TOPOLOGY AND FREE-SIZE OPTIMIZATION WITH MULTIPLE LOADING CONDITIONS FOR LIGHT WEIGHT DESIGN OF DIE CAST AUTOMOTIVE BACKREST FRAME

Automotive seats provide comfort and safety to the occupant travelling in the vehicle. An optimized seat design should be aesthetically pleasing, lightweight and meet the safety requirements. An automotive seat with occupant is subjected to various kinds of forces in the event of crash and should be designed for strength and stiffness as measured by stress and strain, and deflection. In this work, finite element analysis, together with topology and free-size optimization is used to design a lightweight die cast automotive front seat backrest frame when subjected to loads prescribed by ECE R17 European government regulations and additional loads which are predicted in an event of crash. In particular, an effort is made here to study the characteristics of a die cast automotive front seat backrest frame and develop a method for predicting the optimized material and rib stiffener distribution which provides a lightweight seat which satisfies both strength and deflection requirements in a design space which includes the action of multiple load cases. The design and optimization procedure is to create a geometric computer-aided-design (CAD) model of an existing commercially available die cast backrest frame as the reference design space. Both 3D surface and solid models are created for representation as shell and solid finite element models for analysis. The CAD models were created using CATIA and then imported into Altair HyperMesh and OptiStruct software for finite element model creation and linear analysis with optimization. The objective function for topology optimization of the 3D solid model is to minimize mass of the component subject to stress and deflection constraints and is used as a guide in determining optimal geometric distribution of stiffening ribs. When the shell model of the reference seat is subjected to free-size optimization with this same constraint and objective given, an optimized material distribution measured by shell element thicknesses is obtained. For the topology optimization, manufacturing constraints of preferred draw direction are applied in order to obtain an optimized material distribution which can be manufactured in the die-cast process. Results from OptiStruct provide a guide for design, but are not optimal for manufacturing due to large changes and scattering of material distribution. Results from the topology optimized 3D solid model and free-size optimized 3D shell model are compared and combined manually to create a final lightweight design with optimal stiffening rib placement and material distribution which can be manufactured relative easily in a die-cast manufacturing process. Finite element analysis of both the reference and final optimized seat designs with geometric nonlinear and inelastic material behavior is also performed using ABAQUS to confirm deflection requirements and determine factor of safety at failure due to excessive strains. The procedure followed in this work generated an optimal material distribution and stiffening ribs in a lightweight die cast automotive seat backrest frame when subjected to multiple load cases. An overall reduction in weight of 12.95% is achieved for the backrest frame component

Myth-Busting Restorative Justice: Uncovering the Past and Finding Lessons in Community

A common narrative about modern restorative justice is that it is a revival of historic and indigenous justice practices that have been practiced around the world. Critics of this narrative call it a myth, arguing that the claim is overbroad and unsupported by existing evidence. Embedded in this conversation are questions about how to respect the contributions of indigenous traditions and avoid whitewashing. Such an overwhelmingly broad claim tends to lead to romanticization and whitewashing of indigenous traditions, serving the needs of largely white, Western advocates in yet another colonial endeavor. But ignoring the indigenous contribution to restorative justice altogether is whitewashing by a different route. This Article offers three main contributions. First, it reveals the current lack of empirical grounding for the common narrative. This descriptive insight motivates the second contribution: the creation of a methodology for better ascertaining the degree to which any historic, indigenous practice did constitute restorative justice. Applying this methodology to investigate the traditional practices of the Igbo and Acholi in sub-Saharan Africa, the Article begins the work of documenting the relationship between restorative justice and historic practices, work that leads to the third and last contribution. Better conceptualizing past practices not only advances our understanding of such practices but also contributes to our understanding of modern restorative justice. Here, the case studies of the Igbo and Acholi reveal a need for restorative justice scholars to engage in greater conceptual and empirical analysis of the role of community in restorative justice practices

COMPUTATIONAL STUDIES TO UNDERSTAND THE ROLE OF ALLOSTERY IN COPPER REGULATION IN Mycobacterium tuberculosis AND IN THE DESIGN OF HPV VACCINES

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Indiana University, Chemistry, 2015Allostery is defined as the change in the structure, function or activity of a specific site on a protein, due to the binding of a substrate or effecter on a different site of the same protein. This phenomenon has been observed and studied in two different protein systems of therapeutic importance. CsoR protein in Mycobacterium tuberculosis adopts classical allostery to regulate the concentration of Cu(I) inside the cell. Cu(I) is speculated to bind in an unusual trigonal planar geometry with two cysteines and one histidine. When CsoR is bound to copper an overall structural change (allostery) is envisioned and its affinity to DNA is lost. In the current computational exploration we focus on the binding mode of Cu(I) and identify different protonation states of copper bound cysteines. MD simulations were performed on the apo and copper bound form with a starting structure from QM/MM calculations to predict the allosteric structural transition. The dynamic properties of the capsid of the human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 were also examined using classical molecular dynamics simulations. The allostery identified in the components of the HPV is non-classical because the mean structure of the epitope carrying loops remains unchanged as the result of allosteric effect, but the structural fluctuations are altered significantly, which in turn changes the biochemical reactivity profile of the epitopes. Exploiting this novel insight, a new vaccine design strategy is proposed, where a relatively small virus fragment is deposited on a silica nanoparticle in such a way that the fluctuations of the h4 helix are suppressed. The structural and dynamic properties of the epitope carrying loops on this hybrid nanoparticle match the characteristics of epitopes found on the full virus like particle precisely, suggesting that these nanoparticles may serve as potent, cost-effective and safe alternatives to traditionally developed vaccines

Physician satisfaction with informed consent process in psychiatric research

Informed consent process is crucial in any research. The consent is meaningful only when the subject is capable of using disclosed information in deciding whether to participate in a research study. Decision-making capacity might change in psychiatric patients during the informed consent process. Therefore, there may be some elements which are neglected during the informed consent process in psychiatric research. The purpose of this research study was to determine the perceptions of physicians about what elements of informed consent might be neglected in psychiatric research and what additional elements might be included that would improve the informed consent process for psychiatric trials. There were limitations in this study; response rate was very low. Other researchers have also found very low response rates in physician surveys. Further studies should be done with a larger population having wide range of healthcare professionals who have had experience in psychiatric clinical trials

Expanding Standing to Develop Democracy: Third Party Public Interest Standing as a Tool for Emerging Democracies

Standing doctrine can play an outsized role in marginalized groups\u27 ability to protect their constitutional rights. The cultural and political dynamics in developing countries routinely undermine the proper functions of the democratic system and make it unlikely that those parties most directly deprived of their rights will be heard by elected legislatures or be able to directly access courts. The vindication of their rights and the rule of law itself depend on the ability of others to litigate on their behalf. Thus, this article argues for the expansion of standing doctrine to protect the democratic ideal in emerging democracies. Using Kenya and Uganda as case studies, this article demonstrates that third party public interest standing — the permission of third parties to institute judicial review proceedings on behalf of injured parties — serves two key ends. First, it allows for the discursive empowerment of marginalized groups. Second, in doing so, it enhances democracy. Third party public interest standing is viewed with suspicion by many western supporters of democracy, but that suspicion is premised on faulty assumptions. The political and social contexts in many developing nations make overly strict limitations on standing dangerous to the rule of law. Where the executive and parliament are unresponsive or unaccountable to the population, and where access to the judiciary is near impossible for certain segments of the population, third party standing may create the only opportunity for political presence. This article both challenges the traditional perceptions of democracy and constitutionalism as inappropriate and incompatible with the needs of emerging democracies, and recognizes that innovations such as third party public interest standing are necessary to further constitutional, democratic, and rule of law goals

What do we know about entrepreneurship as an intangible asset?

The purpose of this paper is two-fold: One, to present the argument that entrepreneurship is an important, albeit difficult-to-measure intangible asset. Two, to discuss what we do know about measurement of other intangible assets at the macro as well as the firm level. Lack of an operational definition of entrepreneur continues to plague empirical research on the role of entrepreneur for innovation. Many proxy measures for entrepreneurs have very little to do with technological innovation. The innovative use of Q ratio as a measure of ‘entrepreneurial fever’ and the idea of imitating entrepreneur advanced by some scholars are promising. There has been significant progress in the measurement of other intangible capital such as R&D. Intangible assets far exceed the level of tangible assets in the US economy and the conventional accounting practice of expensing intangibles results in a distorted and misleading picture not only at the firm level, but also at the macro level