TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION FOR ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING USING SIMP METHOD

The increasing effectiveness of additive manufacturing has contributed to increased fabrication of complex parts with less material waste. With this process, complex shapes that can reduce the weight of the component can be explored. Topology optimization of a component uses computer software to remove and add material in locations throughout the design volume. The optimized design output results in a reduced weight component that meets the performance requirements of the original design. There are many optimization methods, one of which is the solid isotropic material with penalization (SIMP) method. An objective function is defined to give the optimization method an objective for the algorithm to iterate against while a design variable is altered after each iteration to achieve the objective. Different constraints are applied to keep the optimization method within a set of bounds defined by the user and the components original geometry. A penalization factor is applied to the optimization method algorithm to refine the final solution to solid and void regions so that a three-dimensional printer can manufacture the component. Various optimization programs were explored for the topology optimization of a beam designed for three point loading. A solid beam that has not been optimized is used as the initial design for optimization as well as a baseline for comparison of the different optimization software packages. Five different methods for optimization were used which include: MATLAB with penalization; MATLAB without penalization and variable thicknesses; ParetoCloud optimization; and two simple methods previously used for component lightening. The components were printed with a fused filament fabrication process that extrudes material building the component layer by layer. The printed beams were then tested in a three point bending test until failure. Comparisons of the different optimized beams were performed using calculations from the resulting load-deflection curves

Closing space for civil society - How western and non-western linkages explain restrictions on foreign funding to domestic civil society organizations

This thesis seeks to answer what causes some governments to restrict foreign funding to domestic civil society organizations while others do not. These repressive measures have increased significantly in all regions of the globe recently and existing research has yet to provide an encompassing explanation for the trend. Considering that neither foreign funding or government repression are exactly novel phenomena urges for looking closer at the increase of restrictions. By elaborating on Levitsky and Way’s theory on linkage and leverage (2010) and expanding on research gaps found in previous literature, the thesis argues that the issue is driven by a shift in geopolitical power relations. The thesis argues that governments implement restrictions depending on the country’s linkages to western and non-western external powers, specifically by how their respective pressure and norm preferences raise or reduce the costs of repressive behavior. A comparative, qualitative analysis on Hungary and Georgia did not support this claim. Still, the findings highlight theoretical insights into the concept of linkages and provide recommendations for further studies

Role of hormones in bone formation and resorption: A literature review [How hormones; adiponectin, angiotensin, cortisol, erythropoietin, insulin, parathyroid hormone, oxytocin, sex hormones, affect bone remodeling]

The study aims to present the current research literature on hormones and its influence on bone remodeling and metabolism; an emphasis is given the disease of dry socket and bone related diseases such as periodontitis and osteoporosis. This thesis’ overview may be helpful by motivating the discovery of new approaches to address these diseases. There is plenty of available research about hormones in the medical literature, however, the literature is scarce in the field of dentistry. This review aims to shed light on available research on the topic of hormones and dentistry in regard to their effects on jaw bone. Additionally, the authors have selected three diseases to discuss how they are influenced by hormones: osteoporosis, periodontitis, and dry socket

Hvilke utfordringer kan sykepleier møte i forhold til pasienter som har vært utsatt for seksuelle overgrep?

Denne oppgaven retter søkelyset mot pasienter som har vært utsatt for seksuelle overgrep i barndommen, og senskader av psykisk og fysisk art som kan vises hos kvinner i voksen alder. Sykepleiefokuset i oppgaven rettes mot hvilke utfordringer sykepleiere møter i forhold til pasienter med denne problematikken. Vi tenker at sykepleiere kan møte utfordringene med handlingskompetanse i kommunikasjonsferdigheter. Vi fikk inspirasjon til å skrive hovedoppgaven med bakgrunn fra psykiatrisk praksis, der vi opplevde at majoriteten av pasientene hadde en overgrepsproblematikk bak seg. Her møtte vi en utfordring blant sykepleiere, der temaet seksuelle overgrep opplevdes for oss som et tabubelagt tema. På medisinsk avdeling i somatisk sykehus opplevde vi at enkelte pasienter hadde en sykdomsopplevelse med fysiske utfall uten at det ble funnet noen medisinsk forklaring. Sykdomstilfellene ble kalt ”sykdom av psykogen art”. Disse pasientene ble ikke invitert til samtale med sykepleier. Kirkengens bok ”Hvordan krenkede barn blir syke voksne” har fått oss til å reflektere over sammenhengen mellom pasienters livserfaring og sykdom som uttrykkes i pasienters subjektive sykdomsopplevelse. Sykepleien er integrert i det naturvitenskapelige – og det samfunnsvitenskapelige menneskesynet. Dette skaper en helhetsvurdering av mennesket der fysiske, psykiske, sosiale og åndelige faktorer virker i et samspill i menneskets opplevelsesverden. Denne kunnskapen har vært utdypet i sykepleieundrevisningen, men etter vårt syn, på et for generelt nivå. For å kunne betrakte pasienters subjektive sykdomsopplevelse i kartlegging av pasienters problemer, kan vi trenge kommunikasjonsferdigheter som tar sikte på å nå inn i pasientens problem. Her kan sykepleiere møte utfordringer i forhold til egne holdninger, da enkelte pasienthistorier inneholder informasjon som er tabubelagt. Verdens helseorganisasjon viser til at hver femte kvinne har vært utsatt for seksuelle overgrep (WHO 2003). Da forekomsten av seksuelle overgrep er stor, undres vi over at temaet er lite nevnt i sykepleieutdanningen. Det er gjort en undersøkelse i England i forhold til undervisning om seksuelle overgrep i sykepleiestudiet og viste at av 109 sykepleiestudenter svarte 74.1 % at de ikke hadde hatt seksualitet som en del av undervisningen (Kittelsen 2001). Kirkengen (2005) viser også til en studie som dokumenterer at helseprofesjonene tilegner senskader av seksuelle overgrep liten oppmerksomhet

Modulation of gene expression in a human cell line caused by poliovirus, vaccinia virus and interferon

BACKGROUND: The project was initiated to describe the response of a human embryonic fibroblast cell line to the replication of two different viruses, and, more specifically, to look for candidate genes involved in viral defense. For this purpose, the cells were synchronously infected with poliovirus in the absence or presence of interferon-alpha, or with vaccinia virus, a virus that is not inhibited by interferon. By comparing the changes in transcriptosome due to these different challenges, it should be possible to suggest genes that might be involved in defense. RESULTS: The viral titers were sufficient to yield productive infection in a majority of the cells. The cells were harvested in triplicate at various time-points, and the transcriptosome compared with mock infected cells using oligo-based, global 35 k microarrays. While there was very limited similarities in the response to the different viruses, a large proportion of the genes up-regulated by interferon-alpha were also up-regulated by poliovirus. Interferon-alpha inhibited poliovirus replication, but there were no signs of any interferons being induced by poliovirus. The observations suggest that the cells do launch an antiviral response to poliovirus in the absence of interferon. Analyses of the data led to a list of candidate antiviral genes. Functional information was limited, or absent, for most of the candidate genes. CONCLUSION: The data are relevant for our understanding of how the cells respond to poliovirus and vaccinia virus infection. More annotations, and more microarray studies with related viruses, are required in order to narrow the list of putative defence-related genes

Using Natural Language Processing with Deep Learning to Explore Clinical Notes

In recent years, the deep learning community and technology have grown substantially, both in terms of research and applications. However, some application areas have lagged behind. The medical domain is an example of a field with a lot of untapped potential, partly caused by complex issues related to privacy and ethics. Still, deep learning is a very powerful tool to utilize structured and unstructured data, and could help save lives. In this thesis, we use natural language processing to interpret clinical notes and predict the mortality rate of subjects. We explore if language models trained on a specific domain would become more performant, and we compared them to language models trained on an intermediate data set. We found that our language model trained on an intermediate data set that had some resemblance to our target data set performed slightly better than its counterpart language model. We found that text classifiers built on top of the language models were capable of correctly predicting if a subject would die or not. Furthermore, we extracted the free-text features from the text classifiers and combined them, using stacking, with heterogeneous data as an attempt to increase the efficacy of the classifiers and to explore the relative performance boost gained by including free-text features. We found a correlation between the quality of text classifiers that produced the text features and the stacking classifiers' performances. The classifier that was trained on a data set without text features performed the worst, and the classifier trained on a data set with the best text features performed the best. We also discuss the central concerns that come with applying deep learning in a medical domain with regards to privacy and ethics. It is our intention that this thesis serves as a contribution to the advancement of deep learning within the medical domain, and as a testament as to what can be achieved with today's technology.Masteroppgave i Programutvikling samarbeid med HVLPROG399MAMN-PRO