4,786 research outputs found

    Providing value to a business using a lightweight design system to support knowledge reuse by designers

    No full text
    This paper describes an alternative approach to knowledge based systems in engineering than traditional geometry or explicit knowledge focused systems. Past systems have supported product optimisation rather than creative solutions and provide little benefit to businesses for bespoke and low volume products or products which do not benefit from optimisation. The approach here addresses this by supporting the creativity of designers through codified tacit knowledge and encouraging knowledge reuse for bespoke product development, in particular for small to medium sized enterprises. The implementation and evaluation of the approach is described within a company producing bespoke fixtures and tooling in shorter than average lead times. The active support of knowledge management in the company is intended to add value to the business by further reducing the lead times of the designs and creating a positive impact to business processes. The evaluation demonstrates a viable alternative framework to the traditional management of knowledge in engineering, which could be implemented by other small to medium enterprises

    Melting of cognetic depleted and enriched reservoirs and the production of high Ti Mare basalts

    Get PDF
    Implicit in current understanding of the location of terrestrial enriched and depleted reservoirs is the notion that they are spatially separated. The depleted reservoir on Earth is situated in the upper mantle, and the complementary enriched reservoir is located in the crust. However, Earth reservoirs are continually being modified by recycling driven by mantle convection. The Moon is demonstrably different from Earth in that its evolution was arrested relatively early - effectively with 1.5 Ga of its formation. It is possible that crystallized trapped liquids (from the late stages of a magma ocean) have been preserved as LILE-enriched portions of the lunar mantle. This would lead to depleted (cumulate) and enriched (magma ocean residual liquid) reservoirs in the lunar upper mantle. There is no evidence for significant recycling from the highland crust back into the mantle. Therefore, reservoirs created at the Moon's inception may have remained intact for over 4.0 Ga. The topics discussed include the following: (1) radiogenic isotopes in high-Ti mare basalts; (2) formation of cogenetic depleted and enriched reservoirs; and (3) melting of the source to achieve high-Ti mare basalts

    When Peace is Not Enough: The Flag Protests and The Politics of Identity and Belonging in East Belfast

    Get PDF
    The flag protests that occurred during the tail of 2012 and early 2013 gained international media attention. Much of the media attention focused on the involvement of young people and sought to seek answers to how young people who had grown up in more peaceful times could be involved in violence that belonged in Northern Ireland’s past. Research being conducted by the authors during the course of the flag protests on young people’s experiences of living in post conflict Belfast enabled the researchers to gain insight and clarity on the flag protests, why they had occurred and underlying factors that fuelled the riots and violence that followed, giving a snap shot of the strength of feeling and overall mood of the Protestant community at that time. Using an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach, 2 focus groups with 14 young people aged between 15-24 (M=17 years), were conducted followed by more in-depth semi structured interviews with 6 young people from the focus groups and a further 6 interviews with youth and community workers from the East Belfast area

    Liver transplantation: need, indications, patient selection and pre-transplant care

    Get PDF
    Chronic or acute liver failure and primary liver cancers can be effectively managed with liver transplantation. The range of indications for liver transplantation is increasing but there is a mismatch between the numbers of available donations and current needs. Specific criteria for listing patients exist but, at minimum, the predicted mortality without transplantation must exceed that with transplantation, coupled with a 50% predicted 5-year survival following liver transplantation. The risk posed by liver disease must be weighed against the risk of liver transplantation, considering the patient's comorbidities, age, nutritional status and behavioural factors in a complex assessment process. This article reviews current UK practice in the selection and care of patients being assessed for liver transplantation

    Liver transplantation: post-transplant management

    Get PDF
    Medical care for patients following liver transplantation is complex and requires a holistic approach to management. Patients and clinicians are faced with multiple challenges: immunosuppressive regimens must be optimized to avoid and treat graft rejection, the risk and atypical features of sepsis in the immunocompromised patient must be recognized, steps are required to reduce the recurrence of liver disease and the long-term increased risks of malignancy, renal failure and metabolic complications need managing. Despite the benefits of liver transplantation there are additional concerns regarding the impact upon quality of life. This review will focus upon the care of patients following liver transplantation. As these patients will present to a broad range of clinicians, an understanding of the common drugs used post-transplantation and general approach to management of these patients will be of benefit to the general clinical audience

    Area Law and Continuum Limit in "Induced QCD"

    Full text link
    We investigate a class of operators with non-vanishing averages in a D-dimensional matrix model recently proposed by Kazakov and Migdal. Among the operators considered are ``filled Wilson loops" which are the most reasonable counterparts of Wilson loops in the conventional Wilson formulation of lattice QCD. The averages of interest are represented as partition functions of certain 2-dimensional statistical systems with nearest neighbor interactions. The ``string tension" α\alpha', which is the exponent in the area law for the ``filled Wilson loop" is equal to the free energy density of the corresponding statistical system. The continuum limit of the Kazakov--Migdal model corresponds to the critical point of this statistical system. We argue that in the large NN limit this critical point occurs at zero temperature. In this case we express α\alpha' in terms of the distribution density of eigenvalues of the matrix-valued master field. We show that the properties of the continuum limit and the description of how this limit is approached is very unusual and differs drastically from what occurs in both the Wilson theory (S(TrU+c.c.)S\propto({\rm Tr}\prod U +{\rm c.c.})) and in the ``adjoint'' theory (STrU2S\propto\vert{\rm Tr}\prod U\vert^2). Instead, the continuum limit of the model appears to be intriguingly similar to a c>1c>1 string theory.Comment: 38 page

    B Cells Activated in Lymph Nodes in Response to Ultraviolet Irradiation or by Interleukin-10 Inhibit Dendritic Cell Induction of Immunity

    Get PDF
    Ultraviolet (UV) radiation suppresses systemic immunity. We explored these cellular mechanisms by exposing mice to systemically immunosuppressive doses of UV radiation and then analyzing cell phenotype and function in the lymphoid organs. Although UV radiation increased total cell number in the draining lymph nodes (DLN), it did not alter the activation state of dendritic cells (DC). Rather, UV radiation selectively activated lymph node B cells, with these cells being larger and expressing higher levels of both anti-major histocompatibility complex II and B220 but not co-stimulatory molecules. This phenotype resembled that of a B cell geared toward immune tolerance. To test whether UV radiation-activated B cells were responsible for immunosuppression, DC and B cells were conjugated to antigen ex vivo and transferred into naïve hosts. Although DC by themselves activated T cells, when the B cells from UV radiation-irradiated mice were co-injected with DC, they suppressed DC activation of immunity. Interleukin (IL)-10-activated B cells also suppressed DC induction of immunity, suggesting that IL-10 may be involved in this suppressive effect of UV radiation. These results demonstrate a new mechanism of UV radiation immunosuppression whereby UV radiation activates B cells in the skin-DLN that can suppress DC activation of T cell-mediated immunity

    Twenty-First Century B.I.T.C.H. Frameworks: Hip Hop Feminism Comes of Age

    Get PDF
    This special issue is dedicated to the bad bitches. The ratchet women. The classy women. The hood feminists. The “feminism isn’t for everybody” feminists. Those women, femmes, and girls who continuously (re)present and (re)construct Black girl/womanhood. The creatives, the innovators, the women that are “often imitated, but never duplicated.” This issue is dedicated to you and the ways in which you challenge us to (re)define what it means to be Black girls/women in this world and what it means to reclaim power over your own representation and images. This issue is for you, defined by you, and inspired by you

    Introduction: Savage and Savvy: Mapping Contemporary Hip Hop Feminism

    Get PDF
    Introduction to the special issue on Hip Hop Feminism entitled Twenty-First Century B.I.T.C.H. Frameworks: Hip Hop Feminism Comes of Age
    corecore