along the flow path of Circumpolar Deep Water; εNd≈−8.8 in the deep southern inflow upstream of Madagascar, which evolves towards εNd≈−11.5 offshore northern Madagascar, whereas εNd≈−7.3 where deep water re-circulates in the eastern Mascarene Basin. This variability is attributed to boundary exchange and, together with measurements of detrital sediment εNd, an isotope mass balance suggests a deep water residence time for Nd of ≤400 yr along the Madagascan margin. Considering deglacial changes, a core in the deep inflow upstream of Madagascar records εNd changes that agree with previous reconstructions of the Circumpolar Deep Water composition in the Southern Ocean, consistent with a control by water mass advection and perhaps indicating a longer residence time for Nd in the open ocean away from local sediment inputs. In contrast, sites along the Madagascan margin record offset εNd values and reduced glacial–interglacial variability, underlining the importance of detecting boundary exchange before inferring water mass source changes from Nd isotope records. The extent of Madagascan boundary exchange appears to be unchanged between the Holocene and Late Glacial periods, while a consistent shift towards more radiogenic εNd values at all sites in the Late Glacial compared to the Holocene may represent a muted signal of a change in water mass source or composition

Post-landslide soil and vegetation recovery in a dry, montane system is slow and patchy

Landslides are common disturbances in forests around the world, and a major threat to human life and property. Landslides are likely to become more common in many areas as storms intensify. Forest vegetation can improve hillslope stability via long, deep rooting across and through failure planes. In the U.S. Rocky Mountains, landslides are infrequent but widespread when they do occur. They are also extremely understudied, with little known about the basic vegetation recovery processes and rates of establishment which restabilize hills. This study presents the first evaluation of post-landslide vegetation recovery on forested landslides in the southern Rocky Mountains. Six years after a major landslide event, the surveyed sites have very little regeneration in initiation zones, even when controlling for soil coverage. Soils are shallower and less nitrogen rich in initiation zones as well. Rooting depth was similar between functional groups regardless of position on the slide, but deep-rooting trees are much less common in initiation zones. A lack of post-disturbance tree regeneration in these lower elevation, warm/dry settings, common across a variety of disturbance types, suggests that complete tree restabilization of these hillslopes is likely to be a slow or non-existent, especially as the climate warms. Replacement by grasses would protect against shallow instabilities but not the deeper mass movement events which threaten life and property

GroEL provides a folding pathway with lower apparent activation energy compared to spontaneous refolding of human carbonic anhydrase II

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/117184/1/feb2s0014579397006637.pd

Design of a bed load and driftwood filtering dam, analysis of the phenomena and hydraulic design

Flood protection often calls on to the realization of retention works for bed load as well as wood and debris flow. Certain relatively recent arrangements did not perform according to their intended function, what shows the complexity of the design and the implementation of such works. Adaptations were necessary to reach the security objectives. The design of a retention dam for solid materials and floating driftwood requires the consideration of numerous hydraulic and material transport processes. The analyses and design validation can be made with two approaches: physical modelling by the construction of a reduced scale model and the test realization or numerical simulation, by means of software packages such as GESMAT (1D) or TOPOFLOW (2D). The present work consists in implementing both approaches, in estimating and in comparing the answers which could be given for a bed load and debris flow filtering dam on a river with a slope of the order of 10%. Thanks to water level gauges and visual observations during tests on the physical model, the progression of the obstructions by driftwood and bed load is well understood, and the effectiveness of these obstructions proven. The tested work plays at first a role of filtering and retention and secondly a role of side overflow towards a zone with low damage potential, when the capacity of the in-stream retention space is reached. The performed numerical simulations, essentially in 1D, reproduce well the phenomena of bed load aggradation. Moreover, the potential obstruction by floating wood is considered and influences the behavior of the structure. By putting in parallel physical and numerical models, it was possible thanks to the results from the physical scale model to refine the numerical simulation tools taking into consideration additional components and behavior-type rules. These further established rules can now be used for other cases where physical modelling is not foreseen

Antarctic climate, Southern Ocean circulation patterns, and deep water formation during the Eocene

We assess early-to-middle Eocene seawater neodymium (Nd) isotope records from seven Southern Ocean deep-sea drill sites to evaluate the role of Southern Ocean circulation in long-term Cenozoic climate change. Our study sites are strategically located on either side of the Tasman Gateway and are positioned at a range of shallow (Nd(t) = −9.3 ± 1.5). IODP Site U1356 off the coast of Adélie Land, a locus of modern-day Antarctic Bottom Water production, is identified as a site of persistent deep water formation from the early Eocene to the Oligocene. East of the Tasman Gateway an additional local source of intermediate/deep water formation is inferred at ODP Site 277 in the SW Pacific Ocean (εNd(t) = −8.7 ± 1.5). Antarctic-proximal shelf sites (ODP Site 1171 and Site U1356) reveal a pronounced erosional event between 49 and 48 Ma, manifested by ~2 εNd unit negative excursions in seawater chemistry toward the composition of bulk sediments at these sites. This erosional event coincides with the termination of peak global warmth following the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum and is associated with documented cooling across the study region and increased export of Antarctic deep waters, highlighting the complexity and importance of Southern Ocean circulation in the greenhouse climate of the Eocene

Interactions of Cathinone NPS with Human Transporters and Receptors in Transfected Cells

Pharmacological assays carried out in transfected cells have been very useful for describing the mechanism of action of cathinone new psychoactive substances (NPS). These in vitro characterizations provide fast and reliable information on psychoactive substances soon after they emerge for recreational use. Well-investigated comparator compounds, such as methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, cocaine, and lysergic acid diethylamide, should always be included in the characterization to enhance the translation of the in vitro data into clinically useful information. We classified cathinone NPS according to their pharmacology at monoamine transporters and receptors. Cathinone NPS are monoamine uptake inhibitors and most induce transporter-mediated monoamine efflux with weak to no activity at pre- or postsynaptic receptors. Cathinones with a nitrogen-containing pyrrolidine ring emerged as NPS that are extremely potent transporter inhibitors but not monoamine releasers. Cathinones exhibit clinically relevant differences in relative potencies at serotonin vs. dopamine transporters. Additionally, cathinone NPS have more dopaminergic vs. serotonergic properties compared with their non-β-keto amphetamine analogs, suggesting more stimulant and reinforcing properties. In conclusion, in vitro pharmacological assays in heterologous expression systems help to predict the psychoactive and toxicological effects of NPS

An open source Bayesian Monte Carlo isotope mixing model with applications in Earth surface processes

The implementation of isotopic tracers as constraints on source contributions has become increasingly relevant to understanding Earth surface processes. Interpretation of these isotopic tracers has become more accessible with the development of Bayesian Monte Carlo (BMC) mixing models, which allow uncertainty in mixing end‐members and provide methodology for systems with multicomponent mixing. This study presents an open source multiple isotope BMC mixing model that is applicable to Earth surface environments with sources exhibiting distinct end‐member isotopic signatures. Our model is first applied to new δ18O and δD measurements from the Athabasca Glacier, which showed expected seasonal melt evolution trends and vigorously assessed the statistical relevance of the resulting fraction estimations. To highlight the broad applicability of our model to a variety of Earth surface environments and relevant isotopic systems, we expand our model to two additional case studies: deriving melt sources from δ18O, δD, and 222Rn measurements of Greenland Ice Sheet bulk water samples and assessing nutrient sources from ɛNd and 87Sr/86Sr measurements of Hawaiian soil cores. The model produces results for the Greenland Ice Sheet and Hawaiian soil data sets that are consistent with the originally published fractional contribution estimates. The advantage of this method is that it quantifies the error induced by variability in the end‐member compositions, unrealized by the models previously applied to the above case studies. Results from all three case studies demonstrate the broad applicability of this statistical BMC isotopic mixing model for estimating source contribution fractions in a variety of Earth surface systems.Key Points:Open source BMC model determines source contributions in Earth surface systemsEffectively applied to stable and radiogenic isotope systems in various settingsModel able to encompass end‐member uncertainties and multiple isotopic systemsPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111937/1/ggge20708.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111937/2/ggge20708-sup-0001-2014GC005683-ts01.pd