Analysis of specification systems for the procurement of high-reliability parts

Reliability and quality assurance specifications for component procuremen

Moment inversion problem for piecewise D-finite functions

We consider the problem of exact reconstruction of univariate functions with jump discontinuities at unknown positions from their moments. These functions are assumed to satisfy an a priori unknown linear homogeneous differential equation with polynomial coefficients on each continuity interval. Therefore, they may be specified by a finite amount of information. This reconstruction problem has practical importance in Signal Processing and other applications. It is somewhat of a ``folklore'' that the sequence of the moments of such ``piecewise D-finite''functions satisfies a linear recurrence relation of bounded order and degree. We derive this recurrence relation explicitly. It turns out that the coefficients of the differential operator which annihilates every piece of the function, as well as the locations of the discontinuities, appear in this recurrence in a precisely controlled manner. This leads to the formulation of a generic algorithm for reconstructing a piecewise D-finite function from its moments. We investigate the conditions for solvability of the resulting linear systems in the general case, as well as analyze a few particular examples. We provide results of numerical simulations for several types of signals, which test the sensitivity of the proposed algorithm to noise

Teaching the Three E’s of Sustainability Through Service‐Learning in a Professional Program

Using seven established course design principles for effective service‐learning, this chapter discusses the lessons learned in teaching the three E’s of sustainability: environmental; economic; and (social) equity, in a professional program at an American Midwestern public university.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154652/1/tl20374_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154652/2/tl20374.pd

Deconstructing Disability: A Philosophy for Inclusion

This article offers derrida's deconstruction as a philosophy and practical strategy that challenges the assumed, factual nature of "disability" as a construct explaining human differences. The appeal of deconstruction lies in the contradictory philosophy currently articulated by the inclusion movement, a philosophy that simultaneously supports the disability construct as objective reality while calling for students "with disabilities" to be placed in educational settings designed for students considered nondisabled. This article proposes deconstruction as one coherent philosophical orientation for inclusion, an approach that critiques the political and moral hierarchy of ability and disability. A deconstructionist critique of disability is explained and demonstrated. Practical suggestions for the utilization of deconstruction by special educators are outlined.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68721/2/10.1177_074193259701800605.pd

The Development of Civic Competencies at Secondary Level through Service-Learning Pedagogies

Recent years have seen increasing interest in ensuring that students at all levels in the educational system may acquire broader interpersonal and civic competencies beyond the technical and/or discipline-specific knowledge that has traditionally been valued. This article discusses the emergence of secondary level as an appropriate space for such “citizenship” or “civic” education. Hence, the possibility of developing the intellectual and social competencies associated with citizenship or civic-mindedness at that level is explored. This issue is first addressed in general terms; then we present an experiential pedagogy known as Service-Learning (SL), which has been growing in popularity as an effective approach for achieving the learning outcomes (e.g. knowledge, skills, attitudes) that enable participation in a democratic society. Later, two programs based on this methodology which are applicable to this level of education are presented. After analysis and evaluation of these programs, we appraised the suitability of Service-Learning for the development of civic competencies in secondary education students, the citizens and professionals of the XXI century

Giant regular polyhedra from calixarene carboxylates and uranyl

Self-assembly of large multi-component systems is a common strategy for the bottom-up construction of discrete, well-defined, nanoscopic-sized cages. Icosahedral or pseudospherical viral capsids, built up from hundreds of identical proteins, constitute typical examples of the complexity attained by biological self-assembly. Chemical versions of the so-called 5 Platonic regular or 13 Archimedean semi-regular polyhedra are usually assembled combining molecular platforms with metals with commensurate coordination spheres. Here we report novel, self-assembled cages, using the conical-shaped carboxylic acid derivatives of calix[4]arene and calix[5]arene as ligands, and the uranyl cation UO22+ as a metallic counterpart, which coordinates with three carboxylates at the equatorial plane, giving rise to hexagonal bipyramidal architectures. As a result, octahedral and icosahedral anionic metallocages of nanoscopic dimensions are formed with an unusually small number of components

Buprenorphine-Naloxone in the Treatment of Codeine Dependence: a Scoping Review of Clinical Case Presentations

Misuse of prescribed and over the counter (OTC) codeine containing medicines is an increasing public health concern in recent times. Studies have called for low threshold treatment services for individuals experiencing codeine dependence using buprenorphine naloxone therapy. We present a scoping review of clinical case presentation literature on the use of buprenorphine-naloxone in the treatment of codeine dependence. Seven records (four single case studies and three case series) on codeine dependence treated with buprenorphine-naloxone were included. Five themes emerged following a review of the cases for the treatment of codeine dependence with buprenorphine-naloxone. They are: (1) Patient Profiles; (2) History of Codeine Misuse; (3) Medical Problems; (4) Use of Other Substances; and (5) Buprenorphine-naloxone in the treatment of Codeine Dependence. The review highlights the complexities of patients with regards to pain, psychiatric illness, poly substance use and iatrogenic dependence, with findings encouraging in terms of patient stabilisation and recovery

Extensive somatic L1 retrotransposition in colorectal tumors

L1 retrotransposons comprise 17% of the human genome and are its only autonomous mobile elements. Although L1-induced insertional mutagenesis causes Mendelian disease, their mutagenic load in cancer has been elusive. Using L1-targeted resequencing of 16 colorectal tumor and matched normal DNAs, we found that certain cancers were excessively mutagenized by human-specific L1s, while no verifiable insertions were present in normal tissues. We confirmed de novo L1 insertions in malignancy by both validating and sequencing 69/107 tumor-specific insertions and retrieving both 5′ and 3′ junctions for 35. In contrast to germline polymorphic L1s, all insertions were severely 5′ truncated. Validated insertion numbers varied from up to 17 in some tumors to none in three others, and correlated with the age of the patients. Numerous genes with a role in tumorigenesis were targeted, including ODZ3, ROBO2, PTPRM, PCM1, and CDH11. Thus, somatic retrotransposition may play an etiologic role in colorectal cancer

Albiglutide and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (Harmony Outcomes): a double-blind, randomised placebo-controlled trial

Background: Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists differ in chemical structure, duration of action, and in their effects on clinical outcomes. The cardiovascular effects of once-weekly albiglutide in type 2 diabetes are unknown. We aimed to determine the safety and efficacy of albiglutide in preventing cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke. Methods: We did a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in 610 sites across 28 countries. We randomly assigned patients aged 40 years and older with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease (at a 1:1 ratio) to groups that either received a subcutaneous injection of albiglutide (30–50 mg, based on glycaemic response and tolerability) or of a matched volume of placebo once a week, in addition to their standard care. Investigators used an interactive voice or web response system to obtain treatment assignment, and patients and all study investigators were masked to their treatment allocation. We hypothesised that albiglutide would be non-inferior to placebo for the primary outcome of the first occurrence of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or stroke, which was assessed in the intention-to-treat population. If non-inferiority was confirmed by an upper limit of the 95% CI for a hazard ratio of less than 1·30, closed testing for superiority was prespecified. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02465515. Findings: Patients were screened between July 1, 2015, and Nov 24, 2016. 10 793 patients were screened and 9463 participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to groups: 4731 patients were assigned to receive albiglutide and 4732 patients to receive placebo. On Nov 8, 2017, it was determined that 611 primary endpoints and a median follow-up of at least 1·5 years had accrued, and participants returned for a final visit and discontinuation from study treatment; the last patient visit was on March 12, 2018. These 9463 patients, the intention-to-treat population, were evaluated for a median duration of 1·6 years and were assessed for the primary outcome. The primary composite outcome occurred in 338 (7%) of 4731 patients at an incidence rate of 4·6 events per 100 person-years in the albiglutide group and in 428 (9%) of 4732 patients at an incidence rate of 5·9 events per 100 person-years in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0·78, 95% CI 0·68–0·90), which indicated that albiglutide was superior to placebo (p<0·0001 for non-inferiority; p=0·0006 for superiority). The incidence of acute pancreatitis (ten patients in the albiglutide group and seven patients in the placebo group), pancreatic cancer (six patients in the albiglutide group and five patients in the placebo group), medullary thyroid carcinoma (zero patients in both groups), and other serious adverse events did not differ between the two groups. There were three (<1%) deaths in the placebo group that were assessed by investigators, who were masked to study drug assignment, to be treatment-related and two (<1%) deaths in the albiglutide group. Interpretation: In patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, albiglutide was superior to placebo with respect to major adverse cardiovascular events. Evidence-based glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists should therefore be considered as part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes. Funding: GlaxoSmithKline

Content and performance of the MiniMUGA genotyping array: A new tool to improve rigor and reproducibility in mouse research

The laboratory mouse is the most widely used animal model for biomedical research, due in part to its well-annotated genome, wealth of genetic resources, and the ability to precisely manipulate its genome. Despite the importance of genetics for mouse research, genetic quality control (QC) is not standardized, in part due to the lack of cost-effective, informative, and robust platforms. Genotyping arrays are standard tools for mouse research and remain an attractive alternative even in the era of high-throughput whole-genome sequencing. Here, we describe the content and performance of a new iteration of the Mouse Universal Genotyping Array (MUGA), MiniMUGA, an array-based genetic QC platform with over 11,000 probes. In addition to robust discrimination between most classical and wild-derived laboratory strains, MiniMUGA was designed to contain features not available in other platforms: (1) chromosomal sex determination, (2) discrimination between substrains from multiple commercial vendors, (3) diagnostic SNPs for popular laboratory strains, (4) detection of constructs used in genetically engineered mice, and (5) an easy-to-interpret report summarizing these results. In-depth annotation of all probes should facilitate custom analyses by individual researchers. To determine the performance of MiniMUGA, we genotyped 6899 samples from a wide variety of genetic backgrounds. The performance of MiniMUGA compares favorably with three previous iterations of the MUGA family of arrays, both in discrimination capabilities and robustness. We have generated publicly available consensus genotypes for 241 inbred strains including classical, wild-derived, and recombinant inbred lines. Here, we also report the detection of a substantial number of XO and XXY individuals across a variety of sample types, new markers that expand the utility of reduced complexity crosses to genetic backgrounds other than C57BL/6, and the robust detection of 17 genetic constructs. We provide preliminary evidence that the array can be used to identify both partial sex chromosome duplication and mosaicism, and that diagnostic SNPs can be used to determine how long inbred mice have been bred independently from the relevant main stock. We conclude that MiniMUGA is a valuable platform for genetic QC, and an important new tool to increase the rigor and reproducibility of mouse research