Path Planning For Additive Manufacturing of Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing and Blue Light Fringe Projection Scanning

Current methods of manufacturing large scale parts can take up to six months to generate the objective product. The objective of the wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) hybrid cell is to significantly reduce lead time associated with large scale parts. The WAAM process utilizes a 6 degree-of-freedom (DOF) robot manipulator in addition to a 2 DOF part positioner. 5 degrees of freedom are necessary for an effective WAAM process, leaving 3 DOF as redundant in this cell. This thesis serves to prove successful implementation of redundant kinematics on a WAAM robotic system. This is accomplished by maintaining a gravity aligned welding torch. Maintaining gravity alignment means the welding torch remains in vertical alignment to the initial substrate in which it is printing on in a 1 G configuration. Gravity alignment is demonstrated in both simulation and real prints during the WAAM process of the hybrid manufacturing cell. After printing, the part is translated into position for scanning to inform the subtractive manufacturing process. Scanning in a manual setting can be a long and arduous process to generate scans of sufficient quality for the basis of informed machining. Effective path planning for scanning with the intent to reduce scanning time, increase quality of scans, and move toward a full automation of the hybrid manufacturing cell is also investigated in this thesis. Simulation software is used to create and verify path plans prior to importing and implementing on a 6 DOF robotic manipulator to which a GOM ATOS Q 3D scanner is mounted. The quality, amount of time necessary to produce, and number of scans required to produce a sufficient representation for machining are compared using three methods. The first method is a manual scanning configuration, the second is using a generalized path plan, and the third is using a geometry-based path plan

A Predictor Analysis Framework for Surface Radiation Budget Reprocessing Using Design of Experiments

Earth’s Radiation Budget (ERB) is an accounting of all incoming energy from the sun and outgoing energy reflected and radiated to space by earth’s surface and atmosphere. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)/Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) project produces and archives long-term datasets representative of this energy exchange system on a global scale. The data are comprised of the longwave and shortwave radiative components of the system and is algorithmically derived from satellite and atmospheric assimilation products, and acquired atmospheric data. It is stored as 3-hourly, daily, monthly/3-hourly, and monthly averages of 1°x1° grid cells. Input parameters used by the algorithms are a key source of variability in the resulting output data sets. Sensitivity studies have been conducted to estimate the effects this variability has on the output data sets using linear techniques. This entails varying one input parameter at a time while keeping all others constant or by increasing all input parameters by equal random percentages, in effect changing input values for every cell for every three hour period and for every day in each month. This equates to almost 11 million independent changes without ever taking into consideration the interactions or dependencies among the input parameters. A more comprehensive method is proposed here for the evaluating the shortwave algorithm to identify both the input parameters and parameter interactions that most significantly affect the output data. This research utilized designed experiments that systematically and simultaneously varied all of the input parameters of the shortwave algorithm. A D-Optimal design of experiments (DOE) was chosen to accommodate the 14 types of atmospheric properties computed by the algorithm and to reduce the number of trials required by a full factorial study from millions to 128. A modified version of the algorithm was made available for testing such that global calculations of the algorithm were tuned to accept information for a single temporal and spatial point and for one month of averaged data. The points were from each of four atmospherically distinct regions to include the Amazon Rainforest, Sahara Desert, Indian Ocean and Mt. Everest. The same design was used for all of the regions. Least squares multiple regression analysis of the results of the modified algorithm identified those parameters and parameter interactions that most significantly affected the output products. It was found that Cosine solar zenith angle was the strongest influence on the output data in all four regions. The interaction of Cosine Solar Zenith Angle and Cloud Fraction had the strongest influence on the output data in the Amazon, Sahara Desert and Mt. Everest Regions, while the interaction of Cloud Fraction and Cloudy Shortwave Radiance most significantly affected output data in the Indian Ocean region. Second order response models were built using the resulting regression coefficients. A Monte Carlo simulation of each model extended the probability distribution beyond the initial design trials to quantify variability in the modeled output data

"You have to keep fighting": maintaining healthcare services and professionalism on the frontline of austerity in Greece.

BACKGROUND: Greece has been severely affected by the 2008 global economic crisis and its health system was, and still is, among the national institutions most shaped by its effects. METHODS: In 2014, this qualitative study examined these changes through in-depth interviews with 22 frontline healthcare professionals in five different locations in mainland Greece. These interviews with nurses, doctors and pharmacists explored perceptions of austerity and how ideas of professionalism were challenged and revised by these measures. RESULTS: Participants reported working conditions characterised by dramatic increases in public hospital admissions alongside decreases in personnel, consumables, materials, and also many hospital closures. Many drew on analogies of war and fighting to describe the effects of healthcare reforms on their working lives and professional conduct. Despite accounts of deteriorating conditions and numerous challenges, healthcare professionals presented themselves as making every effort to meet patients' needs, while battling to resist guidelines which they perceived diminished their roles to production-line operatives. CONCLUSIONS: Participants considered it their duty to defend their professional ethos and serve patients without compromising standards, even if this meant liberal interpretation and implementation of regulations. These professionals regarded themselves on the frontline of healthcare provision but also the frontline defence in a war on their professional standards from austerity

Literacy Educators’ Perspectives on Transformation and Authenticity

We discuss how adults with low literacy skills have transformed through education and also raise epistemological questions on education’s place in the transformation and learning process

Modulation of muscle contraction by a FMRFamide-related peptide

A FMRFamide-like neuropeptide with the sequence "DRNFLRF-NH2" was recently isolated from pericardial organs of crayfish (Mercier et aI., Peptides, 14, 137-143, 1993). This neuropeptide, referred to as "DF2'" has already been shown to elicit cardioexcitation and to enhance synaptic transmission at neuromuscular junctions. Possible effects ofDF2 on muscle were investigated using superficial extensor muscles of the abdomen of the crayfish, Procambarus clar/ai. These muscles are of the tonic type and generate slow contractions that affect posture. DF2, at concentrations of 10-8 M or higher, increased muscle tonus and induced spontaneous, rhythmic contractions. These effects were antagonized by 5 rnM Mn2+ but not by lO-7M tetrodotoxin (TTX). Thus, they represent direct actions on muscle cells (rather than effects on motor neurons) and are likely to involve calcium influx. In contrast, deep abdominal extensor muscles, responsible for rapid swimming movements, and superficial flexor muscles do not generate contractions in response to the peptide. 2 Spontaneous contractions were also induced in the superficial extensor muscles by decreasing the temperature to II-13°C. Such contractions were also TTX-insensitive and they were antagonized by adding calcium channel blockers (Mn2+, Cd2+ or Ni2+) or by removing calcium from the bathing solution. This suggests that the spontaneous contractions depend on an influx of calcium from the extracellular solution. N-type and L-type voltage dependent calcium channel blockers did not reduce the effect of the peptide or the spontaneous contractions suggesting that calcium influx is not through N- or L-type calcium channels

Unexpected mixed-mode transmission and moderate genetic regulation of Symbiodinium communities in a brooding coral

Determining the extent to which Symbiodinium communities in corals are inherited versus environmentally acquired is fundamental to understanding coral resilience and to predicting coral responses to stressors like warming oceans that disrupt this critical endosymbiosis. We examined the fidelity with which Symbiodinium communities in the brooding coral Seriatopora hystrix are vertically transmitted and the extent to which communities are genetically regulated, by genotyping the symbiont communities within 60 larvae and their parents (9 maternal and 45 paternal colonies) using high-throughput sequencing of the ITS2 locus. Unexpectedly, Symbiodinium communities associated with brooded larvae were distinct from those within parent colonies, including the presence of types not detected in adults. Bayesian heritability (h2) analysis revealed that 33% of variability in larval Symbiodinium communities was genetically controlled. Results highlight flexibility in the establishment of larval symbiont communities and demonstrate that symbiont transmission is not exclusively vertical in brooding corals. Instead, we show that Symbiodinium transmission in S. hystrix involves a mixed-mode strategy, similar to many terrestrial invertebrate symbioses. Also, variation in the abundances of common Symbiodinium types among adult corals suggests that microhabitat differences influence the structure of in hospite Symbiodinium communities. Partial genetic regulation coupled with flexibility in the environmentally acquired component of Symbiodinium communities implies that corals with vertical transmission, like S. hystrix, may be more resilient to environmental change than previously thought

The Changing Roles of Community Health Workers

Community Health Workers (CHWs) have been gaining attention from policymakers because of their unique role in addressing health disparities and socioeconomic drivers of disease, and because of their potential integration into the health care delivery system. To date, there has been limited research specifically describing the variation in CHWs’ roles and relationships, and how that variation relates to management, to financing, to health system integration, and to the competencies CHWs should have in different contexts. This report provides a snapshot of the varied landscape of CHW programs to better understand how CHWs are integrating with the health system both in terms of the structural elements of these programs, and the relational elements of CHW-health system interaction that make integrated models succeed. Authors suggest that there is no blueprint for success; rather, there are certain unifying structural elements of various integration types, and certain useful mechanisms that enable the preservation of the CHW concept

Implementing Telerehabilitation Research For Stroke Rehabilitation With Community Dwelling Veterans: Lessons Learned

Telerehabilitation (TR) is the use of telehealth technologies to provide distance support, rehabilitation services and information exchange between people with disabilities and their clinical providers. This article discusses the barriers experienced when implementing a TR multi-site randomized controlled trial for stroke patients in their homes, and the lessons learned from conducting the study. The barriers are divided into two sections: those specific to TR and those pertinent to research overall. The TR specific barriers included the rapidly changing telecommunications and health care environment and inconsistent equipment functionality. The barriers applicable to research overall included the need for telehealth research to meet regulations in diverse departments and the rapidly expanding and changing research regulations. Solutions to the barriers included having various telehealth equipment available to allow for functionality with the currently diverse telecommunications infrastructure, rigorous pilot testing all equipment in different situations, and having biomedical engineering staff on-call and on-site

Effect of multiple impacts on protective properties of external hip protectors

A variety of external hip protectors are available on the market but no standards for their performance exist and it is unknown if their properties change after repeated fall impacts. The purpose of this study was to determine if protective properties change in different types of new (unused) hip protectors after repeated, simulated falls. Five hip protector brands were chosen to represent different products available on the market and the two mechanisms employed in reducing the force of an impact (shunting or absorbing). Ten pairs of each type (20 pads for each brand) were tested using a 1.8-m Instron Dynatup 9250 HV vertical impact testing tower. The impact testing system was specifically designed for this study by creating a simulated trochanter to provide more accurately a impact area similar to that of a real hip bone. The hip protectors were impacted once a day for 3 consecutive days. Repeated impacts demonstrated the pads’ decreased ability to either absorb or shunt force in all types of hip protectors. However, the mean forces were still in the protective range (force below fracture threshold of 3100 N) for 3 of the 5 brands tested after 3 impacts. The protective properties of external hip protectors do degrade after repeated impacts. The degree of degradation differs from brand to brand. Regardless of type, most pads were still able to bring the force of impact below the fracture threshold of 3100 N. Future studies need to address the issue of durability of different types/brands of hip protectors after repeated laundering and fall impacts to determine when should they be replaced. Additionally, a national or international standard needs to be developed against which the performance of different brands of hip protectors can be compared