Workforce Aging in Production Systems: Modeling and Performance Evaluation

AbstractHuman factor is considered as a cost effective alternative to expensive automated solutions, as well as an easily interchangeable high flexible resource. However, for many years the influence of human behavior on production system performance has been underestimated and a lot of unrealistic assumptions have been used to simplify the human component modeling.Nowadays, population aging is acknowledged as a global trend. Among individual factors impacting on workers’ performance, high attention is being paid to the age from scientific community, policy-makers and business leaders.The aim of this paper is to provide some highlights about the main scientific literature findings, regarding aging effects, in a quickly consultable and synthetic form; the elements characterizing human performance could then be included in models and ergonomic evaluation tools.In the initial part of the paper, demographic aspects and their implications on workforce composition are illustrated; successively, a state of the art of human behavior modeling is provided and main findings on age-related performance characteristics are summarized

Total Synthesis of Aspidosperma and Strychnos Alkaloids through Indole Dearomatization

Monoterpenoid indole alkaloids are the major class of tryptamine-derived alkaloids found in nature. Together with their structural complexity, this has attracted great interest from synthetic organic chemists. In this Review, the syntheses of Aspidosperma and Strychnos alkaloids through dearomatization of indoles are discussed

On Long-Range Order in Low-Dimensional Lattice-Gas Models of Nematic Liquid Crystals

The problem of the orientational ordering transition for lattice-gas models of liquid crystals is discussed in the low-dimensional case $d=1,2$. For isotropic short-range interactions, orientational long-range order at finite temperature is excluded for any packing of molecules on the lattice $Z^d$; on the other hand, for reflection-positive long-range isotropic interactions, we prove existence of an orientational ordering transition for high packing ($\mu > \mu_0$) and low temperatures ($\beta > \beta_c(\mu)$).Comment: 11 page

肺結核と梶井基次郎の文学

千葉大学大学院人文社会科学研究科研究プロジェクト報告書第184集『日本近代文学と病』 滝藤満義

Белково-энергетическая недостаточность как предиктор ранних повторных ревизий после санирующих операций у пациентов с трудноизлечимой перипротезной инфекцией

Background. Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) is an established risk factor of postoperative complications in orthopedic disorders, including arthroplasty of the large joints. The study aimed to evaluate PEM prevalence and its association with the early postoperative revision in patients with the difficult-to-treat (DTT) prosthetic joint infection (PJI) of the hip. Methods. The retrospective study included 132 patients with chronic DTT PJI of the hip. The patients underwent orthopedic implant removal, radical debridement of the infected tissues, and resection arthroplasty with non-free transplantation of an axial vastus lateralis muscle flap (n = 57) or installation of an antimicrobial spacer (n = 75). DTT PJI was defined as an infection caused by rifampicin-resistant staphylococcal strains, ciprofloxacin-resistant gram-negative bacteria, fungi of the genus Candida, and their associations. The assessment of the patients protein-energy status included the evaluation of reference laboratory parameters, such as levels of hemoglobin, total protein, and albumin and number of lymphocytes. The degree of PEM was determined by the number of laboratory markers below the threshold values. The statistical comparison was performed using Fishers test. The odds ratio (OR, 95% confidence interval [CI]) was calculated to assess the risk of PJI recurrence. Differences were considered significant at p0.05. Results. More than 70% of patients with chronic DTT PJI included in the study were diagnosed with preoperative PEM of varying degrees of severity. Hypoalbuminemia and decreased hemoglobin levels were diagnosed more often: 64.3% and 57.1% in the muscle flap plasty and 57.3% and 31.1% in the antimicrobial spacer group, respectively. In muscle plasty and antimicrobial spacer groups, a decrease in the values of three or more reference PEM markers was detected in 28.5% and 16.0% of patients, and this advanced impairment of the nutritional status increased the risk of early revision intervention by two (OR 2.0; CI 95% 0.478.56; p = 0.35) and six times (OR 6.11; 95% CI 1.0635.35; p0.04), respectively. Conclusion. In general, the analysis of publications and results of our study show that PEM is associated with the development of surgical site infection and recurrence of PJI after revision surgery. A decrease in the values of three or more reference PEM markers is a significant predictor of repeated revisions after debridement surgery with the installation of an antimicrobial spacer. PEM complicates the postoperative course in patients with resection arthroplasty. Given the high incidence of PEM in patients with DTT PJI of the hip joint, further research is needed to develop methods for nutritional status correction and assessment of their effect on the outcomes of debridement surgery.Введение. Белково-энергетическая недостаточность (БЭН) является доказанным фактором риска развития послеоперационных осложнений у ортопедических больных, в том числе и после эндопротезирования крупных суставов. Целью исследования была оценка частоты встречаемости БЭН и ее влияния на необходимость выполнения ревизионного вмешательства в раннем послеоперационном периоде у пациентов с трудноизлечимой (ТИ) перипротезной инфекцией (ППИ) тазобедренного сустава. Материал и методы. В ретроспективное исследование включено 132 пациента с хронической ТИ ППИ тазобедренного сустава, которым были выполнены удаление ортопедического имплантата, радикальная хирургическая обработка очага инфекции и резекционная артропластика с несвободной пересадкой осевого мышечного лоскута из m. vastus lateralis (n = 57) или установка антимикробного спейсера (n = 75). К ТИ ППИ относили инфекцию, обусловленную рифампицин-резистентными штаммами стафилококков, ципрофлоксацин-резистентными штаммами грамотрицательных бактерий, грибами рода Candida, а также их ассоциациями. Оценка белково-энергетического статуса пациента включала определение опорных лабораторных показателей: уровней гемоглобина, общего белка, альбумина и количество лимфоцитов. Степень БЭН определяли по количеству лабораторных маркеров ниже пороговых значений. Сопоставление относительных показателей сравнения выполняли с применением критерия Фишера. Для оценки влияния БЭН на развитие рецидива рассчитывали отношение шансов (ОШ, 95% ДИ). Различия принимали за достоверные при p0,05. Результаты. Более чем у 70٪ больных с хронической ТИ ППИ, включенных в исследование, до операции была диагностирована БЭН различной степени тяжести. Чаще диагностировали гипоальбуминемию и снижение уровня гемоглобина: соответственно 64,3% и 57,1% в группе мышечной пластики и 57,3% и 31,1% в группе антимикробного спейсера. В группах мышечной пластики и антимикробного спейсера дефицит трех и более опорных показателей БЭН был выявлен соответственно у 28,5% и 16,0% пациентов, при этом наличие таких выраженных нарушений нутриционного статуса увеличивало риск раннего ревизионного вмешательства в 2 раза (ОШ = 2,0; ДИ 95% 0,478,56; p = 0,35) и в 6 раз (ОШ = 6,11; ДИ 95% 1,06-35,35; p0,04). Заключение. Анализ научных публикаций и результаты нашего исследования показывают, что БЭН связана с развитием ИОХВ и рецидивом ППИ после ревизионных операций. Снижение трех и более опорных показателей БЭН является значимым предиктором повторных ревизий после санирующих операций с установкой антимикробного спейсера, а также ухудшает течение раннего послеоперационного периода у пациентов с резекционной артропластикой. С учетом высокой частоты встречаемости БЭН различной степени тяжести у пациентов с ТИ ППИ тазобедренного сустава необходимы дальнейшие исследования по разработке методов коррекции нутриционного статуса и оценке их влияния на исходы санирующих операций

Base Metal Catalyzed Isocyanide Insertions

Isocyanides are diverse C1 building blocks considering their potential to react with nucleophiles, electrophiles, and radicals. Therefore, perhaps not surprisingly, isocyanides are highly valuable as inputs for multicomponent reactions (MCRs) and other one-pot cascade processes. In the field of organometallic chemistry, isocyanides typically serve as ligands for transition metals. The coordination of isocyanides to metal centers alters the electronic distribution of the isocyano moiety, and reaction pathways can therefore be accessed that are not possible in the absence of the metal. The tunable reactivity of the isocyanide functional group by transition metals has evolved into numerous useful applications. Especially palladium-catalyzed isocyanide insertion processes have emerged as powerful reactions in the past decade. However, reports on the use of earth-abundant and cheap base metals in these types of transformations are scarce and have received far less attention. In this Minireview, we focus on these emerging base metal catalyzed reactions and highlight their potential in synthetic organic chemistry. Although mechanistic studies are still scarce, we discuss distinct proposed catalytic cycles and categorize the literature according to 1) the (hetero)atom bound to and 2) the type of bonding with the transition metal in which the (formal) insertion occurs

Irreversible Processes in Inflationary Cosmological Models

By using the thermodynamic theory of irreversible processes and Einstein general relativity, a cosmological model is proposed where the early universe is considered as a mixture of a scalar field with a matter field. The scalar field refers to the inflaton while the matter field to the classical particles. The irreversibility is related to a particle production process at the expense of the gravitational energy and of the inflaton energy. The particle production process is represented by a non-equilibrium pressure in the energy-momentum tensor. The non-equilibrium pressure is proportional to the Hubble parameter and its proportionality factor is identified with the coefficient of bulk viscosity. The dynamic equations of the inflaton and the Einstein field equations determine the time evolution of the cosmic scale factor, the Hubble parameter, the acceleration and of the energy densities of the inflaton and matter. Among other results it is shown that in some regimes the acceleration is positive which simulates an inflation. Moreover, the acceleration decreases and tends to zero in the instant of time where the energy density of matter attains its maximum value.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, to appear in PR

Iodospirocyclization of Tryptamine-Derived Isocyanides:Formal Total Synthesis of Aspidofractinine

The N-iodosuccinimide-mediated spirocyclization of tryptamine-derived isocyanides to generate spiroindolenines is reported. The products contain both an imine and an imidoyl iodide as flexible handles for follow-up chemistry. Nucleophilic addition typically occurs chemoselectively on the imine moiety with complete diastereoselectivity, providing opportunities for the construction of complex molecular frameworks. The synthetic potential of the method was showcased in the formal total synthesis of (±)-aspidofractinine

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results