Singularities of the hyperbolic elastic flow: Convergence, quantization and blow-ups

This paper delves into the intricate study of the elastic flow of closed curves and of open curves with clamped boundary conditions. While prior research has made strides in establishing global existence and convergence toward critical points for initial data with energy levels below a certain threshold, this study pioneers an investigation into the singular behavior exhibited by this flow. Specifically, we present a novel and comprehensive convergence theorem applicable to arbitrary initial data, coupled with a quantification of potential singularities based on the energy content of the initial configuration: Each singularity carries a cost of at least 8 in terms of the elastic energy. Moreover, we can prove that blow-ups of these singularities are asymptotically geodesic elastica. Of particular significance is our contribution in the understanding of the singular limit of the elastic flow of $\lambda$-figure-eights, an intriguing configuration that previously already served in showing sharpness of the energy threshold 16 for the smooth convergence of the elastic flow of closed curves

COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH AND THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. A FRAMEWORK FOR THE EVALUATION OF SCIENCE SHOP WORK

Esta tesis trata sobre las perspectivas democráticas presentes en iniciativas de investigación basada en la comunidad en universidades técnicas. Focaliza sobre un movimiento particular dentro del campo, las tiendas de la cienca (science shops), que desde sus orígenes en los Países Bajos en los años 1970 reivindica su contribución a la 'democratización de la ciencia y la tecnología'. La referencia teórica habitual que sostiene esa reivindicación es la interpretación dada por Richard Sclove (1995) del concepto de la democracia fuerte. Según esta perspectiva, la contribución de las tiendas de la ciencia a la democracia se basa en su 'enfoque basado en la demanda': las tiendas de la ciencia hacen responder la investigación directamente a las demandas expresadas por colectivos ciudadanos; de esta forma, 'empoderan' esos colectivos y promueven a la vez la inclusión de sus preocupaciones en la investigación y enseñanza universitaria. Sin embargo, esta perspectiva democrática no da cuenta del trabajo efectivo de las tiendas de la ciencia. La tesis analiza la práctica de las tiendas de la ciencia desde una perspectiva democrática alternativa que se corresponde con un enfoque centrado en los 'issues' (Marres, 2005; 2007) y a los principios de la democracia técnica (Callon, Lascoumes y Barthe, 2009). Estudia para ello el trabajo de la Tienda de la Ciencia de la Universidad Técnica de Dinamarca, y en particular un proceso de investigación colaborativa en planificación urbana facilitado por esta institución. La evaluación reflexiva de un proyecto piloto llevado a cabo para impulsar la creación de una tienda de la ciencia en la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia completa la investigación. El análisis de las prácticas observadas mediante la perspectiva centrada en los issues muestra el potencial de este enfoque para una mejor comprensión del trabajo de las tiendas de la ciencia y de su relevancia democrática.Schlierf, KS. (2010). COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH AND THE DEMOCRATIZATION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. A FRAMEWORK FOR THE EVALUATION OF SCIENCE SHOP WORK [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/8331Palanci

Psychological Predictors of Injury in Division III Collegiate Student-Athletes

This study examined five psychological variables that have been reported to predict injury in collegiate athletes at the Division I level in an NCAA Division III population. It was hypothesized that 1) injuries sustained and the number of days missed due to injury would be predicted by life stress, social support, coping resources, trait anxiety, and hardiness; and 2) that life stress would be the strongest psychological predictor. Male and female participants (n = 125) from six Division III sport teams completed surveys measuring each variable, as well as demographical questions regarding gender, sport type, year in school, and previous injury. Participants consented to have their injury data anonymously reported to the researcher. Information was collected towards the beginning and end of each sport season. Two hierarchical multiple regressions were completed, utilizing all psychological and demographical variables. The first regression was performed using the ‘number of injuries’ as the dependent variable, while the second was performed using ‘days missed due to injury’ as the dependent variable. Results indicated that hardiness accounted for 17% of the variance in days missed, and previous injury accounted for 11% of the variance in the number of injuries sustained. These findings resulted in the rejection of both hypotheses. Further research exploring the potential influence of these psychological predictors on injury frequency at the Division III level is needed to determine if Division III student-athletes’ injuries can be predicted by the same psychological variables that have been reported to predict injury at the Division I level

NASA Planning for Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Ground Operations

The NASA Orion Ground Processing Team was originally formed by the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Constellation (Cx) Project Office's Orion Division to define, refine and mature pre-launch and post-landing ground operations for the Orion human spacecraft. The multidisciplined KSC Orion team consisted of KSC civil servant, SAIC, Productivity Apex, Inc. and Boeing-CAPPS engineers, project managers and safety engineers, as well as engineers from Constellation's Orion Project and Lockheed Martin Orion Prime contractor. The team evaluated the Orion design configurations as the spacecraft concept matured between Systems Design Review (SDR), Systems Requirement Review (SRR) and Preliminary Design Review (PDR). The team functionally decomposed prelaunch and post-landing steps at three levels' of detail, or tiers, beginning with functional flow block diagrams (FFBDs). The third tier FFBDs were used to build logic networks and nominal timelines. Orion ground support equipment (GSE) was identified and mapped to each step. This information was subsequently used in developing lower level operations steps in a Ground Operations Planning Document PDR product. Subject matter experts for each spacecraft and GSE subsystem were used to define 5th - 95th percentile processing times for each FFBD step, using the Delphi Method. Discrete event simulations used this information and the logic network to provide processing timeline confidence intervals for launch rate assessments. The team also used the capabilities of the KSC Visualization Lab, the FFBDs and knowledge of the spacecraft, GSE and facilities to build visualizations of Orion pre-launch and postlanding processing at KSC. Visualizations were a powerful tool for communicating planned operations within the KSC community (i.e., Ground Systems design team), and externally to the Orion Project, Lockheed Martin spacecraft designers and other Constellation Program stakeholders during the SRR to PDR timeframe. Other operations planning tools included Kaizen/Lean events, mockups and human factors analysis. The majority of products developed by this team are applicable as KSC prepares 21st Century Ground Systems for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and Space Launch System

Information management in Reverse logistics

This paper presents an overview of challenges related to information management in reverse logistics and an overview of selected disruptive technologies (Internet of Things, Blockchain, Cloud computing and Artificial intelligence) that improve information management and information flow in the reverse logistics chain. The theoretical background of reverse logistics and selected disruptive technologies is provided. The goal of this paper is to research how information management in reverse logistics can be improved through the use of disruptive technologies. The research problem results from increased costs and insufficient prediction accuracy in the reverse logistics chain

Preventing Falls with Vitamin D

Falls are the number one cause for injury-related morbidity and mortality in West Virginia’s seniors. Multiple independent variables contribute to the risk of a fall: previous falls, alterations in balance and vision, impairments in gait and strength, and medications most highly correlate with the risk for a fall. Vitamin D supplementation is emerging as an easy, safe and well-tolerated fall reduction/prevention strategy due to the beneficial effects on the musculoskeletal system with improvements in strength, function and navigational abilities. From meta-analysis data, maximal fall reduction benefit in seniors is achieved when correcting vitamin D deficiency and when using adjunctive calcium supplementation. It is therefore recommended that practitioners in our state screen for fall risks and consider the addition of supplementation protocols that provide sufficient vitamin D and calcium to our seniors

Heat treatment of thioredoxin fusions increases the purity of α-helical transmembrane protein constructs.

Membrane proteins play key roles in cellular signaling and transport, represent the majority of drug targets, and are implicated in many diseases. Their relevance renders them important subjects for structural, biophysical, and functional investigations. However, obtaining membrane proteins in high purities is often challenging with conventional purification steps alone. To address this issue, we present here an approach to increase the purity of α-helical transmembrane proteins. Our approach exploits the Thioredoxin (Trx) tag system, which is able to confer some of its favorable properties, such as high solubility and thermostability, to its fusion partners. Using Trx fusions of transmembrane helical hairpin constructs derived from the human cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) and a bacterial ATP synthase, we establish conditions for the successful implementation of the selective heat treatment procedure to increase sample purity. We further examine systematically its efficacy with respect to different incubation times and temperatures using quantitative gel electrophoresis. We find that minute-timescale heat treatment of Trx-tagged fusion constructs with temperatures ranging from 50 to 90°C increases the purity of the membrane protein samples from ~60 to 98% even after affinity purification. We show that this single-step approach is even applicable in cases where regular selective heat purification from crude extracts, as reported for Trx fusions to soluble proteins, fails. Overall, our approach is easy to integrate into existing purification strategies and provides a facile route for increasing the purity of membrane protein constructs after purification by standard chromatography approaches

Kennedy Space Center Orion Processing Team Planning for Ground Operations

Topics in this presentation are: Constellation Ares I/Orion/Ground Ops Elements Orion Ground Operations Flow Orion Operations Planning Process and Toolset Overview, including: 1 Orion Concept of Operations by Phase 2 Ops Analysis Capabilities Overview 3 Operations Planning Evolution 4 Functional Flow Block Diagrams 5 Operations Timeline Development 6 Discrete Event Simulation (DES) Modeling 7 Ground Operations Planning Document Database (GOPDb) Using Operations Planning Tools for Operability Improvements includes: 1 Kaizen/Lean Events 2 Mockups 3 Human Factors Analysi