Development of a concurrent engineering tutorial as part of the “ESA_Lab@” initiative

As part of the “ESA_Lab@" initiative, a Concurrent Engineering facility has been constructed at the Mechanical Engineering department of Technical University Darmstadt. Concurrent Engineering is a well-proven concept for designing complex space systems and missions in the pre-phase 0/A mission phase. The Concurrent Engineering methodology and processes are enabled by a multidisciplinary team and specific infrastructure in terms of both hardware and software, which generate an effective and time efficient design management system. The university’s “Concurrent Engineering Lab” provides an environment for both researchers and students to explore and apply the Concurrent Engineering approach in areas such as (model-based) systems engineering, Industry 4.0/ Space 4.0, and space traffic management. Furthermore, collaboration with the European Space Operations Centre – also located in Darmstadt – regarding the application of Concurrent Engineering for Ground Segment & Operations has been started. The first addition to the university’s curriculum centered around the Concurrent Engineering Lab will be a “Concurrent Engineering Tutorial”, an opportunity to introduce the Concurrent Engineering methods and tools via hands-on experience to students of the newly established master’s degree program “Aerospace Engineering”. “Tutorials” are elective block courses of the degree program which offer practical learning experiences in many different fields, awarding 4 credit points upon successful completion. Building on the lectures "Fundamentals of Space Systems" and "Space Systems and Space Operations", the week-long “Concurrent Engineering Tutorial” will challenge students to use their acquired knowledge to develop a preliminary design for a predefined CubeSat mission. This Tutorial will not only provide a closer understanding of the individual subsystems of the space segment of a mission, the Concurrent Engineering process and the relevant software “COMET” by RHEA Group but will also create a synergy with a student association of the university, as one of their projects is the development of a CubeSat. This paper describes the background and approach to the development of the Tutorial, in particular the structure of the re-usable model architecture in “COMET”, which was specifically derived and implemented for this purpose and validated via a pilot stud

Diseño de sistema eléctrico con planta eléctrica de emergencia controlado por PLC en los Laboratorios de Computación Pabellón 11 y Electrónica Pabellón 21 de la Facultad de Ciencias e Ingenierías de la UNAN-Managua.

Esta propuesta sugerida está centrada en el diseño del sistema eléctrico total de los laboratorios de computación y electrónica de la facultad de ciencias e ingenierías, así como también implementar el sistema de respaldo para estas áreas. El objetivo que persigue este trabajo es modernizar la parte eléctrica de ambos laboratorios, con el fin de proporcionar seguridad a los equipos utilizados. Para llevar a cabo nuestros objetivos, se ha partido de un diagnóstico de las debilidades del sistema eléctrico actual, tomando en cuenta los elementos utilizados existentes en las áreas en cuestión. Se explicara los procedimientos necesarios para realizar el sistema eléctrico con respaldo. El sistema eléctrico de respaldo está controlado por un mando eléctrico diseñado en el software CROCODILE CLIPS V3.5 con interfaz al PLC, este último se encargara de controlar el sistema de transferencia de la planta eléctrica a las áreas en cuestión, para lograr el desarrollo óptimo del sistema

Public Perceptions of the Health Risks of Extreme Heat Across US States, Counties, and Neighborhoods

Extreme heat is the leading weather-related cause of death in the United States. Many individuals, however, fail to perceive this risk, which will be exacerbated by global warming. Given that awareness of one’s physical and social vulnerability is a critical precursor to preparedness for extreme weather events, understanding Americans’ perceptions of heat risk and their geographic variability is essential for promoting adaptive behaviors during heat waves. Using a large original survey dataset of 9,217 respondents, we create and validate a model of Americans’ perceived risk to their health from extreme heat in all 50 US states, 3,142 counties, and 72,429 populated census tracts. States in warm climates (e.g., Texas, Nevada, and Hawaii) have some of the highest heat-risk perceptions, yet states in cooler climates often face greater health risks from heat. Likewise, places with older populations who have increased vulnerability to health effects of heat tend to have lower risk perceptions, putting them at even greater risk since lack of awareness is a barrier to adaptive responses. Poorer neighborhoods and those with larger minority populations generally have higher risk perceptions than wealthier neighborhoods with more white residents, consistent with vulnerability differences across these populations. Comprehensive models of extreme weather risks, exposure, and effects should take individual perceptions, which motivate behavior, into account. Understanding risk perceptions at fine spatial scales can also support targeting of communication and education initiatives to where heat adaptation efforts are most needed

The Influence of Political Ideology and Socioeconomic Vulnerability on Perceived Health Risks of Heat Waves in the Context of Climate Change

Vulnerability and resilience to extreme weather hazards are a function of diverse physical, social, and psychological factors. Previous research has focused on individual factors that influence public perceptions of hazards, such as politics, ideology, and cultural worldviews, as well as on socioeconomic and demographic factors that affect geographically based vulnerability, environmental justice, and community resilience. Few studies have investigated individual socioeconomic and racial/ethnic differences in public risk perceptions of the health hazards associated with extreme heat events, which are now increasing due to climate change. This study uses multilevel statistical modeling to investigate individual- and geographic-level (e.g., census tract level and regional) social, economic, and biophysical influences on public perceptions of the adverse health impacts associated with heat waves. Political orientation and climate change beliefs are the strongest predictors of heat wave health risk perceptions; household income also has a relatively strong and consistent effect. Contextual socioeconomic vulnerability, measured with a social vulnerability index at the census tract level, also significantly affects heat wave risk perceptions. The strong influence of political orientation and climate beliefs on perceptions of adverse health impacts from heat waves suggests that ideological predispositions can increase vulnerability to climate change

A practical guide for the study of human and murine sebaceous glands in situ

The skin of most mammals is characterised by the presence of sebaceous glands (SGs), whose predominant constituent cell population is sebocytes, that is, lipid-producing epithelial cells, which develop from the hair follicle. Besides holocrine sebum production (which contributes 90% of skin surface lipids), multiple additional SG functions have emerged. These range from antimicrobial peptide production and immunomodulation, via lipid and hormone synthesis/metabolism, to the provision of an epithelial progenitor cell reservoir. Therefore, in addition to its involvement in common skin diseases (e.g. acne vulgaris), the unfolding diversity of SG functions, both in skin health and disease, has raised interest in this integral component of the pilosebaceous unit. This practical guide provides an introduction to SG biology and to relevant SG histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques, with emphasis placed on in situ evaluation methods that can be easily employed. We propose a range of simple, established markers, which are particularly instructive when addressing specific SG research questions in the two most commonly investigated species in SG research, humans and mice. To facilitate the development of reproducible analysis techniques for the in situ evaluation of SGs, this methods review concludes by suggesting quantitative (immuno-)histomorphometric methods for standardised SG evaluation

How Will Climate Change Shape Climate Opinion?

As climate change intensifies, global publics will experience more unusual weather and extreme weather events. How will individual experiences with these weather trends shape climate change beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors? In this article, we review 73 papers that have studied the relationship between climate change experiences and public opinion. Overall, we find mixed evidence that weather shapes climate opinions. Although there is some support for a weak effect of local temperature and extreme weather events on climate opinion, the heterogeneity of independent variables, dependent variables, study populations, and research designs complicate systematic comparison. To advance research on this critical topic, we suggest that future studies pay careful attention to differences between self-reported and objective weather data, causal identification, and the presence of spatial autocorrelation in weather and climate data. Refining research designs and methods in future studies will help us understand the discrepancies in results, and allow better detection of effects, which have important practical implications for climate communication. As the global population increasingly experiences weather conditions outside the range of historical experience, researchers, communicators, and policymakers need to understand how these experiences shape-and are shaped by-public opinions and behaviors

A tetraethylene glycol coat gives gold nanoparticles long in vivo half-lives with minimal increase in size

In this study, we describe the experiments determining whether coating gold nanoparticles with tetraethylene glycol (TEG) provides pharmacologically relevant advantages, such as increased serum half-life and resistance to protein adsorption. Monodisperse TEG-coated, NaBH4-reduced gold nanoparticles with a hydrodynamic size comparable to albumin were synthesized by reducing gold chloride with NaBH4 under alkaline conditions in the presence of TEG-SH. The particles were characterized by gel electrophoresis, column chromatography, and transmission electron microscopy. The nanoparticles were subsequently injected intravenously into mice, and their half-lives and final destinations were determined via photometric analysis, light microscopy (LM), and transmission electron microscopy. The TEG particles had a long half-life (~400 minutes) that was not influenced by splenectomy. After 500 minutes of injection, TEG particles were found in kidney proximal tubule cell vesicles and in spleen red and white pulp. The particles induced apoptosis in the spleen red pulp but not in white pulp or the kidney. Some of the TEG particles appeared to have undergone ligand exchange reactions that increased their charge. The TEG particles were shown to be resistant to nonspecific protein adsorption, as judged by gel electrophoresis and column chromatography. These results demonstrate that naturally monodisperse, small-sized gold nanoparticles coated with TEG have long in vivo plasma half-lives, are minimally toxic, and are resistant to protein adsorption. This suggests that a TEG coating should be considered as an alternative to a polyethylene glycol coating, which is polydisperse and of much larger size

Climate Change in the American Mind, September 2021

Our latest national survey finds that overall public understanding that climate change is happening, affecting the weather, and harming Americans is at all-time record highs. For example, Americans who think global warming is happening outnumber those who think it is not by a ratio of more than 6 to 1 (76% versus 12%). Those who are "very" or "extremely" sure global warming is happening outnumber those who are "very" or "extremely" sure it is not by about 8 to 1 (57% versus 7%). The report includes many other interesting findings, including how often Americans hear and talk about global warming.This report is based on findings from a nationally representative survey – Climate Change in the American Mind – conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (climatecommunication.yale.edu) and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication (climatechangecommunication.org). Interview dates: September 10 – 20, 2021. Interviews: 1,006 Adults (18+). Average margin of error +/- 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level

Graduate Students’ Meaning-making of Teaching and Learning in an International Doctoral Forum

The purpose of this paper was to make meaning of doctoral students’ experiences as they expanded their understanding of teaching and learning through reflection. Using case study as a methodology approach, a group of doctoral candidates examined purposeful events that unfolded during their participation in an international doctoral forum in East Asia. Guided by transformative learning theory and reflective practice inquiry, the research findings indicated that graduate students’ perceptions of teaching and learning in an international context were shaped by their various identities, past experiences, cultural backgrounds, and social interactions. The research also illustrated how participation in the forum supported doctoral candidates in advancing their scholarly identities as they reflected upon various moments throughout the event. The implications for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) were significant as reflective activities surrounding the doctoral forum helped to explain how transformative learning experiences could contribute to doctoral students’ transition into academia