bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Non‐specific sex‐differential effect of DTP vaccination may partially explain the excess girl child mortality in Ballabgarh, India
Authors: Krishnan A. , Srivastava R. , Dwivedi P. , Ng N. , Byass P. , Pandav C. S. 
Published: October 2013

AbstractObjectiveTo test the hypothesis that a gender differential exists in the effect on child mortality of BCG, DTP, measles vaccine as administered under programme conditions in Ballabgarh HDSS area.MethodsAll live births in 28 villages of Ballabgarh block in North India from 2006 to 2011 were followed until 31 December 2011 or 36 months of age whichever was earlier. The period of analysis was divided into four time periods based on eligibility for vaccines under the national immunisation schedule (BCG for tuberculosis, primary and booster doses of diphtheria–tetanus–pertussis and measles). Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess the association between sex and risk of mortality by vaccination status using age as the timescale in survival analysis and adjusting for wealth index, access to health care, the presence of a health facility in the village, parental education, type of family, birth order of the child and year of birth.Results702 deaths (332 boys and 370 girls) occurred among 12 142 children in the cohort in the 3 years of follow‐up giving a cumulative mortality rate of 57.5 per 1000 live births with 35% excess girl child mortality. Age at vaccination for the four vaccines did not differ by sex. There was significant excess mortality among girls after immunisation with DTP, for both primary (HR 1.65; 95% CI:1.17–2.32) and DTPb (2.21; 1.24–3.93) vaccinations. No significant excess morality among girls was noted after exposure to BCG 1.06 (0.67–1.67) or measles 1.34 (0.85–2.12) vaccine.ConclusionThis study supports the contention that DTP vaccination is partially responsible for higher mortality among girls in this study population.
SMG1 is an ancient nonsense‐mediated mRNA decay effector
Authors: Lloyd James P. B. , Davies Brendan 
Published: October 2013

SummaryNonsense‐mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a eukaryotic process that targets selected mRNAs for destruction, for both quality control and gene regulatory purposes. SMG1, the core kinase of the NMD machinery in animals, phosphorylates the highly conserved UPF1 effector protein to activate NMD. However, SMG1 is missing from the genomes of fungi and the model flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana, leading to the conclusion that SMG1 is animal‐specific and questioning the mechanistic conservation of the pathway. Here we show that SMG1 is not animal‐specific, by identifying SMG1 in a range of eukaryotes, including all examined green plants with the exception of A. thaliana. Knockout of SMG1 by homologous recombination in the basal land plant Physcomitrella patens reveals that SMG1 has a conserved role in the NMD pathway across kingdoms. SMG1 has been lost at various points during the evolution of eukaryotes from multiple lineages, including an early loss in the fungal lineage and a very recent observable gene loss in A. thaliana. These findings suggest that the SMG1 kinase functioned in the NMD pathway of the last common eukaryotic ancestor.
Velocity Field Computation in Plastic Flow in Non-Circular Tubes Using Natural Coordinates
Authors: Letelier Mario F. , Stockle Juan S. 
Published: October 2013

A numerical method to determine the velocity field, and related variables, in plastic flow in non-circular straight ducts is presented. The method is an extension of previous work of the senior author related to modeling laminar flow in pipes of arbitrary cross-sectional contours using natural coordinates. In this case the concept of “natural coordinates” is applied to the system of orthogonal curves determined by the plane isovels and their normal counterparts. The momentum equation for the axial velocity is expressed in natural coordinates in which one relevant variable is the radius of curvature of isovels. The method is applied to a selected set of shapes when the fluid is a Bingham plastic.
Isovels and plug zones are determined drawing on the properties of the isolvels and normal curves. Computations start at the pipe perimeter and advance toward the center.
A Protective Structure, Saver During Structural Collapse
Authors: Heidari Alireza , Galishnikova Vera V. , Kani Iradj Mahmoudzadeh 
Published: October 2013

In this paper a new protective structure is presented to save human life, in the case of building collapse, caused by an earthquake, a terrorist attack or other catastrophic events. It is well-known that the number of casualties after major earthquakes during night time far exceeds the corresponding number of those events of similar magnitudes occurring that of the day times.
The life-saver device discussed here is a bolted-moment-resisting 3-D steel frame that encapsulates a single or double-bed sleeping area at home. The frame consists of a number of beam-columns of angle cross-section, bolted together by gusset plates and topped with a thin steel plate or a rectangular rebar mesh. The collapse of walls and ceilings of the building on top of this structure will result in large plastic deformations in various sections of the frame, whereby the energy of the falling debris is dissipated. Despite these large deflections, no harm is inflicted upon the people sleeping inside the frame.
The physical behavior of this new life-saving device, under real situation of structural collapse, is modeled in the ANSYS LS-DYNA software. Combined nonlinear analysis of the frame is performed under dynamic loads developed. It is assumed that the angle members of the frame are stiffened by welding triangular gusset plates at appropriate intervals along their length, so that they behave in a compact manner without local buckling. The discussion of this phenomenon is the subject of another paper and is not presented here. The behavior of the protective structure shows that the people resting or taking refuge inside, will be safe in the event of the collapse of the building.
Austenitic twinning induced plasticity (TWIP) steel which has a good combination of both strength and ductility also has been used for modeling and designing this structure and the results has been compared with ordinary steels. The design is verified for the emergency limit state considering the safety of people inside the protective structure.
Application of an Advanced Simulation Model to a Micro-CHP ORC-Based System for Ultra-Low Grade Heat Recovery
Authors: Ziviani Davide , Beyene Asfaw , Venturini Mauro 
Published: October 2013

This paper presents the results of the application of an advanced thermodynamic model developed by the authors for the simulation of Organic Rankine Cycles (ORCs). The model allows ORC simulation both for steady and transient analysis. The expander, selected to be a scroll expander, is modeled in detail by decomposing the behavior of the fluid stream into several steps. The heat source is coupled with the system through a plate heat exchanger, which is modeled using an iterative sub-heat exchanger modeling approach.
The considered ORC system uses solar thermal energy for ultra-low grade heat recovery. The simulation model is used to investigate the influence of ORC characteristic parameters related to the working medium, hot reservoir and component efficiencies for the purpose of optimizing the ORC system efficiency and power output. Moreover, dynamic response of the ORC is also evaluated for two scenarios, i.e. (i) supplying electricity for a typical residential user and (ii) being driven by a hot reservoir. Finally, the simulation model is used to evaluate ORC capability to meet electric, thermal and cooling loads of a single residential building, for typical temperatures of the hot water exiting from a solar collector.
Industry Based “Hands-On” Undergraduate Vibration Course for Engineering and Engineering Technology Students
Authors: Peter Geoffrey J. 
Published: October 2013

Modern technology and manufacturing methods often require engineers who understand the fundamental principles of vibration theory and who are also skilled in vibration applications. Simply processing, remembering and applying the material learned from lectures and laboratory experiments with artificial criteria are inadequate.
Hands-on teaching techniques with real-world problems are needed to complete the engineering students’ education. This paper demonstrates how hands-on experiments performed in industry support and increase the students’ understanding of fundamental principles and skill in their applications. Graduates with both knowledge and skill are more competitive in today’s job market.
A one-quarter industry-based vibration course was developed and taught with a hands-on segment at the Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering and Technology (MMET) program at Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) - Portland Campus. This novel instructional approach provided students with the opportunity to immediately apply material, learned in class and laboratory, in real-world industry situations with real-world problems.
This instructional approach is applicable in many engineering fields and the author found the mechanical vibrations class particularly well suited for this instructional design style. The hands-on approach, grounded in the vibration course curriculum, provided a direct link to the fundamentals of vibration in industry.
Student comments are included to demonstrate the value perceived by the students. Although this curriculum experiment involved mechanical engineering technology students, it would benefit mechanical engineering students equally well.
In addition, the paper provides a brief description of the industries that participated in this project. Industries were selected because they use vibration based manufacturing, perform extreme testing or design their products to avoid failure due to vibrations.
The Design of High Speed Planing Craft Using an Optimization Framework
Authors: Smith Warren F. , Ayob Ahmad F. Mohamad , Ray Tapabrata 
Published: October 2013

High speed planing craft as a unique vessel type play key commercial roles in niche passenger ferrying and high value cargo transport. In addition, they are used to support several critical maritime activities such as coastal surveillance, reconnaissance, and life-saving operations and many recreational pursuits. Formal optimization frameworks, despite their significant use across a range of domains, have rarely been proposed and developed to deal with the design challenges of high speed planing craft. Highlighted in this paper is an optimization framework drawing on both domain dependent and domain independent elements for the conceptual and preliminary design of high speed planing craft. A summary of the principal components of the optimization framework are presented, followed by several case study examples. The solvers developed and employed are classified as being population based, evolutionary and stochastic in nature. These characteristics are well suited to design space exploration in all engineering and decision making contexts.
Within the case studies presented, the sample key performance indicators include calm water resistance, resistance in waves, seakeeping and manoeuvring. The concept of scenario-based hydrodynamic design optimization is introduced using an example of a small rescue craft operating in a predefined sea-state. Finally, a multi-objective optimization case study considering total resistance, steady turning diameter and vertical impact acceleration is presented to demonstrate the capability to explore trade-offs while at the same time providing an understanding of the design intent of a basis ship. This work has significant purpose and relevance in both ab-initio and reverse engineering contexts. It also has natural extensions in both depth of analysis and breadth of application.
The Effect of Damage on the Bonding Strength of Hybrid T-Joint Structures
Authors: Yeh P. C. , Chang P. Y. , Yang J. M. , Kordonowy D. 
Published: October 2013

Adhesively co-bonded and co-cured structural joints are attractive for aircraft applications due to the potential reduction in weight and part count as compared to traditional mechanical joints. In this research, a damage tolerant structure using co-bonded hybrid T-joints was designed and manufactured for structural application on a remotely piloted aircraft. The T-joint structure was constructed from GLAss fiber REinforced aluminum laminates (GLARE) 4-2/1 skin, carbon fiber composite web, and three-dimensional woven glass fiber fabric Pi-preform in a co-bonded/co-cured process. The goal of this research is to demonstrate the damage tolerance, structural capability, and ancillary benefits of the co-bonded T-joint.
In order to evaluate the structural design and investigate the strength of manufactured T-joint, experiments such as pull-out tests were performed. Additionally, the T-joint was manufactured and tested with defects inserted intentionally within the co-bonded interface between the GLARE and Pi-preform at two locations: a) underneath the vertical woven carbon composite web, and b) along the edge of the glass fiber Pi-preform and the GLARE flange. Pull-out tests showed the effect of intentionally inserted defects on the strength of the co-bonded T-joint structure. The benefit of co-bonded joints featuring damage tolerant skins and high strength composite webs has been demonstrated.
Effect of the Stretch Rate During Uniaxial Testing on the Mechanical Properties of Prolene®
Authors: Bazi T. M. , Ammouri A. H. , Hamade R. F. 
Published: October 2013

We assess the effects of stretch rate on the mechanical properties of Prolene® (Ethicon, Gynecare, Somerville, NJ, USA), a knitted polypropylene mesh. Prolene®, consisting of macroporous knitted polypropylene, is considered here as a suitable proxy to midurethral tape (MUT) as well as to many other prosthesis products used in surgery applications. Such products are utilized to treat urine incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, as well as hernia in humans.
Of the mechanical properties of special significance are the following three properties: peak load (N), extension (%) at peak load, and linear stiffness (N/mm). Uniaxial tensile testing was performed on mesh samples on a universal testing machine and involved loading different samples at 5 cross-head speeds of: 1, 10, 50, 100, and 500 mm/min. The corresponding properties were measured under these 5 conditions. In order to minimize damage to the specimens at the jaws, special dual action pneumatically operated grips with rubber faced jaws were used to hold the samples in place. The effectiveness of these grips was illustrated by the fact that none of the failed samples broke at grips. Statistically significant findings suggest an increasing trend for Prolene® stiffness vs. stretch rate (R2 = 0.9679; two-tailed p value = 0.0025) where the stiffness increases 26.2% when increasing the displacement rate from 1 to 500 mm/min. For extension (%) at peak load, a decreasing trend was found vs. stretch rate (R2 = 0.81; two-tailed p value = 0.037) where increasing the displacement rate from 1 mm/min to 500 mm/min corresponds to a 22% decrease in the relative elongation of the mesh. No statistically significant dependence of peak load on stretch rate was found. These findings may help workers in the biomedical field develop suitable uniaxial tensile testing protocols of such materials.
Using Random Forests to Identify Factors of Student Motivation in a Project-Based Learning Course
Authors: Cooper Lauren , Kotys-Schwartz Daria , Reamon Derek 
Published: October 2013

Grounded in motivation theory, the purpose of this research is to use random forest analysis to identify factors of motivation of students who participate in a project-based learning experience. Our research aims to answer: 1) How does project-based service learning affect students’ motivation as compared to conventional (non-service) project-based learning? 2) How are women affected differentially by project-based service-learning? The research, which began in 2011, was completed over a two-year period. The students and activities in Component Design, an existing junior-level course at the University of Colorado at Boulder served as the research focus. Specifically, project-based service-learning curriculum was implemented into a required design and build activity for Component Design students. Using a conventional design project as the control, how the context of project-based service learning affects aspects of student motivation was studied.
This paper discusses the research design, theoretical framework, data analysis methods, and random forest results. Our findings indicate that students’ initial non-technical skills were the most important predictor of motivation in the conventional project-based learning experience and that students’ perceived value of the course and the project were the most important predictors of motivation in the project-based service-learning experience.
Optimization of Thermal Power Plants Operation in the German De-Regulated Electricity Market Using Dynamic Programming
Authors: Scarabello G. , Rech S. , Lazzaretto A. , Christidis A. , Tsatsaronis G. 
Published: October 2013

The prospect of clean electrical energy generation has recently driven to massive investments on renewable energies, which in turn has affected operation and profits of existing traditional thermal power plants.
In this work several coal-fired and combined cycle power units are simulated under design and off-design conditions to adequately represent the behavior of all modern thermal units included in the German power system. A dynamic optimization problem is then solved to estimate the short-run profits obtained by these units using the spot prices of the German electricity market (EEX) in years 2007–2010. The optimization model is developed using a Mixed Integer Linear Programming approach to take the on-off status into account and reduce computational effort. New market scenarios with increasing renewable shares (and consequently different spot prices) are finally simulated to analyze the consequences of a larger capacity of renewable energies on the optimal operation of traditional thermal power plants.
Experimental Comparison of Different Diesel-Biodiesel Blends in a CFR Engine
Authors: Zamboni G. , Marelli S. , Marmorato G. , Capobianco M. 
Published: October 2013

A wide experimental investigation was performed on a CFR engine with a view to comparing different renewable fuels in terms of Cetane Number, engine brake thermal efficiency and exhaust emissions.
The CFR engine available at the Internal Combustion Engines Group of the University of Genoa was properly modified and fully instrumented in order to control operating conditions and to measure the average engine parameters and in-cylinder pressure diagrams.
Aiming at the comparison of fuels obtained from various feedstock, an experimental procedure was then defined, including the standard Cetane Number evaluation and the definition of engine operating quantities in 16 different working points, considering four levels of rotational speed and load, for fixed levels of compression ratio and injection advance.
Methyl-esters of rapeseed oil and of vegetable oils mix were investigated, while rapeseed, palm and coconut oil were also available. Several blends, obtained by mixing different biodiesel fractions with conventional diesel oil, assumed as reference fuel, were tested applying the defined experimental procedure.
In the paper the experimental setup is firstly presented describing changes and instrumentation of CFR engine. The investigation program is then summarized in order to introduce results discussion, mainly focused on the analysis of the influence of the biodiesel content on brake thermal efficiency, NOx and soot emissions, taking into account fuel properties.
Effectiveness of Fractal Orifices for Flow Measurement
Authors: Fester Veruscha , Ntamba Ntamba Butteur , Rust Francois , Slatter Paul , Noble-Jack Ian 
Published: October 2013

There is data available in the literature showing that more accurate flow measurement of air can be obtained using fractal-shaped orifice plates. Furthermore, energy losses over the fractal orifices were less than for circular orifices of the same area. The design of energy efficient systems is becoming increasingly important, therefore the testing of fractal orifices with fluid systems is of great interest. This present study determined pressure loss and discharge coefficients for both Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, for fractal shaped orifices plates.
Four short orifices, circular, triangular (0-generation), 1st generation and 2nd generation Von Koch fractal-shaped, were manufactured. The orifice plates had the same flow area as the circular orifice of equivalent diameter Deq = 26.2 mm (β = 0.57). This work provides novel experimental results on the performance of fractal orifices for Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquid flow applications. Flow measurement energy conversion efficiency of some 19% can be expected when using the fractal orifices over the standard circular geometry.
Effective NEMS Education and Training in an Undergraduate Course
Authors: Barakat Nael , Jiao Heidi 
Published: October 2013

Increasing demand on workforce for nanotechnology implementation has resulted in an exponential increase of demand on educational material and methods to qualify this workforce. However, nanotechnology is a field that integrates many areas of science and engineering requiring a significant amount of background knowledge in both theory and application to build upon. This challenge is significantly magnified when trying to teach nanotechnology concepts and applications at the undergraduate engineering level. A considerable amount of time is needed for an undergraduate engineering student to be able to design and build a useful device applying nanotechnology concepts, within one course time.
This paper presents an actual experience in teaching hands-on applications in nanotechnology to undergraduate engineering students through an optimized model, within a normal course time. The model significantly reduces the time needed by undergraduate students to learn the necessary manufacturing techniques and apply them to produce useful products at the micro and nano levels, by ensuring that infrastructure and legwork related to the educational process are partially completed and verified, before the course starts. The model also provides improved outcomes as all its pre-course work is also tested with students working under different arrangements of professors’ supervision. The result is an optimized infrastructure setup for micro and nanotechnology design and manufacturing education, built with students in mind, to be completed within the frame of one semester course.
The model was implemented at GVSU-SOE as the core hands-on part of a senior undergraduate course titled (EGR 457 nano/micro systems engineering). Students in the course were able to go through the design and build steps of different MEMS and NEMS products, while learning and utilizing cleanroom equipment and procedures. This was based on infrastructural arrangements by students preceding this class by a semester and working closely with the professors. Assessment was conducted on both sides of the model and results were collected for evaluation and improvement of the model.