Identification of critical variables in conventional transformers in distribution networks

Transformers are essential equipment to the operation of electrical power systems, a failure causes the lack of electricity supply to end-users, affecting the operating indicators of companies in the distribution sector. The investigation presents an identification of the faults in transformers through a fishbone diagram, an evaluation of the variables that cause the identified failure using the cross-impact matrix method and a proposal to improve the performance. The results will enable a plan to be developed for taking action with monitoring plans to avoid faults that could put the electrical asset at risk and achieve a better performance of the distribution network

Dataset of characterised construction safety risks and related treatments

The Safety Risk Library [1] is a structured database [2] that integrates knowledge drawn from multiple sources to address the problem of information disaggregation in the construction industry. This knowledge base maps construction safety risk scenarios to treatment suggestions that help designers implement the concept of prevention through design. In the context of the Safety Risk Library, risk scenarios are characterised by six data categories based on a formalised ontology [3]. To build the first iteration of the Safety Risk Library, nine different risk scenarios were identified and mapped to relevant risk treatments in focus groups. Subsequently, the Safety Risk Library was pilot tested in six construction projects, and user feedback and input were used to expand the list of risk scenarios and treatment prompts. Additionally, public press releases reporting construction accidents were analysed to identify and characterise risk scenarios, which were then mapped to appropriate treatment suggestions and included in the Safety Risk Library. This dataset can assist construction industry stakeholders in identifying, characterising, communicating and mitigating safety risks in construction projects. It can also be integrated into building information modelling environments to assist designers to implement prevention through design

Inhibition of αvβ5 Integrin Attenuates Vascular Permeability and Protects against Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is a leading cause of AKI. This common clinical complication lacks effective therapies and can lead to the development of CKD. The αvβ5 integrin may have an important role in acute injury, including septic shock and acute lung injury. To examine its function in AKI, we utilized a specific function-blocking antibody to inhibit αvβ5 in a rat model of renal IRI. Pretreatment with this anti-αvβ5 antibody significantly reduced serum creatinine levels, diminished renal damage detected by histopathologic evaluation, and decreased levels of injury biomarkers. Notably, therapeutic treatment with the αvβ5 antibody 8 hours after IRI also provided protection from injury. Global gene expression profiling of post-ischemic kidneys showed that αvβ5 inhibition affected established injury markers and induced pathway alterations previously shown to be protective. Intravital imaging of post-ischemic kidneys revealed reduced vascular leak with αvβ5 antibody treatment. Immunostaining for αvβ5 in the kidney detected evident expression in perivascular cells, with negligible expression in the endothelium. Studies in a three-dimensional microfluidics system identified a pericyte-dependent role for αvβ5 in modulating vascular leak. Additional studies showed αvβ5 functions in the adhesion and migration of kidney pericytes in vitro Initial studies monitoring renal blood flow after IRI did not find significant effects with αvβ5 inhibition; however, future studies should explore the contribution of vasomotor effects. These studies identify a role for αvβ5 in modulating injury-induced renal vascular leak, possibly through effects on pericyte adhesion and migration, and reveal αvβ5 inhibition as a promising therapeutic strategy for AKI

BIM-based construction safety risk library

This paper presents a digital tool and Safety Risk library to assist designers in their health and safety work in BIM digital environments. Addressing an industry need for improved knowledge sharing and collaboration, the BIM Safety Risk library tool aligns with a Prevention through Design (PtD) approach that links safety risks to treatments via different risk scenarios. Motivated by continuing sub-optimal health and safety management processes, the research employs a conceptual framework rooted in construction guidance: structuring data via a 7-stage ontology to improve designer knowledge of issues and give access to an expanding safety knowledge base (the BIM Safety Risk Library). The tool facilitates tacit and explicit knowledge sharing in visual environments, enabling the construction industry to benefit from their health and safety data while providing an interactive learning tool for designers. The structuring of data also opens up possibilities for other digital advances (e.g. via automatic rule checking)

Deweyan tools for inquiry and the epistemological context of critical pedagogy

This article develops the notion of resistance as articulated in the literature of critical pedagogy as being both culturally sponsored and cognitively manifested. To do so, the authors draw upon John Dewey\u27s conception of tools for inquiry. Dewey provides a way to conceptualize student resistance not as a form of willful disputation, but instead as a function of socialization into cultural models of thought that actively truncate inquiry. In other words, resistance can be construed as the cognitive and emotive dimensions of the ongoing failure of institutions to provide ideas that help individuals both recognize social problems and imagine possible solutions. Focusing on Dewey\u27s epistemological framework, specifically tools for inquiry, provides a way to grasp this problem. It also affords some innovative solutions; for instance, it helps conceive of possible links between the regular curriculum and the study of specific social justice issues, a relationship that is often under-examined. The aims of critical pedagogy depend upon students developing dexterity with the conceptual tools they use to make meaning of the evidence they confront; these are background skills that the regular curriculum can be made to serve even outside social justice-focused curricula. Furthermore, the article concludes that because such inquiry involves the exploration and potential revision of students\u27 world-ordering beliefs, developing flexibility in how one thinks may be better achieved within academic subjects and topics that are not so intimately connected to students\u27 current social lives, especially where students may be directly implicated

Association of Recorded Estimated Fetal Weight and Cesarean Delivery in Attempted Vaginal Delivery at Term:

To evaluate the association between documentation of estimated fetal weight, and its value, with cesarean delivery

Coccolithophore calcification is independent of carbonate chemistry in the tropical ocean

Marañón, Emilio ... et al.-- 13 pages, 7 figures, 1 table, supporting information https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/lno.10295Short-term experiments indicate that seawater acidification can cause a decrease in the rate of calcification by coccolithophores, but the relationship between carbonate chemistry and coccolithophore calcification rate in natural assemblages is still unclear. During the Malaspina 2010 circumnavigation, we measured primary production, calcification, coccolithophore abundance, particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) concentration, and the parameters of the carbonate system, along basin-scale transects in the tropical Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. Euphotic layer-integrated calcification and mean cell-specific calcification in the euphotic layer ranged between 2–10 mgC m−2 d−1 and 5–20 pgC cell−1 d−1, respectively. We found a significant relationship between primary production and calcification, such that the calcification to primary production (CP/PP) ratio was relatively invariant among ocean basins, with an overall mean value of 0.05 ± 0.04. Extrapolating this value to the entire ocean would result in a global pelagic calcification rate of 2.4 PtC yr−1. The mean PIC concentration in surface waters was 1.8 ± 1.6 mgC m−3 and its turnover time averaged 20 d. We combined our data of calcification, primary production, and carbonate chemistry from Malaspina 2010 with those obtained during two previous cruises in the northern Arabian Sea. Both the CP/PP ratio and cell-specific calcification were largely constant across a wide range of calcite saturation state (1.5–6.5), [ inline image]/[H+] (0.08–0.24; mol: μmol), and pH (7.6–8.1), which indicates that calcification by natural coccolithophore assemblages was independent of carbonate chemistry. Our results suggest that coccolithophore calcification, at least in tropical regions, may not be decreasing in the currently acidifying oceanFunding for this study was provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through research projects Malaspina 2010 (grant no. CSD2008-00077), PERSEO (CTM2007-28925-E/MAR), MANIFEST (CTM2012-32017) and TERRIFIC (CTM2014-53582-R). Funding for W.M.B. came from the NSF (OCE-0961660; OCE1220068), NASA (NNX11AO72G; NNX11AL93G; NNX14AQ41G; NNX14AQ43A; NNX14AL92G; NNX14AM77G) and NOAA (NA11OAR4310055).Peer Reviewe

Epidemiology of leptospirosis in Tolima Deparment - Colombia, 2009 - 2011

ABSTRACT: To describe the epidemiological behavior of patients with presumptive diagnosis of leptospirosis in the department of Tolima (Colombia), between 2009 and 2011. Methodology: a cross sectional study was conducted, and the epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory findings of 243 patients with presumptive leptospirosis were analyzed using the modified faine criteria. Results: there were 48 cases with positive presumptive diagnosis of leptospirosis (19.8%), 87 negative cases (35.8%), and 108 inconclusive cases (44%). Icterohaemorrhagiae was the most common serovar among presumptively positive patients. Most of the affected patients were male (87%), their mean age was 38 years (sd = 18,4), and they resided in urban areas with poor public services (80.9%). Additionally, hospital treatment was required by 87.6% of the patients, and there were acute cases of the disease (91%), cases with hepatic impairment (65.9%), and a mortality rate of 19%. Conclusions: Leptospirosis is a disease with different demographic and clinical characteristics; moreover, its diagnosis is difficult and sometimes late. Therefore, if an adequate record of some of its features were available, a presumptive diagnosis could be made a priori. Finally, presumptive diagnosis of leptospirosis was associated with outdoor labor, inhabiting places with unsanitary conditions, and having calf pain and fever.RESUMEN: Describir el comportamiento epidemiológico de pacientes con diagnóstico presuntivo de leptospirosis en el departamento del Tolima (Colombia), entre 2009 y 2011. Metodología: estudio descriptivo transversal. Se analizaron variables epidemiológicas, clínicas y de laboratorio de 243 pacientes con diagnóstico presuntivo de leptospiroris, utilizando los criterios de faine modificados. Resultados: se encontraron 48 casos con diagnóstico presuntivo positivo (19,8%), 87 casos negativos (35,8%) y 108 casos no concluyentes (44%). El icterohemorrágico fue el serovar más frecuente entre los presuntamente positivos, con una edad promedio de aparición de la enfermedad de 38 años (de = 18,4) , se presentó principalmente en hombres (87%), residentes de zona urbana, con deficiencia de servicios públicos (80,9%). El tratamiento hospitalario fue necesario para el 87,6% de los pacientes, se encontraron casos en forma aguda (91%),conalteración hepática (65,9%); la mortalidad fue del 19%. Conclusiones: la leptospirosis es una patología con diferentes características demográficas y clínicas, con un diagnóstico difícil y en ocasiones tardío; si se tuviera un registro adecuado de algunas características en las fichas podría hacerse un diagnóstico presuntivo a priori. Se sugiere asociación entre el diagnóstico presuntivo de leptospiroris y laborar en ambiente abierto, residir en condiciones sanitarias deficientes, presentar dolor en las pantorrillas y presentar fiebre